In this very extensive and lengthy article I have explained that waswas is of two main types: ordinary whisperings from Shaytan that come to every Muslim, and obsessive compulsive disorder which is an illness from which a person does not choose to suffer.
Ordinary waswas is dealt with by ignoring it, seeking refuge with Allah, and not examining thoughts. OCD, however, is marked by very strong repetitive thoughts and actions that cause distress and take time and energy, such as repeating wudu, checking purity, or redoing acts of worship. The texts from the Sunnah show that such whispers do not harm a believer’s iman, and that a person is not taken to account for what crosses the mind so long as it is not spoken or acted upon.
I have then distinguished between normal doubts that come and go, and pathological patterns that become fixed and continuous patterns or illness.
I have given examples of religious obsessions in purification, prayer, belief, and divorce, and non religious obsessions like checking, cleaning and counting.
Ibn Qudamah, Ibn al Jawzi and Ibn al Qayyim speak on people who repeated wudu or ghusl many times and advise that the cure is to build certainty, stop repeating, and not to give weight to doubts, because following such doubts is in fact obedience to Shaytan.
The general rule is that certainty is not removed by doubt and that acts of worship remain valid unless a person is sure they have invalidated them.
I have then take notes from Dr Khalid ibn Hamad al Jabir’s lecture on Youtube.
Dr. Khalid bin Hamad al-Jaber, is a Consultant in Family Medicine and Psychotherapy. He works in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs
In the lecture he presents treatment to OCD as a structured process:
- understanding what obsessions are,
- accepting that many others suffer from them,
- and then changing both beliefs and behaviour.
He says that the problem is not the first intrusive thought but the way the person reacts to it, by trying to find complete certainty, checking, repeating, or seeking reassurance.
Effective treatment is based on not responding to the demands of the obsession, applying the principle that certainty is not removed by doubt, and tolerating the anxiety until it naturally goes down. Over time, by refusing to repeat acts of worship, wudu, checking or cleaning, and by not debating the obsessive thought, the pressure of OCD reduces and the person can return to a normal religious life of a Muslim.
Navigation For The Summary Of The First Segment
Understanding Waswas
Waswas and Faith
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Types of Obsessions
Religious Obsessions
Non Religious Obsessions
Difference Between OCD and Ordinary Waswas
Scholars on Doubts and Purification (Wudhu&Ghusl)
General Principles for Dealing with Obsessions
Practical Treatment for Religious Waswas
Naviation Menu For The Summary of Dr Khalid ibn Hamad al Jabir’s Video on OCD
Therapeutic Principles and Stages of Treatment by Dr Khalid ibn Hamad al Jabir
Core Beliefs and Convictions in Obsessions
Obsessive Behaviours and Responses
Managing Pressure Anxiety and Doubt
Stopping Compulsions
Long Term Treatment and Relapse Management
Navigation Menu For The First Full Segment Of The Article
Introduction
The Meaning of Waswas in Language and Usage
The Most Important Hadiths that Describe Waswas
First Group: Hadith that Describe the Waswas of Shaytan that Calls a Person to Commit a Sin
Second Group: Hadith that Confirm the Soundness of Iman for the One who Suffers from Waswas
Third Group: Hadith that Remove Accountability for Inner Talk and Waswas
Fourth Group: Hadith that Attribute Waswas to Shaytan
Fifth Group: Hadith that Give Practical Treatment which Includes Seeking Refuge with Allah from Shaytan
Sixth Group: Hadith that Give Practical Behavioural Treatment for Waswas without Mention of Seeking Refuge
A Pause with the Meanings of the Hadith of Waswas
The True Nature of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
The Extent of its Spread
Types of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Waswas of religious thoughts.
Waswas of religious actions.
Waswas of checking and verifying.
Waswas of counting.
Sexual waswas.
Waswas of harming.
The Difference between Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Satanic Waswas
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in the Words of Muslim Scholars
Ibn Qudamah, Ibn Al Jawzi & Ibn Al Qayyim Speaking On How To Deal With Constant Doubts During Wudhu Or Ghusl
Advice, Guidance and Principles for Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Dealing with It
Suggested Examples of Self Help Actions That a Patient Can Follow as Supportive Behaviours alongside Structured Treatment
Treating Waswas in Religious Thoughts about Allah
Treating Waswas about Lengthening Wudu and Ghusl
Treating Waswas about Cleaning after Urination
Treating Waswas about Intention, Especially in the Prayer
Treating Waswas about the Opening Takbir
Treating Waswas about Doubt in the Number of Rakahs
Treating Waswas about Breaking Wudu during the Prayer
Treating Waswas regarding Pronouncing Divorce (Talaq)
Conclusion To The First Segment
Navigation Menu For Dr Khalid ibn Hamad al Jabir’s Video on OCD
Therapeutic Principles in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by Dr Khalid ibn Hamad al Jabir
Stages Of Treating Obsessions
The First Principle Of Treatment
The Difference Between Simple Whisperings And Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
You Are Not Alone
Types Of Obsessions
Obsessions Of Worship
Obsessions Of Belief And Mental Obsessions
Obsessions Of Order And Organisation
Obsessions Of Cleanliness
Obsessions Of Checking And Repetition
The Second Principle
Fundamental Convictions In Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
The First Conviction Of Obsessions
The Second Conviction Of Obsessions
The Third Conviction Of Obsessions
The Fourth Conviction Of Obsessions
Obsessive Behaviours
Behaviours Of Response
Behaviours Of Safety
The Third Principle: The Patient With Obsessions Cannot Usually Treat Himself
Rate Of Improvement After Treatment
The Principle Of Cognitive Confusion
The Principle Of Spontaneous Application
The Principle Of Not Checking The Truth Of The Obsession
The Principle That The Problem Is Not The Obsession But What Comes After It
The Principle That The Feeling Of The Person With Obsessions Is Not Correct
The Best Way To Treat The Obsession
Do Not Respond To The Demands Of The Obsession
The Principle Of Certainty
The Illusion Of Perfection And Caution
How To Deal With The Pressure Of Obsessions
The Need For A Treatment Programme
Calmness In Dealing With Obsessions
The Example Of The Glass Of Tea
The Example Of The Queue
The Example Of Calming An Angry Person
The Method Of Patience In Waiting
Distinguishing Between Important Thoughts And Obsessive Thoughts
The Example Of The Torn Cloak
The Example Of The Excavator
The Example Of The Faulty Alarm
Stopping Obsessive Behaviours
Behaviours In Obsessions Of Belief
Discussing Deep Psychological Traits
Dealing With Relapse
Summary
Understanding Waswas
Waswas in Arabic language refers to a quiet sound and to inner talk. Ibn Faris said that the root consisting of waw and sin indicates a soft sound: the sound of jewellery is called waswas, the whisper of the hunter is waswas, and the misleading of the son of Adam by Shaytan is waswas. (Maqayis al lugha 6/76)
In Lisan al arab it is explained that waswasah and waswas also mean the inner talk of the self. It is said: his self whispered to him, whispering and repeated whispering. (Lisan al arab 15/208)
Al Raghib al Asfahani said that waswasah is a bad passing thought. Allah the Exalted said:
“فَوَسْوَسَ لَهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ”
“Then Shaytan whispered to both of them.” (Al Araf – 20, Mufradat alfaz al Qur an page 869)
Allah the Exalted also said:
“وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ”
“And We know what his own self whispers to him.” (Qaf – 16)
The one dominated by waswasah is called musawwis. The word waswas is also used for Shaytan himself, as a verbal noun used for the doer, in the words of Allah the Exalted:
“مِنْ شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ”
“From the evil of the whisperer who withdraws, who whispers into the chests of people.” (Surah al Nas 4–5)
In common usage waswas is the talk of the self or of Shaytan about things that bring no benefit and no good.
Waswas and Faith
The hadiths describe different types of waswas and their relation to iman and accountability.
Abdullah ibn Masud, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet ﷺ explained that Shaytan has a touch with the son of Adam, promising evil and denying the truth, while the angel promises good and confirms the truth. Whoever finds the angelic touch should praise Allah, and whoever finds the satanic touch should seek refuge with Allah. Then he recited:
“الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ وَيَأْمُرُكُم بِالْفَحْشَاءِ وَاللَّهُ يَعِدُكُم مَّغْفِرَةً مِّنْهُ وَفَضْلًا”
“Shaytan promises you poverty and commands you to indecency, whereas Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty.” (Al Baqarah – 268, Sunan al Tirmidhi 2988, as Sunan al kubra by al Nasa i 11051, Umdat at tafsir 1/325)
The companions complained of heavy thoughts. Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that they said: “We find in ourselves thoughts that one of us feels too great to speak of.” The Prophet ﷺ asked: “Have you really found that” They said: Yes. He said: “That is pure iman.” (Sahih Muslim 132)
In another report, when he was asked about waswas, he said: “That is pure iman.” (Sahih Muslim 133) The believer hates these thoughts and does not accept them, and that rejection itself shows the life of iman.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah has overlooked for my ummah what their inner selves whisper to them, so long as they do not act upon it or speak about it, and what they are forced to do.” (Ibn Majah 2044) Accountability is connected to chosen belief and voluntary action, not to involuntary passing thoughts.
