Dealing with Doubt

Dealing with Doubt

الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على رسوله الأمين، وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين.

The title of our khutbah today is Dealing with Doubt. And we're not going to be talking about eliminating doubt, but about the idea of having doubt itself.

The reason behind that is that the biggest challenge facing Muslims in the West in the coming years will be young Muslims leaving Islam. And this is already happening and it's already at an alarming rate. A good cause of that for many is that it begins with having some doubt — either fleeting doubt about one issue, it could be a fiqh issue or something about Allah.

It begins with them having some kind of doubt, some kind of question in their mind. And the problem with that is that many people misunderstand the ramifications of having doubt. For one, they think that they're the only ones who have doubt. "I'm the only one in the community or in the masjid who has these thoughts. So therefore there must be something wrong with me. I'm not a good Muslim. What kind of Muslim has doubts?" And so they leave salah and some of them eventually get to the point where they leave Islam. But for many it begins with having some kind of doubt about one issue or another. Or maybe it's just a question about one issue or another.

Doubt Is Not a Sign of Weak Faith

Having doubts in Islam actually doesn't necessarily have to mean anything whatsoever. We have in Sahih Muslim, Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه narrates:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 132)

Some of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ came and said to him: "We find in ourselves — meaning some thoughts, some ideas — that we find too great to speak about." Thoughts of kufr, thoughts about Allah, that we find so severe that we wouldn't dare speak about them. The Prophet ﷺ said, "Did you really find that?" They said, "Yes." He said, "That is a clear sign of Iman."

So how is having bad thoughts — things that you wouldn't even dare speak about — a clear sign of Iman? Imam al-Nawawi رحمه الله says that finding these thoughts to be so great that you don't even want to speak about them is a sign of good Iman. Again, if someone gets a bad thought about Allah and it bothers them so much that they don't want to speak about it, they would not verbalize it — isn't that a sign of Iman? For sure. Because if we consider the opposite: if a person has no Iman and he gets bad thoughts and bad ideas, especially about Allah, they wouldn't care and they would verbalize them immediately and they would have no reservations whatsoever. So it is the person with clear and strong Iman who would feel uncomfortable. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ told them, ذَاكَ صَرِيحُ الْإِيمَانِ — "That is clear Iman."

The Companion Who Would Rather Fall From the Sky

In Sunan Abu Dawud, Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما narrates:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 41, Hadith 5112)

A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "I have these thoughts, and I would prefer to be burnt to ashes — burnt to cinder — than to speak about them." In another narration he says: "I would prefer to be dropped from the heavens all the way to the earth, to come crashing down, than to speak about these bad thoughts that I have."

And the Prophet ﷺ — you never come to him with a problem except that he makes it simple and easy to conquer. He never makes you feel doomed when you come to him with a problem ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ responded:

"All praise is due to Allah who has reduced all of the plots of the Shaytan to mere whisperings."

So we see that it is not uncommon to have doubts. And if anyone has any kind of doubts, they shouldn't think badly of themselves, they shouldn't question their allegiance to Allah, they shouldn't question their attachment to Islam. All it is, is whisperings from the Shaytan.

Even the Devout Experience This

The companions of the Prophet ﷺ experienced this. Students of knowledge and devout worshippers will probably experience more of this. As Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله says: "The believer may suffer from the whisperings of the Shaytan and the insinuations and thoughts of kufr that will make them feel distressed, make them uncomfortable." It is common amongst the believers; it is common amongst the devout worshippers — they might experience it more. Why? Because the Shaytan's goal is to lead you astray. That is his ultimate goal: to lead you astray, and to make you think that you're not a believer or that you're not a good one because of these thoughts or because of these doubts.

Ibn Abbas and Abu Zumayl

Also in Sunan Abu Dawud, a man by the name of Abu Zumayl says:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 41, Hadith 5111)

This man, Abu Zumayl, came to Ibn Abbas — who was a companion and a scholar from amongst the companions — and told him: "What is that which I find in my chest?" meaning, what are these thoughts that are bothering me? Ibn Abbas said, "What is it?" He said, "Wallahi, I won't talk about it." And if you look at this situation: he comes to Ibn Abbas for help with a problem, Ibn Abbas says "what is it?" and he says "Wallahi I won't talk about it." Ibn Abbas said, "Is it an issue of doubt?" — and then he laughed. He knew it immediately. He said: مَا نَجَا مِنْ ذَلِكَ أَحَدٌ — "No one has ever been safe from that."

So that means if anyone has issues of doubt — and perhaps as you're sitting here in the audience, you have never had these issues, or they're not serious, they're fleeting doubts, and you swat them away — it may be that our children and the youngsters around us might have these issues and might see them as something very serious. So you should know how to deal with it.

