4] Disturbed by waswaas (whispers from the Shaytaan) and evil thoughts

4]
When I do Salah or intendto do good deeds I often get very evil
thoughts in my mind. When I concentrate in Salah, and try to focus on
the meaning of the words, evil thoughts enter my mind, which make evil
suggestions about everything including Allah. I feel very
frustratedand angry about this. I know that none forgives sins except
Allah alone, but because of my thoughts I feel that there is nothing
worse than to have evil thoughts about Allah. After Salah I ask
Allah's forgiveness, but feel very bad because I want to stop these
evil thoughts, but I can't stop them. These thoughts spoil my
enjoyment of Salah, and also make me feel as though I am doomed.
Please advise me.
Praise be to Allaah.
Evil whispers during prayer and at other times come from the Shaytaan,
who is keen to misguide the Muslim and deprive him of good and keep it
far away from him. One ofthe Sahaabah complained to the Messenger of
Allaah(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about waswaas during
prayer, and he said: "The Shaytaan comes between me and my prayers and
my recitation, confusing me therein." The Messenger of Allaah (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "That is a devil called
Khanzab. If he affects you seek refuge in Allah from him and spit
drily to your left three times." He [the Sahaabi] said, I did that and
Allaah took him awayfrom me.
(Narrated by Muslim, 2203)
Proper focus (khushoo') is the essence of prayer. Prayer without
proper focus is like a body without a soul. The following are two of
the things that help one to develop the proper focus:
1 - Striving to think aboutwhat you are saying and doing, pondering
the meanings of the Qur'aan, dhikr and du'aa's that youare reciting;
bearing in mind that you are conversing with Allaah as if you can see
Him. For when the worshipper stands to pray, he is speaking to his
Lord, and ihsaan means worshipping Allaah as if you are seeing Him,
and knowing that even though you cannot see Him, He sees you. Every
time a person experiencesthe sweetness of prayer, he will be more
inclined to do it. [?]. This depends of the strength of one's faith -
and there are many means of strengthening one's faith. Hence the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, "Of the
things of your world, women and perfume have been made dear to me, and
my joy is in prayer." According to another hadeeth he said, "Let us
relax, O Bilal, with prayer," and he did not say, Give us a break from
it.
2 - Striving to ward off the things that may distract you during
prayer, namely thinking about things that are irrelevant or
distracting. Waswaas affects each person differently, because waswaas
has to do with a person's level ofdoubts and desires and the degree to
which a person is attached to other things or is fearing other things.
(From Majmoo' Fataawa Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, 22/605)
With regard to what you say about the waswaas reaching such a great
level that you have begunto experience waswaas that makes you think
about Allaah in ways that are not appropriate, theseare evil whispers
from theShaytaan. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"And if an evil whisper from Shaytaan (Satan) tries to turn you away
(O Muhammad) (from doing good), then seek refuge inAllaah. Verily, He
is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower"
[Fussilat 41:36]
Some of the Sahaabah complained about the waswaas that was bothering
[?] them. Some of the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) cameto the Prophet (peace
andblessings of Allaah be upon him) and said to him, 'We find in
ourselves thoughts that are too terrible to speak of.' He said, 'Are
you really having such thoughts?' They said, 'Yes.' He said, 'That is
a clear sign of faith.'" (Narrated by Muslim). (Narrated by Muslim,
132 from the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah).
Al-Nawawi said in his commentary on this hadeeth: "The Prophet's
words, 'That is a clear signof faith' means, the fact that think of
this waswaas as something terrible is a clear sign of faith, for if
you dare not utter it and you are so afraid of it and of speaking of
it, let alone believing it, this is the sign of one who has achieved
perfect faith andwho is free of doubt."
And it was said that what it means is that the Shaytaan only whispers
tothose whom he despairs of tempting, because he isunable to tempt
them. As for the kaafir, he can approach him in any manner he wants
and is not restricted to waswaas,rather he can play with him however
he wants. Based on this, what the hadeeth means is that thecause of
waswaas is pure faith, or that waswaas is asign of pure faith. :->

Al-Itikaaf- Is i’tikaaf in musallas and Islamic centres valid?

Is it permissible to observe i'tikaaf in musallas or Islamic centres
(in which the five daily prayers and Jumu'ahprayer are offered), or is
itpermissible only in masjids? May Allaah reward you with good.
Praise be to Allaah.
It is only valid to observe i'tikaaf in masjids, becauseAllaah says
(interpretationof the meaning): "And do not have sexual relations with
them (your wives) while you are in I'tikaaf (i.e. confining oneself in
a mosque for prayers and invocations leaving the worldly activities)
in the mosques" [al-Baqarah 2:187].
Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
The evidence in this verse indicates that if it (i'tikaaf)were valid
in places other than the mosque, the prohibition on intimacy with
one's wife would notbe singled out for prohibition there because
intercourse is contrary to i'tikaaf according to scholarly consensus.
So it is known, from mention of the mosques, that whatis meant is that
i'tikaaf can only be in the mosques. Ibn al-Mundhir narrated that
there was scholarly consensus that what is meant by "sexual relations"
in this verse is intercourse. Al-Tabari and others narrated via
Qataadah that the reason for revelation of this versewas that if they
were in i'tikaaf, and a man went for some need and met his wife, he
had intercourse with her if he wanted, so this verse was revealed. End
quote.
Ibn Qudaamah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in al-Mughni (3/65):
I'tikaaf is not permissible except in a mosque in which prayers in
congregation are held.
I'tikaaf is not valid anywhere except in a mosque if the person
observing i'tikaaf is a man. We do not know of any difference of
opinion among the scholars concerning this. The basic principle
concerning that is the words of Allaah (interpretation of the
meaning): "And do not have sexual relations withthem (your wives)
while you are in I'tikaaf (i.e. confining oneself in a mosque for
prayers and invocations leaving the worldly activities) in the
mosques" [al-Baqarah 2:187]. End quote.
Al-Nawawi said in al-Majmoo' (6/505):
I'tikaaf on the part of a man or of a woman is notvalid anywhere
except in the mosque. It is not validin the prayer-place of a woman's
house or the prayer-place of a man's house, which is a separatearea
set aside for prayer. End quote.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
Shar'i i'tikaaf must be in the mosques, because Allaah says
(interpretationof the meaning): (interpretation of the meaning): "…
while you are in I'tikaaf (i.e. confining oneself in a mosque for
prayers and invocations leaving the worldly activities) in the
mosques" [al-Baqarah 2:187].
End quote from Fataawa Noor 'ala al-Darb (8/176)
See also the answer to question no. 48985
Based on this, i'tikaaf in musallas or Islamic centres is not valid.
And Allaah knows best.

Al-Itikaaf - Ruling on allocating some mosques for i‘tikaaf and not others

In our country the state allocates some mosques for people to observe
i'tikaaf in, and there are other mosques that are not allocated for
i'tikaaf. There are some people who want to observe i'tikaaf in these
mosques, I mean the ones that are not allocated by the state.Are the
employees of these mosques sinning if they prevent these peoplefrom
observing i'tikaaf there, in accordance with the instructions of the
government? Are they included in the words of Allah (interpretation of
the meaning): "And who are more unjust than those who forbid that
Allaah's Name be glorifiedand mentioned much (i.e. prayers and
invocations) in Allaah's mosques" [al-Baqarah 2:114]? If they are
sinning by doing that, what about obeying the authorities?
Especiallysince there are other mosques allocated for i'tikaaf. Please
advise us, may Allah reward you with good.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Mosques are the most honoured places on Earth;they are the houses of
Allah and were built for His worship by praying, reading Qu''aan,
remembering Allah, seeking and teaching Islamic knowledge, and
i'tikaaf. Concerning this, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) said: "… rather they [mosques] are for the remembrance of
Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, and prayer, and reading
Qur'aan." Narrated by Muslim (285).
Every Muslim has the rightto enter the mosques and worship Allah
there, so long as he does that in the prescribed fashion. Based on
that, whoever wants to observe i'tikaaf in some mosque has the right
to do that, and no one has the right to prevent him from doing so. The
one who prevents him may be included in the meaning of this verse
(interpretation of the meaning):
"And who are more unjustthan those who forbid that Allaah's Name be
glorified and mentioned much (i.e. prayers and invocations) in
Allaah's mosques and strive for their ruin? It was not fitting that
such should themselves enter them (Allaah's mosques) except in fear.
For them there is disgrace in this world, andthey will have a great
torment in the Hereafter"
[al-Baqarah 2:114].
i.e., no one is more unjust than those who do this.
This prohibition is reinforced if it is done because these people who
are observing i'tikaafare keen to follow the Sunnah and warn people
against innovation and tell them not to cause mischief on earth, so
restrictions are put on them to prevent them from observing i'tikaaf
in the houses of Allah.
Whoever strives -- in this case -- to prevent people from observing
i'tikaaf and staying in the mosques to pray, read theQur'aan and
remember Allah, is sinning and comes under the warning mentioned in
this verse. The one who helps him todo that is like him.
As for the employees of the mosques, if they can take a stance for the
sake of Allah against preventing people from observing i'tikaaf in the
mosques unjustly, this is what they should do, and they cannot afford
to do anything else. If they cannot do that, then they should be
gentle with the one who wants to observe i'tikaaf and ask him to
change his mind, because it is not wise for a person to observe
i'tikaaf in the mosque andthus cause harm to his Muslim brothers.
It may be better for him and for the Muslims to observe i'tikaaf in
the mosques where i'tikaaf is permitted, so that a large number of
Muslims will come together, and perhaps that will be a means of
teaching them some Islamic rulings that they do not know, or one of
them may receive sincere advice (naseehah) that will benefit him.
Secondly:
Prohibiting i'tikaaf in some mosques may be acceptable if the mosque
is small and does not have enough room for theworshippers, in which
case observing i'tikaaf there would bother the worshippers and make
the place even more overcrowded.
And Allah knows best.

3a] Ruling on observing i‘tikaaf in a room that is separate from the mosque

the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), because the
houses of theMessenger had doors that opened into the mosque, but
despite that they were houses and the Messenger (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) did not go out to them [i.e., during i'tikaaf].
So to be on the safe side, the one who is observing i'tikaaf should
not do it there. But the custom of people nowadays is that rooms that
are in the mosques are regarded as being part of the mosque.
End quote from Sharh al-Kaafi.

And Allah knows best.