Waswas: Difference between revisions

The first two refer to the story of Adam and Eve. The fa- prefix means "but" or "then".

{{Quote-text|{{Quran|7|20}}|'''But''' the Shaitan '''made an evil suggestion''' (فَوَسْوَسَ, ''fa-waswasa'') to them that he might make manifest to them what had been hidden from them of their evil inclinations, and he said: Your Lord has not forbidden you this tree except that you may not both become two angels or that you may (not) become of the immortals.}}In one instance the Quran says the soul whispers. The tu- simply indicates present tense, 3rd person, feminine, singular verb.{{Quote-text|{{Quran|50|16}}|And We have already created man and know what his soul '''whispers''' (تُوَسْوِسُ, ''tuwaswisu'') to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein}}

{{Quote-text|Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 114:4|from the evil of '''the slinking whisperer Satan''' — he is referred to by the name of the action waswasa on account of his repeated engaging in it — who slinks away and recoils from the heart whenever God is mentioned}}

==Relevant Quotations==

==Critical thinking==

In the waswas-avoiding philosophy, you don't gather all information and then make rational conclusions. You gather only information which is in line with Islam, and everything which is not in line with Islam (regardless if it's true and logical) is dismissed. This creates a ''confirmation bias'' in Muslim minds.

The Satan comes to everyone. of you and says: Who created this and that? till he questions: Who created your Lord? When he comes to that, one should seek refuge in Allah and keep away (from such idle thoughts).}}

 

 

 

==Islamic treatment of waswas==

When you search the web, you will find many Muslims trying to "cure" themselves from waswas <ref>Just Google "waswas".</ref>. The basic treatment method is ''ruqya'' - exorcism. Verses from the Qur'an are recited on the "posessed" Muslim. There is also a possibility of self-ruqya <ref>http://www.aburuqya.com/self-ruqya</ref>, where Muslim tries to get rid of waswas by praying and reading the Qur'an (and other practices).

The waswas-avoiding behavior could probably be best described, in a secular way, as a [[W:Psychological repression|psychological repression]]. A Muslim represses his "bad" thoughts. He pushes them out of his consciousness, into the unconscious mind. From the unconscious mind, the repressed thoughts might express themselves in dreams or as inner voices.

 

The therapy for psychological repression is basically the opposite of what "Islamic therapy" does. In Freud's psychotherapy, the psychotherapist re-introduces the repressed thoughts back into the conscious mind <ref>Freud, Five Lectures p. 35</ref>. The conscious mind then learns to live with the previously-repressed thoughts and so there is no more repression. While the Islamic treatment of waswas is trying to repress the "bad" thoughts so much that they become silent. Which is not possible, because repressed thoughts don't disappear. They only hide in the unconscious mind and there they still affect a person's behavior and cause psychological problems.

 

Islam commits a logical fallacy by claiming that all information that go against it are ''waswas'' (whispering from Satan). This waswas-avoiding philosophy creates close-minded Muslims, who are not able to realize Islam is false, because everything which leads to that realization is labeled as "waswas" and rejected.

The Islamic treatment of waswas via exorcism is not efficient. The easiest way to get rid of "waswas" is to leave Islam and realize that there is no "waswas" and doubts are just a natural part of how the human brain works.