How to Deal with Doubt

Do Not Panic

The first thing is: that person should not panic if that happens. It happens to all kinds of people, and it is a known issue. The scholars say you shouldn't be concerned. If you have any of these fleeting doubts or these questions that come across your mind, you shouldn't be concerned — rather, you should be happy. Because the Shaytan coming to you with a doubt, or with a question, or making you question an issue in Islam, is a sign that you have Iman.

The scholars give the analogy: would a thief break into a place where he knows there is no wealth, or would he break into a place where there is wealth? Would someone break into an abandoned warehouse to try to rob it, or break into a warehouse that he knows is full of merchandise and goods? They are saying the Shaytan only comes to a believer and tries to get him to doubt his belief. So the fact that he comes to you is a good sign. The fact that what he came to you with bothers you is another good sign.

And that is why Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما said:

"What would the Shaytan do with a ruined heart?" He doesn't spend time trying to cast doubt in a heart that's already ruined and has no Iman. He will go to a good heart that's full of Iman and try to cast that doubt there.

Seek Refuge in Allah

And since it's from the Shaytan, it makes sense to seek Allah's protection from him. In Sahih Muslim, Abu Huraira رضي الله عنه narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 135)

"The Shaytan will come to one of you and say, 'Who created such and such?' and then 'Who created this?' — until the Shaytan brings this question to your mind: 'Who created Allah?' If it reaches that point, seek refuge with Allah from the Shaytan and then desist — stop going down that path of thought."

You stop and you seek refuge with Allah, and that was the remedy of the Prophet ﷺ.

Do Not Delve Into Doubt Head-On

One of the mistakes people make today — especially young people — is that they say, "No, let me delve into it and deal with it and have a definite answer and hash it out." They want to face their doubts head-on. Whereas before, the wise and the righteous — if something was going to affect their Iman — they would stay away from it. Because when something is valuable to you, you want to protect it the whole time. You don't put it in front of danger to test if it will be there or not.

We have seen many people who have made this mistake. People we have met from experience who left Islam. Then you ask them what happened. They said, "Well, I wanted to become a da'i and call people to Islam. So I said, first let me study all the things that are anti-Islam and all the attacks that are anti-God." And before establishing a good foundation of knowledge, they went and got a book by a known atheist about the existence of Allah. They didn't have enough knowledge to refute that or to resist what's in the book. And they left Islam.

So the first thing is: you don't go head-on and try to tackle. And that's what the Prophet ﷺ said — for two wisdoms. One: you don't want to keep delving into it. He said, say أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ and move on to something else. The second: you might get into an area that your mind cannot fathom, and perhaps that which we know of today in science cannot even comprehend. So how are you going to deal with it anyway? The best way is: أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ — and then move on to something else.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الْعَظِيمَ لِي وَلَكُمْ مِنْ جَمِيعِ الذُّنُوبِ، فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ، فَيَا فَوْزَ الْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ. I ask Allah for his forgiveness — indeed, those who ask for his forgiveness shall prosper.

Second Part of the Khutbah

الحمد لله رب العالمين، الصلاة والسلام على رسوله الأمين، وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين. أما بعد.

There Is No Sin for Thoughts Alone

Another piece of good news is that there is no harm and no sin for having thoughts in Islam. This hadith is in both Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5269; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 127)

Allah has pardoned for my ummah their inner thoughts — what they think to themselves. Allah has pardoned and forgiven what we think of inside our heads, meaning bad thoughts and ideas of thinking of doing a sin. But the Prophet ﷺ ended by saying: مَا لَمْ تَعْمَلْ بِهِ أَوْ تَتَكَلَّمْ — "So long as they do not act upon it or speak of it."

Summary and Conclusion

So we see that having doubts doesn't mean kufr. Asking questions about one area or another in Islam doesn't mean kufr. Nobody should panic. The person would not be the only one experiencing this. They shouldn't think negatively of themselves as a Muslim and then stop going to the masjid and abandon salah. We see that it is a sign of Iman — it's a good sign if someone gets that, because the Shaytan will only target a good person and a good heart and try to put doubt into it. We see that the fact that it bothers the individual is a good sign as well, and a good sign of Iman. And we saw that it is from the whisperings of the Shaytan — and since it is from the Shaytan, it therefore makes sense that we seek refuge in Allah from the Shaytan.

And if you're going to deal with an issue that is not just a fleeting doubt — meaning if someone actually has a doubt, an issue that keeps coming back to them over and over again, and they feel it's actually genuine and affecting their Iman — then the way to deal with it is through knowledge, not by further investigating the doubt itself.

With that, we ask Allah to make us of those who recognize the truth as clear truth and follow the best of it, and to make us of those who recognize falsehood as clear falsehood and abstain from it.