Fatwa ID: 05353 

Answered by: Mufti Muhammad Imad Ali                                                          

Question

Before I start I have to say that I struggle with whispers and doubts a lot in istinja, wudu, prayer, and purity. However, I have for the last year or more a problem that occurs during salah. Sometimes for no reason or every reason, I have to laugh and I know that laughing is prohibited and of course I try not to. Most of the time I haven’t heard myself laughing, but I have a strange sense of feeling as if I have the urge to laugh, I cannot explain. Please can you help me to overcome this? Do you have any advice in the light of the sunnah and Quran? I know that I have to ignore the whispers, but I am so afraid that what if I am on the wrong side and so forth. Is it with laughing in salah the same as the principle that certainty cannot be lifted by doubt? Can I help myself, by ignoring all doubts regarding laughing unless I can swear by Allah Azza Wajal? Nowadays I end up repeating my prayers which is very frustrating.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer

Saaiduna Abu Hurairah narrates that the Prophet (PBUH) said, ‘Allah has forgiven my ummah regarding those waswasas that creep into their hearts so long as they do not act upon them or bring them into their tongues’.  (Mishkatul Masaabeeh p.18 v.1)

Shaitan will try to create waswasas in particular in the hearts of the believers, especially in salah by creating worldly thoughts and doubts in it.  The musalli should be firm and not give in to these whispers and thoughts and should not allow the accursed Shaitan to overpower him.  (Mazaahirul Haqq p.155 v.1)

Regarding your question the best way to address this problem, in the short term is not to think about it at all and be brave and to not let shaitan overpower you; the more you think about it the more it will escalate. In the long term, try to get into a habit of doing dhikr and remembering Allah, as shaitan finds it easy to manipulate and cause difficulties to those people who do not have Allah’s words and blessings in them.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Mufti Muhammad Imad Ali

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham