How Can I Overcome Waswas Regarding the Permissibility of Food?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalamu’alaykum

I have waswasa in distinguishing between Halal and Haram food.
It has got to the point that I am almost not eating/drinking anything but tea , water, milk. I have a tendency whenever we buy any food to go straight onto Google and google the ingredients which puts me into more doubt.

How can I overcome these waswas?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I pray that you are in the best of health and faith, insha’Allah.

This is a mistake. What you have described is not from the guidance of Allah and His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace), and you should immediately stop following your neurotic misgivings.

Baseless misgivings are from the devil and his accomplices who seek nothing better but to make your life a misery until you don’t think Islam can work in your life.

Forget what you think you understand about the lawful and unlawful, and eat normally like other religious Muslims. Once you have acquired sufficient religious understanding, researched the food industry, how it works, and how the Sacred Law applies to it, and then verified your understanding with scholars, you can make some judgement about ingredients; but, until then, you should focus your energies on worship, good company, and circles of remembrance and learning.

The religion isn’t taken from the internet, nor from people’s own brains. This is light passed down from heart to heart. The scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets, and they are the ones who show the path to Allah.

See: A Reader on Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings)

And Allah alone gives success.

Wassalam,

Tabraze Azam

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani