<<It is only Shaytaan that suggests to you the fear of his Awliyâ’ [supporters and friends (polytheists, disbelievers)], so fear them not, but fear Me, if you are (true) believers. >> [3:175]

Allaah Ta’ala:

إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَاتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا إِنَّمَا يَدْعُو حِزْبَهُ لِيَكُونُوا مِنْ أَصْحَابِ السَّعِيرِ

<<Surely, Shaytaan is an enemy to you, so take (treat) him as an enemy. He only invites his Hizb (followers) that they may become the dwellers of the blazing Fire.>> [Fatir: 6]

The Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– dispraised extremists in the religion, he said:

هَلَكَ المتنطِّعون

‘The extremists will be destroyed.’ He said it three times.[1]

Imam Nawawi said:

‘‘The extremists will be destroyed.’ Meaning: those who delve too deeply into matters, those who exaggerate, those who go above the limit in their statements and deeds.’

From Abdullaah bin Amr bin Al-Aaas that the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– passed by Saad whilst he was performing Wudu and said:

مَا هَذَا السَّرَفُ يَا سَعْدُ

‘O Saad what is this waste!?’

Saad said: ‘There is wastage in performing Wudu!?’

The Prophet said:

نَعَمْ وَإِنْ كُنْتَ عَلَى نَهْرٍ جَار

‘Yes, even if you were performing it at a flowing river.’

[Collected by Ahmed and Al-Albaani graded it Hasan]

Shaykh Al-Albaani said:

‘There is a narration which al-Bayhaqi mentioned from Hilaal bin Yasaaf who said: ‘It used to be said: ‘There can be wastage in everything, even in purification, even if it was at the river bank.’ Hilaal is a trustworthy Taba’ee. It is as if he is referring to this hadeeth and that it was well-known among the Salaf. And Allaah knows best.’

[Silsilah Saheehah no. 3292]

From Abu Nu’amah that Abdullaah bin Minfal heard his son saying:

‘O Allaah I ask of You for a white Palace on the right-hand side of Paradise if I enter it!’

So, Abdullaah said: ‘O my son, ask Allaah for Paradise and seek refuge with Allaah from the Fire, since indeed I heard the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– saying:

إِنَّه سَيكون فِي هَذِهِ الْأُمَّةِ قَوْمٌ يَعْتَدُونَ فِي الطَّهُورِ وَالدُّعَاءِ

‘Indeed there will be in this Ummah a people who will transgress in purification and Dua’.[2]

[Collected by Ahmad, others and graded Saheeh by Al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood and also researched in ‘Irwaa’]

Not to Pay Attention to Whisperings

Shaykh AbdulAziz bin Baz said:

‘It is not allowed for a believer to pay attention and turn to whisperings. This is because this is what Shaytaan follows. The Shaytaan has a great desire of corrupting the good deeds of the son of Adam, deeds of prayer etc.

So, it is obligatory to be cautious from the plans of Shaytaan and his whisperings, reliance upon Allaah and also understanding that which perhaps occurs from whisperings that they are from Shaytaan, so that one does not turn towards them. If a person breaks his Wudu based upon certainty, that he excreted something without doubt then he should repeat washing his private part and repeat the Wudu. As for, if there is doubt even if it is a little then that person should not pay attention to that, he should understand that he is upon purification and battling Shaytaan.’

[Majmoo Fatawa Ibn Baz 10/123]

Whisperings of the Shaytaan

Shaykh ul Islaam Ibn al-Qayyim -Rahimahullaah- said:

[Those who have Whispers Obey the Shaytaan]

‘A group from those who have whispers have accepted that they have obeyed the Shaytaan, because they have characterized themselves with his whisperings and have accepted his saying and obeyed him. They have turned away from following the Messenger of Allaah -sall’Allaahu alayhi wa sallam- and his Companions so much so that if one of those who have whispers sees,[3] that if he actually makes Wudu, the like of the Wudu of the Messenger of Allaah -sall’Allaahu alayhi wa sallam- or he prays the like of the Prophet’s prayer, then sees his own Wudu as invalid and that his prayer as not correct.

He holds the presumption that if he does the like of the Messenger of Allaah -sall’Allaahu alayhi wa sallam- as in feeding young children, feeding the general Muslims that he has become Najs (impure) and that it is obligatory to wash his hand and mouth multiple times as if a cat has licked his hand and mouth or urinated upon them.

