In Islam, there is something similar to the yetzer ha-ra (“evil inclination”). As G. Hussein Rassool, himself a Muslim, wrote:
Waswâs is the whispering of the devil or the devil’s insufflations (Waswâs-il-Khannas,
Qur’an:114) over and over again, as Waswâsah by itself suggests
repetition. This evil suggestion is to test the believer in having thoughts of
disbelief, obsession related to purification and the fear of losing control in
acts of worship. All believers are subjected to these thoughts and whispers
from Satan or Jinn but for some, it becomes an obsession and compulsion.
Waswâs al-Qahri [Arabic: “overwhelming whisperings] is a complex phsycho-spiritual
problem found in Muslim populations. It is akin to pathological
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) . . . (G. Hussein Rassool, Evil Eye, Jinn Possession, and Mental
Health Issues: An Islamic Perspective [Explorations in Mental Health;
Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2019], 147, comment in square brackets added for
clarification)
Elsewhere,
we read:
Sources of Waswâs
There are three sources of Waswâs: The Nafs (or self, ego, soul), which is inclined to evil, the devils, among
the Jinn (demons) and the devils among mankind. The first source of Waswâs
is from the Nafs al-Ammara Bissu (The Soul which Commands). According to
Utz (A. Utz, Psychology from the Islamic Perspective [Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia: International Islamic Publishing House, 2011]), the intrusive thoughts
are from the “Nafs itself, which may be inclined to evil” (p. 253). This kind
of Nafs, by its intrinsic nature nudges human beings into the evil actions Allah
says (Interpretation of the meaning):
Indeed,
the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil . . .
(Sūrat Hud (Hud The Prophet) 12:53)
Allah
also says (interpretation of the meaning):
And
We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and Wie are
close to him than (his) jugular vein.
(Sūrat Qaf (Qaf) 50:16)
(Ibid.,
148)
Sura 114
from the Qur’an, referenced earlier, reads thusly:
SURA 114
[1] Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of men, [2] The King
of men, [3] The god of men, [4] From the evil of the whisperings of
the slinking (Shaitan), [5] Who whispers into the hearts of men,
[6] From among the jinn and the men. (M.H. Shakir translation)
Another
translation renders the text as:
SURA 114
[1] Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind, [2] The
King of mankind, [3] The god of mankind, [4] From the evil of the
sneaking whisperer, [5] Who whispereth in the hearts of mankind,
[6] Of the jinn and of mankind. (Muhammad M. Pickthall translation)
