What does it mean when a truly educated believer starts having doubts & negative thoughts about Allah, such as: “If Allah created us, then who created Allah?” Do you know that even some of the companions struggled with this?
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🔵 A man said to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: “O Messenger of Allah, one of us has (negative) thoughts within himself, suggesting something (that is disrespectful to Allah), that would make him love to be reduced to charcoal (i.e. die) rather than to speak of it.” [Sahih Abi Dawud 5112]
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🔵 In another hadith, some companions asked the Prophet ﷺ: “We find within ourselves (negative thoughts about Allah) that which is too grievous to speak of.” The Prophet ﷺ asked them: “You have indeed found it so? (meaning, do you really find these negative thoughts about Allah as being wrong & that one shouldn’t say or even think of something like that?)” They replied, yes of course! So the Prophet ﷺ said: “This (experience of yours) is a sign of sincere iman.” [Sahih Muslim 132a]
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The fact that you find these thoughts as wrong & disliking them, is a sign that you’re a true believer. It’s also a sign that these thoughts are not from you, but from shaytan. This was why Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said in another hadith:
🔵 “Alhamdulillah, Who has repelled the plot of the whisperer (meaning, Allah limited the influence of the shaytan to only whispers, nothing more than that).” [Sahih Abi Dawud 5112]
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Prophet Muhammad ﷺ told us 3 things that we should do whenever shaytan whispers to us bad thoughts about Allah (recorded in Sahih Al-Bukhari 3276 & Sahih Muslim 134):
1. Seek Allah’s refuge by saying “A’udzubillah min ash-shaytan”.
2. Stop thinking about it. Don’t give those thoughts any attention.
3. Say: I believe in Allah.
When we do these 3 things, in shaa Allah, we will be protected by Allah from the whispers of shaytan.
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So brothers & sisters, rest assured that these types of whispers of the shaytan is a sign that a person has true iman. As long as you dislike & hate it, then it’s no problem & you won’t be held accountable.
