What is exactly considered as acting upon thoughts, and do doubts take a person out of the fold of Islam?
When he tries to ignore these thoughts, and act on what is certain, he has whispers that tell him if you are certain take an oath, and taking an oath is a serious matter, not to say that he is uncertain, but how should he deal with his waswas, he is suffering with waswas for about 6 months now, and he is getting depression from this.
Answer
In this counseling answer:
- Sometimes we have negative thoughts related to our religion, our faith, and God, and this is a common experience. But we need to focus on our actions.
- His anxiety probably has some underlying source. If he thinks that this is affecting his daily life, and is something that he cannot easily control, it would be very important for him to seek support.
Assalamu alaikum, brother,
You say that your friend has extreme waswasa regarding whether he is still in the fold of Islam or not, and he has a lot of confusing thoughts about Allah. He does not know whether he has left Islam or not, what does it mean to act upon those thoughts. It has been happening for six months now, and now he is becoming depressed because of this.
I’m going to answer this as a counselor, not as a religious scholar, regarding what it means to be out of Islam. What I can tell you is that our thoughts are often uncontrollable. Therefore, according to the tradition, what we are going to be accountable for are our actions, and this can also include our words, but not our thoughts and emotions.
We have many thoughts every day in our minds, all kinds of ones. They pop up, and we can’t really control them. And thoughts can also influence our feelings. A thought can make us feeling scared, worried, happy, content, angry, depressed, etc.
Furthermore, sometimes we have negative thoughts related to our religion, our faith, and God, and this is a common experience. But we need to focus on our actions, and on the facts.
Focus on the facts
And if the fact is that he declares the shahada, he prays, fasts, he performs other acts of worship, and he openly considers himself to be a Muslim, he has nothing to worry about. These are facts, externally visible actions. Anytime he has doubts, he just has to remind himself of the facts about what he is does, regardless of what he thinks.
Acting upon these thoughts is the opposite: for example, he would stop praying, he would not fast, etc. That would be also, clear facts about the absence or open rejection of these rituals.
Also, he should also know that he is dealing with some form of fear, anxiety, and overthinking, and it would be good to address those fears.
Check underlying sources
I’m not sure what happened six months ago when these thoughts started or how this is related to what is going on right now, but this anxiety probably has some underlying source. If he thinks that this is affecting his daily life, making him too anxious, and is something that he cannot easily control, it would be very important for him to seek a mental health professional and talk to someone about this, to explore what is going on and to receive treatment for it.
I hope this helps,