Then these type of people reach to the point where Shaytaan conquers them and they respond to some what a resemblance of a possessed person and that which is similar to the thought of Sophists [specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric] who reject the reality of matters of existence and tangible matters.

A person knows his own circumstances from the necessary, certain matters, but one of these people may completely wash one of his limbs while he physically sees it with his own sight, he may even say Allaahu Akbar [for the prayer] and recite with his tongue whereby his own ears hear him reciting but he knows with his heart, in fact others know it from him that he has done the action and they affirm him [that he did the action] but he still doubts if did it or not.

Likewise, Shaytaan causes him to doubt in his intention and purpose, which he brings from his own self with certainty, in fact, others know about his intention and purpose from him due to the apparent signs of his condition, but along with this situation he accepts the statement of Iblees in presuming that he did not make the intention for the prayer and he had not made the intention and this is out of pride from his own self specifically, and he rejects certainty of his own self.

This occurs so much so, that you see him muddled and confused as if he is trying to cure something which has taken control of him, or that he finds something in his own self which he tries to take out.

All this, exaggerating in obedience to Iblees and consenting to his whisperings. Whoever reaches to this level of obedience to Iblees then he has reached a very extreme level in obedience to the Shaytaan.

[Harm that a Person Brings upon Himself]

Then he accepts the Shaytaan’s statement in punishing himself and he obeys him in harming his own body sometimes by plunging into extremely cold water.

Sometimes he punishes himself by using cold water a lot and spending along time in it. Perhaps he opens his eyes whilst in cold water and washes the inside of his eyes so much that he harms his eyesight.

Perhaps he reaches to the point [due to listening to whisperings] where he exposes his private parts to the people, perhaps his situation becomes such that he is mocked by young children and is laughed at by anyone who sees him.

I say: Abul-Farj bin al-Jawzi mentions from Abul Wafa bin Aqeel that a man asked him, I plunge myself into water many times but I doubt that if my Ghusl is correct or not, what do you think about this situation?

The shaykh said to him, ‘Go, the duty of prayer has been relieved from you.’

He asked, ‘How is that?’

He answered, ‘Because the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– said:

رُفِعَ الْقَلَمُ عَنْ ثَلاثَةٍ: المَجْنُونِ حَتَّى يُفِيقَ، وَالنّائمِ حَتَّى يَسْتَيقِظَ، وَالصَّبىِّ حَتّى يَبْلُغَ

‘The Pen has been lifted from three types of people, a crazy person until his intellect returns, a sleeping person until he awakens and a child until he reaches of age.’[4]

The Shaykh continued: ‘Whoever plunges himself in to water many times and then doubts if water has touched him or not, is crazy.’

Perhaps Shaytaan busies a person with his whisperings so much so that he misses the congregational prayer. Perhaps he may even miss the time of prayer, he is busied with his whisperings in the intention for the prayer so much so that he misses the first Takbeer perhaps he may miss a whole Rakah or more.

There are from them those who swear that they will not increase upon the intention yet they lie.

A person who I trust, told me about a person who had major whisperings and he saw him repeat the intention for the prayer so many times that he caused a great difficulty upon the people who he was leading in prayer.

So, it was offered to him that he should take an oath that he would divorce his wife if he increased the number of times that he would make an intention for the prayer. However, Iblees did not leave him alone until he increased upon making the intention, so he was separated from his wife.

He was afflicted with severe grief and they stayed separated for a very long time until that woman married another man and she had a child from him.

Then the first man took back his oath and the couple were separated and she was presented back to the first man after he was nearly about to die due to being separated from her.

It also reached me about another man who was very extreme in pronouncing the intention and saying it from the depths of one’s mouth. One day the extremity and the depth of the sound increased until he began saying [before the prayer] ‘I pray…. I pray. . . .’ many times, ‘such and such prayer…..’

He wanted to say, ‘ أداء – to perform’ but he pronounced the letter ‘Dal’ like a non-Arabic speaker and said, ‘أذاء لله – harming for the sake of Allaah’, so the man praying next to him broke his prayer and said …..(harming Allaah) and His Messenger, His Angels and the congregation of the people praying.

From them, are those who have whisperings, such that they pronounce a letter but they say it so many times.

He said, I saw one of them who would say, ‘Allaah Akkkkbar.’

He said, One of them said to me that I am incapable of saying ‘Assalamu alykum’ [due to whisperings had I said it correctly or not], so I said to him, say it like you have just said it and feel at ease.

Shaytaan has led them to the extent that he has caused them to be punished in the Duniyaa before the Hereafter and has taken them away from following the Messenger and entered them among the general people of extremism and exaggeration while they think that they are doing good.

[The Cure & Treatment]

Whoever wants to end and free themselves from this trial, then he must be aware and feel that the truth is in following the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– in his statements, his actions. A person must be determined of following his path, a determination of which a person has no doubt that he is upon the straight path, and that which opposes the straight path from the seduction and enticement of Iblees and his whisperings.

That person should be upon surety that Iblees is his enemy and does not call him to goodness, but in fact he calls him to his faction so that a person can be from the companions of the torment of the fire.

That person should leave the twisted and winding ways of everyone who opposed the way of the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– no matter who it was, because of which there is no doubt that the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– was upon the straight path.

Whoever doubted in this then he is not a Muslim and whoever knows this point then how can a person turn away from his Sunnah and what thing can a slave of Allaah desire other than the Prophet’s way.

He should say to his own soul, do you not know that the path of the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– is the straight path.

If his soul says, ‘Of course!’

Then he should say to it, ‘Then did he do this thing?’

Then it will say, ‘No!’

Then say to it, ‘What remains after the truth except misguidance.’

And is there after the path of Paradise except the path of the Hell-fire

And is there after the path of Allaah and the path of His Messenger except the path of the Shaytaan

If you followed the path of Shaytaan then you would be his associate, and the soul will say, ‘’O how I wish there was a distance between me and you (Shaytaan) like that of the east and the west.’

What an evil associate.

[The Practice of the Salaf]

Let us look at the circumstances of the Salaf in their following the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam, so that we take them as an example and choose their path.

It has been narrated by some of them that they said: ‘Indeed I have been preceded by a people (the Salaf), if they did not exceed a finger nail during making Wudu I would not exceed it

I say that was Ibraheem an-Nakha’ee.

Zayn al-Abideen said to his son one day, get me another garment which I can wear whilst going to relieve myself, since indeed I saw a fly land on something then it came upon my garment, but after that he realised and said, the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– and his Companions only had one garment each, so he left this idea.

When Umar –Radhi Allaahu anhu– used to take a concern with a matter and be resolved and determined with it, but if it was said to him the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– never did that, he would not do it, so much so that he said I had a desire to prohibit a certain type of garment because it reached me that it was coloured using the urine[5] of old women.

Abu Malik said to him, do you prohibit something which the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– did indeed wear and was worn in his time, if it had been known by Allaah that it was prohibited then surely Allaah would have made it known to His Messenger -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam.

Umar said: ‘You have spoken the truth.’

Then you should know that there was no one who had whisperings amongst the Companions. If there was a virtue to whisperings, Allaah would not have stored it away from His Messenger and his Companions, and they are the best of the creation and the finest.

If the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– had come across those who had whisperings he would have detested them. If Umar –Radhi Allaahu anhu– had come across them he would have beaten them and would have taught them manners.

If the Companions had come across them, they would have declared them from the people of Bida.

[Hadeeth & Athaar]

In al-Musnad and Sunnan from the Hadeeth of Amr bin Shuaib from his father from his grandfather who said a Bedouin came to the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– asking about Wudu, so the Messenger showed him how to perform it doing every action three times each and said:

هَذَا الْوُضُوءُ، فَمَنْ زَادَ عَلَى هَذَا فَقَدْ أَسَاءَ وَتَعَدَّى وَظَلَمَ

‘This is the Wudu so whoever increases upon this then he has done something bad and been excessive of the Sunnah and done something in its wrong place.’[6]

From Jabir bin Abdullaah who said: that the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– said:

«يُجْزِئُ مِنَ الْوُضُوءِ الْمُدُّ، وَمَنَ الْجَنَابَةِ الصَّاعُ»

‘It is sufficient to make Wudu with a Mudd[7] and for Janaba it is a Saa.’

A man said to Jabir, O Jabir this is not sufficient for us.

Jabir became angry so much that his face changed colour then he said: ‘It was sufficient for he who is better than you and had more hair.’[8]

From Saheeh Muslim from Aeysha –Radhi Allaahu anha– that:

‘She and the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– would bathe together from one container which would be large enough for three mudd or around that much.’

In Sunnan an-Nisa’ee from Ubayd bin Umayr that Aeysha–Radhi Allaahu anha– said:

‘I saw with my own eyes, me and the Messenger of Allaah bathed from this, which a container we had the like of a Saa’ or less than that we would both take from it, I would pour water with my hands over my head three times and I would not untie my braids.’[9]

From Bukhari & Muslim from Anas who said:

‘that the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– would perform Wudu with a Mudd and would bathe with Saa’ up to five Mudd.’

[Wastage of Water]

Muhammad bin Ajlaan said:

‘Having Fiqh (understanding) of the Deen of Allaah is performing Wudu properly but spilling very little water.’

Imam Ahmad said:

‘It used to be said: for a man who has little Fiqh (understanding) of the Deen of Allaah is that he wastes water.’

Abdullaah bin Ahmed said:

‘I said to my father, indeed I use a lot of water for Wudu, so he prohibited me from that and said, ‘O my son, it is said that there is a Shaytaan for Wudu [to mislead us]. It is said that he is called al-Walhaan.’ My father told me this more than once and he prohibited me from pouring away water a lot, and he said to me, ‘use less water than this O my son.’

Ishaaq bin Mansoor said:

‘I said to Ahmed, ‘Is it okay to increase upon performing the acts of Wudu more than three times?’ He replied, ‘No, I swear by Allaah, except by a person who has been trialed.’

Abu Dawood collected in his Sunnan From Abdullaah bin Minfal who said I heard the Messenger of Allaah -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– saying:

” إنه سيكون فى هذه الأمة قوم يعتدون فى الطهور والدعاء “.

‘Indeed there will be in this Ummah a people who will transgress in purification and Dua’.[10]

When you compare this hadeeth with the saying of Allaah Ta’ala: << Truly, Allaah likes not the transgressors. >> [al-Baqarah: 190] you will know that Allaah loves to be worshipped and what results from this is that the Wudu performed by the person who suffers from whispers is not considered worship which Allaah Ta’ala accepts.

[From ‘Igatha allahafaan’ 1/256 – 269 Summarised]

All Praise belongs to Allaah, may His peace

and blessings be upon our final

Prophet Muhammad, his

family, his companions

and all those who

follow his

guidance.

Four steps for dealing with obsessive thoughts:

RELABEL – Recognize that the intrusive obsessive thoughts and urges are the result of OCD. For example, train yourself to say, “I don’t think or feel that my hands are dirty. I’m having an obsession that my hands are dirty.” Or, “I don’t feel that I have the need to wash my hands. I’m having a compulsive urge to perform the compulsion of washing my hands.”
REATTRIBUTE – Realize that the intensity and intrusiveness of the thought or urge is caused by OCD; it is probably related to a biochemical imbalance in the brain. Tell yourself, “It’s not me—it’s my OCD,” to remind you that OCD thoughts and urges are not meaningful, but are false messages from the brain.
REFOCUS – Work around the OCD thoughts by focusing your attention on something else, at least for a few minutes. Do another behavior. Say to yourself, “I’m experiencing a symptom of OCD. I need to do another behavior.”
REVALUE – Do not take the OCD thought at face value. It is not significant in itself. Tell yourself, “That’s just my stupid obsession. It has no meaning. That’s just my brain. There’s no need to pay attention to it.” Remember: You can’t make the thought go away, but neither do you need to pay attention to it. You can learn to go on to the next behavior.

Source: Westwood Institute for Anxiety Disorders

[1] [Collected by Muslim.]

[2] The practice of the Prophet was to make general and comprehensive Duas.

[3] This is due to him having doubts and presumptions.

[4] Collected by the collectors of the four ‘Sunnan’ books, as well as Ibn al-Jarood, Ibn Hibban, al-Hakim and graded Saheeh by Al-Albaani in ‘Ighathat al-Lahfaan’ 1/257 & al-Irwaa 2/4-7.

[5] [This was a false claim and Umar -Radhi Allaahu anhu- did not want to prohibit something the Prophet -sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam– did not prohibit.]

[6] Collected by Abu Dawood, Ahmed & graded Hasan by Al-Albaani in Silsilah Saheehah No. 2980

[7] For an explanation of these measurements see

http://www.bakkah.net/en/zakat-fitr-measurements-saa-three-litres-mudd.htm

[8] [Collected by Ibn Khuzaimah, al-Bayhaqi and Al-Albaani graded a similar wording to be Saheeh in saheeh al-Jamia no. 8024] SEE SAHEEHAH 1991 & 2447

[9] Collected by Nisa’ee & Al-Albaani graded it Saheeh in ‘Igathat al-Lahfaan’ 1/266

[10] [Collected by Ahmad, others and graded Saheeh by Al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood and also researched in ‘Irwaa’]