Whispering is one of the actions which...

Whispering is one of the actions which, in our din and in our adab, is very much repudiated, because something worth saying should be shared by saying it out loud. Khannas is an epithet of shaytan, and means "slink­ing away," specifically, when the Name of Allah is mentioned. There are sources or rivers which feed the waswas. just as the Garden has underground rivers which feed it, so too has the waswas. One of these rivers is hirs (greed or covetousness).

That river can be fought, blocked, and dammed by tawakkul wa qana (trustful dependence (on Allah) and con­tentment). Another river is amal, which means "expectation." This river, too, can be dammed by constant remembrance, dhikr. Our hope for things of this world can be stopped by remembering that each breath may be our last. This remembrance will cut the flow of that river which feeds the whisperer who pours distracting suggestions into our ears.

The third river is shahawat ad-dunya or "worldly desires." These desires can be killed by remembering that the ni’am (favors, bounties) will all eventually leave us, and that the hisab (account) will have to be made by us. We will have to account for the way in which we spent the bounty and goodness that was given to us.

It will be a lengthy account - we are told 50 thousand years- in which every minute detail will be reviewed and examined, and in which even something as seemingly minor as a twitch can be a witness for or against us. The fourth river, or source, of waswas is tahsil, meaning "acquisition." This river can be stopped by seeing the justice of each person's situation. What a person reaps arises from the justice of his own situation, and we cannot alter it.

The fifth river is bala', "affliction." The flow of this can be stemmed by not looking at the affliction in a situation, but rather by seeing the bestowal of the good in it. The sixth river is kibr, or "pride," which can be fought by humility. Whenever kibr rises up in us, we should immedi­ately call upon the humility within ourselves, so that we break its ef­fect on us.

The seventh river is tahqir, that which entices us to belittle the honorable position of the believers, as well as anything that the believer possesses, anything that is in his domain, and that which is halal (permitted) for him and haram (forbidden) for others. This river can be stopped by considering their honor to be great and by respecting it.