Can A Person Be A Sinner Because Of Bad Words That Come To The Mind Due To Waswasa? Is There A Dua To Get Rid Of These?

Can a person be a sinner because of bad words that come to the mind due to waswasa? Is there a dua to get rid of these?

Waswasa, which means whisper, word, whispering, delusion, and suspicion, is commonly used to refer to devil’s inciting and dissuading humans and making them have bad thoughts for committing a bad deed, giving up on or postponing a job or doing it incompletely .

It is commanded in the Holy Qur’an to seek refuge with Allah from the mischief of the whisperer (of evil) (Nas, 114/1-6); the believers are advised in hadith books not to act with waswasa and that waswasa will not arise a religious responsibility and that talaq (divorce) of a person who is apprehensive about, for example, “Whether I divorced my wife or not... Did I divorce my wife?’’ will not be valid (see Bukhari, Talaq, 11; Muslim, Iman, 201-205, 211; Abu Dawud, Salat, 158; Tirmidhi, Taharah, 43; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Musnad, II, 255; VI, 106).

One of the ways in which devil drags humans into blasphemy is the questions that may drag them into doubt and hesitation. These questions which are thought are caused by devil’s waswasa undoubtedly. The most severe trick out of these questions is explained to us by the Messenger of Allah (saw) as follows, “Devil comes to one of you and says, ‘Who created this and that thing?’ When that person says ‘Allah created’, it says ‘Who created Allah?’ When he thinks about this, may he seek shelter with Allah and stay away from that thought immediately!” (Bukhari, Bad’ al-Khalq 11; Muslim, Iman, 214) In some narratives, the sentence of “May he say, I believe in Allah!” (Muslim, Iman, 212) is also added.

In this regard, the expressions of blasphemy whispered to apprehensive people are evaluated under waswasa and do not harm their faith. Because Allah the Almigthy holds His servants responsible in proportion to their power. Obligation is in proportion to power. A few companions came and said to the Messenger of Allah (saw), “Some of us think about certain waswasas, we agree that uttering them will normally be a sin.” Prophet Muhammad (saw) asked, “Do you really have such fear?” and the people who were present there said, “Yes!” Then he continued, “That (fear) is caused by your iman (the waswasa you think about does not give a harm ).” (Muslim, Iman, 209). Another hadith on this issue is as follows, “Allah the Almighty will not question my ummah for the bad things they think about unless they commit a deed with them or utter them.” (Bukhari, Talaq, 11; al-Ayman wa Nuzu, 15)

In short, one should not give credit to such waswasas in order to get rid of this situation. Because waswasa gets more intensive as long as you keep thinking about it.

Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWA