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How can one overcome obsessive whispers during prayer and concerning faith, and what books address this topic?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Satan is the one who calls to whispers (waswasah). Allah, the Almighty, says: "Say, 'I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind... from the evil of the whisperer who withdraws.'" The believer afflicted with waswasah must seek refuge in Allah and not pay attention to it, because Satan cannot sever their connection with Allah. Allah, the Exalted, says: "He said, 'Because You have put me in error, I will surely sit in wait for them on Your straight path. Then I will come to them from before them and from behind them and on their right and on their left, and You will not find most of them grateful.'" The book "Ighathat al-Lahfan min Masa'id al-Shaytan" (Aiding the Distressed from the Traps of Satan) by Ibn al-Qayyim is recommended.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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