Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
You should ignore these whispers and give them no attention.
Responding to your question, Dr. Salah Al-Sawi, President of the Shari`ah Academy and the Secretary General for the Assembly of Muslim Jurists in America, states:
Ignore these whispers and give them no attention. Remember the words of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Actions are but by the intentions, and every person will have only what they intend.” (Al-Bukhari)
And his words: “Allah has pardoned for this nation what its soul whispers to it so long as it does not utter it nor act upon it.”
So Allah will not call to account an action that was unintentional, nor a passing thought that wasn’t translated into speech nor action. How then (would it be) if these two matters are both nonexistent as it is in your case? So let your heart rejoice and your eye cool, for your Lord is the Most Merciful of those that show mercy!
I ask Allah to gather for you between the reward and good health, and to turn away from you all evil.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.