Does one suffering from waswas get rewarded, and what should they do?
Question

                Will the one who suffers from waswas (insinuating whispers from the Shaytan) be rewarded? What should he do?
Praise be to Allah.
	Allah, the Exalted, says in 
	Soorat al-Nas (interpretation of the meaning):

	{Say, "I seek 
	refuge in the Lord of mankind,

	The Sovereign 
	of mankind.

	The God of 
	mankind,

	From the evil 
	of the retreating whisperer -

	Who whispers 
	[evil] into the breasts of mankind -

	From among 
	the jinn and mankind."}(al-Nas:1-6)

	Muslim narrated that Abu 
	Hurayrah said: “Some of the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings 
	of Allah be upon him) came to him and said, ‘We find things in our hearts 
	that none of us would dare to utter out loud.’ He said, ‘Do you really find 
	that?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘That is clear faith.’” 

	Muslim narrated that ‘Uthman 
	ibn Abi’l-‘As came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) 
	and said: “O Messenger of Allah, the Shaytan is coming between me and my 
	prayer and making me confused in my recitation.” The Messenger of Allah 
	(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “That is a devil called 
	Khanzab. If you feel his presence, then seek refuge with Allah from him and 
	spit drily to your left three times.” [‘Uthman] said: “I did that and Allah 
	took him away from me.” 

	Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated 
	that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of 
	Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘The Shaytan comes to 
	some of you and says, “Who created such and such? Who created such and 
	such?” – until he says, “Who created your Lord?” If that happens, then let 
	him seek refuge with Allah and stop thinking about that.’” 

	Al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated 
	that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of 
	Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘When the call for 
	prayer (adhan) is given, the Shaytan runs away, breaking wind loudly so as 
	not to hear the adhan. When the adhan ends, he comes back. When the iqamah 
	(final call to prayer) is made, he runs away, then when the iqamah ends, he 
	comes back to distract a man from his prayer, saying, “Remember such and 
	such,” things that the man did not remember, until he does not know how many 
	rak’ahs (units of prayer) he has prayed. If one of you does not know how 
	many rak’ahs he has prayed, whether it is three or four, then let him do two 
	prostrations whilst he is sitting.” 

	Muslim narrated that Abu Sa’eed 
	al-Khudri said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be 
	upon him) said, ‘If one of you is uncertain about his prayer and cannot 
	remember how many rak’ahs he has prayed, whether it was three or four, then 
	let him avoid doubt and act upon that of which he is certain, then let him 
	do two prostrations before he says the salam (conclusion of prayer). Then if 
	he prayed five rak’ahs they will make his prayer even, and if he prayed four 
	then that will annoy the Shaytan.” 

	These ayahs (verses) and 
	ahadeeth (prophetic traditions) show just how keen the Shaytan is to lead 
	the sons of Adam astray and stop them from worshipping their Lord, by means 
	of the waswas (whispers) which he instils in their hearts. But the way to 
	save oneself from these devilish whispers is made clear. For some people the 
	matter may go so far that they have doubts about every act of worship they 
	try to do, whether they have even done it or not. The question here is not 
	whether such a person is to blame, rather the question is whether a person 
	will be rewarded for his striving against the Shaytan and his efforts to 
	resist these whispers, or not. 

	There is no clear statement 
	from the scholars on this matter, but it may be understood from the words of 
	the two Shaykhs, Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on 
	them), that he will be rewarded for that. This is what is to be understood 
	from the texts quoted above, as we shall see below. 

	In the first hadeeth, the 
	Sahabah (Companions) asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon 
	him) about the waswas that they felt in their hearts, and he said, “That is 
	clear faith.” Shaykh al-Islam (Majmoo’ al-Fatawa, 7/282) said: “In other 
	words, the fact that this waswas was happening and they disliked it so much 
	and pushed it away from their hearts is clear faith, like the mujahid 
	(warrior) to whom the enemy comes and he resists him until he defeats him, 
	and this is the greatest form of jihad (battle). Clear (sareeh) means pure, 
	like pure milk. It becomes clear and pure because they hated those devilish 
	whispers and warded them off, so their faith became pure and clear.” 

	He also said (Majmoo’ al-Fatawa, 
	14/108): 

	“This waswasah is something that 
	involuntarily enters the heart of a person, and if a person hates it and 
	shuns it, this hatred of it is clear faith.” 

	He also said (Majmoo’ al-Fatawa, 
	22/608): 

	“Many of the scholars said: 
	hating that, disliking it and shunning it is clear faith. Praise be to Allah 
	that the most the Shaytan can do is whisper, for when the devil from the 
	jinn is defeated, it whispers (waswasah) and when the human devil is 
	defeated, he lies. Waswas affects everyone who tries to focus on Allah in 
	his worship and dhikr (remembrance of Allah) etc. So one has to be steadfast 
	and patient and persist in dhikr or prayer; he should not feel distressed 
	because if he persists, that will divert the plot of the Shaytan away from 
	him, for the plot of the Shaytan is weak.” 

	And he said in Dar al-Ta’arud, 
	3/318:  

	“This waswas may be gotten rid 
	of by seeking refuge with Allah and ignoring it, so that if [the Shaytan] 
	says, ‘you did not wash your face,’ you should say, ‘Yes, I did wash my 
	face;’ if he thinks that he did not form the intention (for prayer) or say 
	Allahu akbar, he should say in his heart, ‘Yes I did form the intention and 
	say Allahu akbar.’ He should cling steadfastly to the truth and ward off the 
	waswas that goes against it, so that the Shaytan will see how strong and 
	steadfast he is in adhering to the truth, and will leave him alone. 
	Otherwise when he (the Shaytan) sees that he is influenced by doubts and 
	responsive to waswas, he will send him more waswas until he will be unable 
	to resist and his heart will become receptive to the seductive whispers of 
	the devils of the jinn and of mankind, and he will move from one thing to 
	another until the Shaytan drives him to his doom. 

	Based on the above, we may say 
	that a man will be rewarded for resisting this waswas and for striving 
	against the Shaytan for a number of reasons: 

	1 – The Prophet (peace and 
	blessings of Allah be upon him) praised the feeling of hatred towards the 
	waswas that had to do with doubts concerning belief (‘aqeedah) when he said, 
	“That is clear faith.” One of the things implied by the hatred of this 
	waswas is that one turns away from it and does not get carried away with 
	it. 

	2 – Obeying the command of the 
	Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), “Let him stop it.” 

	3 – The Prophet (peace and 
	blessings of Allah be upon him) said concerning the prostration of 
	forgetfulness (sajdat al-sahw): “They will annoy the Shaytan.” This implies 
	encouragement to annoy and humiliate the Shaytan. Annoying him here means 
	turning away from this waswas and not paying any attention to it. This is in 
	addition to the fact that Allah and His Messenger have taught us to seek 
	refuge with Allah from the Shaytan, etc. 

	4 – The difficulties and 
	distress that the believer may suffer as a result of this waswas may be 
	included in the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon 
	him), “No Muslim suffers tiredness, exhaustion, worry, grief, annoyance or 
	distress, not even a thorn that pricks him, but Allah will expiate some of 
	his sins thereby.”
	(al-Bukhari, Muslim). 

	5 – Shaykh al-Islam (Ibn 
	Taymiyah – may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Like the mujahid to whom the 
	enemy comes and he resists him until he defeats him, and this is the 
	greatest form of jihad.” The fact that he likens him to a mujahid and 
	describes this as the greatest form of jihad may be understood to mean that 
	he will be rewarded for that.

	And Allah knows best. May Allah 
	bless our Prophet Muhammad and all his family and Companions.