A man came to the Prophet ﷺ complaining of thoughts so grave that he would rather become charcoal than speak of them. He ﷺ said: “Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. Praise be to Allah who has returned his plot to mere waswas.” (Sunan Abi Dawud 5112)
Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated that Shaytan flees from the call to prayer, then returns to whisper during the prayer. (Sahih Muslim 389) These narrations show that waswas is a known part of the believer’s test, that it does not harm iman by itself, and that the servant is rewarded for resisting it.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychological illness that comes to a person without will or choice. It is like other physical and psychological illnesses, a trial through which the servant is rewarded for being patient, and it is recommended for the servant to seek treatment, for Allah has not sent down any illness except that He has sent down for it a cure.
Because the word waswas is used for this illness, it has become mixed in people’s minds with waswas that comes from the self and from Shaytan.
Both share the fact that at the beginning they are not chosen, but they differ in that obsessive compulsive disorder has biological causes and a level of repetition, pressure and compulsion that is far more intense than ordinary waswas.
Dr Wael Abu Hendi suggested changing the word waswas in this medical context and calling it compulsive possession. He explained that a person may at the same time be exposed to whispers from the self, whispers from Shaytan, and obsessive compulsive disorder, because these whispers differ in their origin.
Two of them are within a person’s capacity, the whispers of the self and Shaytan, which a person can repel through seeking refuge with Allah, learning the religion and bringing himself closer to Allah. Obsessive compulsive disorder is different. Compulsion is more dominant than whispering in it, and this lies outside the limits of a person’s capacity.
The blood of istihadah is a purely biological matter, yet the Prophet ﷺ said regarding it: “It is a kick from Shaytan.” (Sunan an Nasa’i 209)
Similarly, it is possible that Shaytan has some connection to the emergence of obsessive compulsive disorder, but that has no effect on the patient’s iman, reward or punishment because of the illness itself.
Dr Muhammad al Shami defined obsessive compulsive disorder as the dominance of a specific thought that imposes itself with an insistence the person cannot overcome, a thought foreign to his way of thinking, known to be false and unconvincing, yet repeating until it hinders daily life and drives him to compulsive acts that he thinks will reduce the distress, while in reality they increase it over time. (Mu’jam as sihhah an nafsiyyah al muasir by Dr Rashad Musa page 184)
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders explains that the disorder involves obsessions, compulsions, or both. Obsessions are repeated, fixed thoughts, impulses or images that are intrusive and unwanted and cause marked anxiety, which the person attempts to ignore or neutralise with other thoughts or actions.
Compulsions are repeated behaviours, such as washing, ordering, checking, or mental acts, such as silent recitation, counting, or repeating words, which the person feels driven to do in response to an obsession or according to rigid rules.
These acts aim to prevent or reduce anxiety or prevent some feared event, but they are not realistically connected to what they are meant to prevent, or they are clearly excessive. The obsessions and compulsions consume time, often more than an hour each day, or cause severe distress or impairment in functioning. (DSM 5, NCBI table ch3.t13)
Dr Wael Abu Hendi noted that classical descriptions of waswas in tafsir and kalam, such as the division by Muhammad Abduh into inspiration from the angels and waswas towards evil from Shaytan, do not mention domination and coercion. The feeling that a thought controls the person and overpowers him, taking the matter beyond his capacity, is not found in the lexical definitions of waswas. For that reason he suggested adding the term compulsive to waswas, or speaking of dominating thoughts rather than using waswas alone.
He concluded that according to a modern Islamic understanding, based on fiqh, hadith and modern medical knowledge, waswas is of three types: waswas of the self, related to what the self loves and desires whether lawful or unlawful; waswas of Shaytan, who deceives, adorns and distracts; and obsessive compulsive disorder, whose thoughts go against the person’s nature, disturb and frighten him, and overpower him, and from which seeking refuge from Shaytan alone is not sufficient for treatment. (Al wuswas Al Qahri page 16–17)
Types of Obsessions
Obsessive compulsive disorder has different forms, but they all share the dominance of a specific thought that the person cannot resist, which then compels him to perform a repeated action. The most well known forms are described as follows.
There is waswas of cleanliness and purity. The person feels that a part of his body, usually his hands, is not clean, so he washes them, then feels they are still unclean and repeats washing many times, sometimes for an hour, until the skin is damaged. Bathing can also be repeated for long periods due to doubt that every part has been washed.
This extends to excessive disinfecting because of fear of viruses and bacteria, as occurred widely during the Coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020, until it reaches the level of believing that anything can transmit illness. A patient may stop leaving the house except for extreme need because of the exhausting rituals before and after going out.
It can take the form of exaggerated disgust in menstruation, where a woman repeatedly washes her clothes, bed covers and chairs, despite using sanitary pads, and shows strong disgust toward other menstruating women, even preventing them from sitting on her bed or chair or using her bathroom.
She avoids streets near rubbish places out of fear that used pads may be there. In men it appears as constant fear of drops of urine after urinating. He may cough repeatedly, rub harshly and spend long periods trying to force out every drop and overdo washing and cleaning.
There is waswas of the prayer, seen in constant doubt about the number of rakahs and actions of bowing and prostration, leading to repetition of prayers and frequent sujud al sahw. There is doubt about forming the intention, so the person stands for a long time thinking about it until the prayer time ends, and doubt about the correctness of the opening takbir, which he repeats.
There is waswas of religious thoughts, which are intrusive phrases and images that insult Allah the Exalted, the Messenger ﷺ, the religion or the Qur an. These cause intense distress because the person feels that he has left the religion, even though he does not accept these thoughts and cannot drive them away.
He may repeat the testimonies many times believing that he has left Islam and must re enter it. These thoughts are completely different from the doubts of atheism, because the person with atheistic doubts follows them, while the person with obsessive compulsive disorder rejects and fights them. Most of those affected by this type are very keen on practising the religion.
There is waswas of religious actions, such as extremism in correct pronunciation of letters in recitation beyond the natural limit, with excessive tajwid and elongation that disrupt normal speech and recitation. There is also waswas in married men concerning whether they have divorced their wives without intending to.
There is waswas about the purity of water without any sign of impurity, or about whether Allah’s name was mentioned at slaughter. Among Christians it appears in repeated confession and fear of stepping on something resembling a cross.
There is waswas of checking and verifying, where a person keeps checking doors, windows and cookers, returning to the house and being late to appointments because of continuous checking. There is waswas of counting, where he repeatedly counts money although he knows the amount, or counts objects and house parts such as tiles.
There is waswas of ordering, in which he constantly arranges belongings to be equal and symmetrical and becomes very upset at any small change, down to arranging threads at the edge of a carpet.
There is sexual waswas, where the person looks against his will at the private parts of others or imagines scenes of intercourse without desire, which remain fixed in the mind. There can be intense fear that he will sexually assault a woman or child, although he loves them and cannot imagine doing so, or fear that he is sexually deviant, such as believing himself to be homosexual without reality.
There is waswas of harming, where a mother fears that she will hurt her children, though she loves them, or a person imagines that he will kill others with a knife or gun, even though violence is not in his nature and he cannot imagine actually doing that.
Religious Obsessions
Religious obsessions are central in many Muslim patients. They include intrusive thoughts about Allah the Exalted, the Messenger ﷺ, the religion and the Qur an that the person hates, rejects and fears.
They also include intrusive doubts about iman and about the correctness of acts of worship, especially wudu, ghusl and prayer.
The person may repeatedly renew his faith by saying the testimonies, thinking he has left Islam because of these thoughts. He may excessively lengthen wudu and ghusl, repeat prayers, struggle for long periods with the intention, or keep restarting the opening takbir. He may suspect that he has pronounced divorce when he has not intended it.
The texts make it clear that these thoughts are not what defines a person’s iman, because Allah the Exalted said:
“إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالْإِيمَانِ”
“Except for whoever is forced while his heart is at peace with iman.” (An Nahl – 106)
As long as the heart is at peace with iman and dislikes these thoughts, they are like compulsion and coercion and Allah will not take the servant to account for them. The person must understand this just as strongly as he feels fear of having fallen into something wrong.
Non Religious Obsessions
Non religious obsessions include the forms of cleanliness and purity, checking, counting, ordering, sexual images without desire, and fears of harming others. Although these may not be explicitly religious, they strongly affect worship by using up time, exhausting the body and mind, and keeping the person away from a balanced life and therefore away from many good deeds.
The shared feature in these obsessions is the domination of thoughts and rituals over daily life, despite the person’s awareness that they are irrational. The patient feels overpowered, anxious and compelled. His amazement usually lies in his not seeing this as an illness but as merely trying to be cautious, clean or careful.
Difference Between OCD and Ordinary Waswas
Obsessive compulsive disorder afflicts about two to three percent of people, roughly one in every forty adults, and about one in every two hundred children. Satanic waswas in the general sense affects every human being.
Obsessive compulsive disorder may begin at any age, but it appears especially in adolescence. Ordinary waswas is present from early life and becomes more active at puberty and with the beginning of responsibility.
In obsessive compulsive disorder the person feels that the thoughts are intrusive, foreign and not from himself. In satanic waswas the thoughts are not intrusive in the same way and feel closer to the self.
Obsessive compulsive disorder is accompanied by strong feelings of rejection, distress and severe anxiety. Ordinary waswas connected to desire brings a feeling of pleasure, and waswas connected to doubt brings lighter anxiety.
The thoughts of obsessive compulsive disorder are not logical, whereas most satanic waswas have some logical face and can be given an explanation or mental justification.
Obsessive compulsive disorder increases among those who are anxious, hesitant, already inclined to waswas, have weak personality and little self confidence. Satanic waswas increases among those who are far from Allah and have weak iman, and can also increase among those with strong iman because Shaytan fights them more fiercely.
The treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder is through medication and behavioural and cognitive therapies, while the treatment of satanic waswas is through drawing close to Allah, opposing Shaytan and purifying the self that commands to evil.
Obsessive compulsive disorder often improves or stops with treatment, whereas satanic waswas only ends with death. It is part of the continuous struggle of the believer.
In society obsessive compulsive disorder is strange, little understood and can be stigmatised, while ordinary waswas is recognised by most people as part of the challenge between the person and Shaytan. The one with obsessive compulsive disorder receives little understanding and support, while the one with normal waswas finds support more easily.
Scholars on Doubts and Purification (Wudhu&Ghusl)
Muslim scholars recognised overwhelming doubt and distinguished it from light passing doubts. The Malikis called it istinkah and spoke of the mustankih, whose doubt overpowers him so that he cannot push it away.
Shaykh Muhammad alish, may Allah have mercy on him, explained that rubbing is an obligation in ghusl according to the Maliki madhhab, and that predominant thought is sufficient to judge that water has reached. This predominant thought is not required for the mustankih because he is unable to attain it. For him mere doubt is enough, and it is obligatory upon him to divert himself from the doubt and turn away from it, and there is no remedy for him except that. (Manh al Jalil Sharh Mukhtasar Khalil 1/127)
Ibn Qudamah, may Allah have mercy on him, explained that whoever is certain of purity and doubts impurity remains upon purity, and whoever is certain of impurity and doubts purification remains upon impurity. The ruling follows what is certain, and doubt is disregarded. This is supported by the hadith:
“A man complained to the Prophet ﷺ that he imagines something occurring during the prayer. He said: He should not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.” (Sahih al Bukhari 137, Sahih Muslim 389)
He detailed further cases where certainty about previous states decides the current ruling when doubt appears, and he concluded that purity is not nullified except by known nullifiers according to the majority. (Al Mughni 1/262–264)
Ibn al Jawzi, may Allah have mercy on him, spoke about Shaytan’s deception in cleansing after relieving oneself. He described people staying too long in the toilet, walking, clearing their throat and raising feet, thinking that this will fully cleanse them, while in fact the more they do that the more urine descends.
He explained that what suffices is to squeeze out what remains in the male organ and then use water, and that heavy stones are not required when three clean stones suffice if the impurity has not spread beyond the exit. He warned that whoever is not content with what the Sharia has deemed sufficient is an innovator, not a follower. (Talbis Iblis page 135–137, Sahih Muslim 1300)
He also described Shaytan’s deception in wudu, by confusing people about intention, making them repeat formulas, doubt water purity and use excessive amounts of water, which wastes time and resources, leaves the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ and even causes someone to miss the congregational prayer. He quoted the hadith where the Prophet ﷺ saw Sa d making wudu and said: “What is this waste” Sa d said: Is there waste in wudu He said: “Yes, even if you are at a flowing river.” (Ibn Majah 425) He also mentioned the hadith: “For wudu there is a devil.” (Sahih Muslim 238)
Ibn al Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, quoted from Imam Ahmad rebuking his son for excessive wudu, telling him that there is a devil called al Walhan for wudu and ordering him to use less water. He stated that extra washing beyond three times is only done by an afflicted person, and that people who go beyond bounds in purification are blameworthy. He argued that the wudu of the one who goes to excess is not an act of worship that Allah loves, even if the obligation is technically lifted, because Allah does not love those who go beyond bounds. (Ighathat al Lahfan 1/143)
He explained the practical guidance in the hadith: “If one of you feels something in his stomach and it becomes unclear whether something came out or not, he should not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.” (Sahih Muslim 362) and the hadith of Abdullah ibn Zayd mentioned earlier, and the hadith of Abu Sa id al Khudri that Shaytan pulls a hair from a person’s rear so he thinks he has passed wind, and that the person should not leave the prayer until he hears a sound or finds a smell. (Musnad Ahmad, Sunan Abi Dawud)
He mentioned the Sunnah of sprinkling water on the private parts and undergarments after urinating in order to repel waswas. This is based on the report that the Prophet ﷺ after urinating would perform wudu and sprinkle water, and that Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, used to sprinkle until his trousers were wet. (Sunan Abi Dawud, Ighathat al Lahfan page 219–224)
He then described the way of the Prophet ﷺ and the companions in using very small amounts of water for wudu and ghusl, and that exceeding three washings is described as wrongdoing, transgression and injustice, based on the hadith of the Bedouin who asked about wudu and was shown three washings three times, after which the Prophet ﷺ said: “This is wudu. Whoever goes beyond this has done wrong, transgressed and committed injustice.” (Abu Dawud 135, Ibn Majah 422 and others, authenticated by Ibn Khuzaymah 174, Ibn Hajar in Fath al Bari 1/233)
He criticised people who insist on using large basins, overflowing them and preventing others from sharing, and he considered this legislating in the religion what Allah has not permitted. He also refuted their false claim to be leaving what causes doubt for what does not cause doubt, explaining that their unease comes from waswas, not from genuine piety. (Ighathat al Lahfan page 219–224)
The author pointed out that the amount of blame in these texts reflects the fact that the true involuntary nature of obsessive compulsive disorder was not fully understood. At the same time the blame is useful because it reminds the patient of his responsibility to seek treatment and not clothe his compulsions in a false cloak of piety.
General Principles for Dealing with Obsessions
The advice and principles can be summarised in a number of connected points.
First, all passing thoughts and waswas come without choice. The servant is not taken to account for their occurrence. What matters is the response. For ordinary satanic waswas the response is to seek refuge with Allah and turn away. For obsessive compulsive disorder the response is to be firm in following medical and behavioural treatment.
Second, medical treatment is very important when a qualified doctor sees it as appropriate. Many fears about psychiatric medication, such as dependence, addiction or catastrophic harm, are wrong. Medication is prescribed for benefit, not harm, and if the harm were greater than its benefit, it would be banned. Long experience and large studies on millions of patients have shown that medication is very beneficial in treating obsessive compulsive disorder.
Third, there are structured treatment programmes based on different schools of psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. A doctor or therapist should be consulted to select the appropriate approach.
Fourth, verbal affirmations support treatment. The patient should repeat phrases such as: “I do not hold bad thoughts about Allah. I do not believe that wudu has been invalidated. My prayer is valid. My hands are clean.” He should write these sentences ten times a day and remind himself that these symptoms are signs of illness, not a reflection of his iman.
Fifth, he should imagine the suffering involved in repeating actions and then imagine himself stopping and living as a healthy person, until that imagined state is adopted in reality.
Sixth, he must prevent himself from repeating actions, to the extent of his ability, and quickly engage in other activities so that he is not captured again by compulsions. He must know that resisting causes tension, especially at the beginning, but if he resists, the waswas becomes weaker, and if he gives in, it grows stronger.
Seventh, he should resist all forms of waswas together as much as possible, while focusing in effort on the strongest forms, because the different types strengthen each other.
Eighth, he should not waste time searching for the exact cause of waswas. He will not reach a single specific reason and should instead move directly to solutions.
Ninth, debating and arguing with the thought only increases it. He should not think about the waswas itself or about its direct opposite, but occupy his mind with a third, unrelated matter.
Tenth, he must cancel any special system that he has imposed on himself and others, such as a special system for cleanliness, and confront what he fears directly, for example by sleeping in a bed he considers impure and staying there until the barrier breaks.
Eleventh, he should seek help from those around him, asking them to help him break his system and to stop him at a natural limit, such as when washing hands.
Twelfth, treatment does not occur without effort and resistance. If he does not strive to resist and push away waswas, it may not leave him. He must maintain his progress and continue confronting even if he relapses at times.
Thirteenth, he must remember constantly that certainty is not removed by doubt, and that his doubts have no value, especially knowing that he is suffering from waswas.
Fourteenth, a normal person bases rulings on knowledge. The Prophet ﷺ told the one who doubted passing wind in the prayer: “He should not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.” (Sahih al Bukhari 137).
How then can someone who knows he has waswas rely on mere passing thoughts without any firm sign
Fifteenth, it is permissible for someone with waswas to follow the easiest recognised fiqh view in matters where there is genuine disagreement, after consulting a mufti and explaining his condition. Taking the strictest view here is not piety but results from waswas and makes the illness worse.
Sixteenth, he must not surrender to guilt, shame and self blame. What he is going through is not a sin, but an illness that he did not choose and cannot control.
Seventeenth, the basic rule regarding things is permissibility unless there is clear evidence of forbiddance. Something cannot be judged impure without proof.
Eighteenth, among the objectives of Sharia is ease, especially for those with excuses. This does not cancel obligations, but it means that the pillars should be fulfilled in the easiest valid way.
Nineteenth, intention does not need to be spoken aloud or forced. The very fact that a person moves to do an act of worship is proof that he intends it.
Twentieth, a person is not required to occupy himself with whether his act has been accepted. His duty is to perform it as commanded.
Twenty first, he is not taken to account for what his inner self whispers. Accountability is for beliefs that he chooses and connects his heart to, and for voluntary actions.
Twenty second, he does not need to renew Islam or iman unless he has, by choice and full conviction, adopted a belief that contradicts the religion.
Twenty third, patient endurance of illness brings reward and raises rank. A person with waswas may feel that he is under Allah’s anger because of his mistakes, while in reality his patience with this trial increases his good deeds.
Twenty fourth, bad deeds are recorded when done deliberately, not forgetfully or under compulsion, and with knowledge that the deed is forbidden. Compulsive thoughts and feelings are not held against him. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah has overlooked for my ummah what their inner selves whisper to them as long as they do not act upon it or speak about it.” (Sahih al Bukhari 6664)
Twenty fifth, the hadith states: “Whoever intends a bad deed and does not do it, Allah writes it for him as a complete good deed.” (Sahih al Bukhari 6491).
If this is the reward for someone who freely intends a bad deed then leaves it, what then of someone forced by obsessive thoughts toward sins, who resists and does not act upon them. His reward is even greater.
Twenty sixth, repeating fiqh questions about issues connected to waswas only feeds the illness. It brings a temporary calm, then the attack returns. Asking and answering becomes nourishment for the circle of waswas.
That is why when the companions complained about the waswas “Who created Allah” the Prophet ﷺ did not give detailed theological answers, but commanded them to seek refuge and stop. Waswas is like itching: the more you scratch, the more you want to scratch.
Twenty seventh, the key notion in dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder is turning away. Ad Dardir, may Allah have mercy on him, said that the mustankih, whose doubt frequently recurs, must turn away from it, otherwise following it ruins the religion from its foundation. (Ash Sharh as saghir 1/170) The aim is to reach a state where turning away is possible through building strength with treatment.
Practical Treatment for Religious Waswas
For religious thoughts about Allah the Exalted, the Messenger ﷺ and the religion, the person must be certain that he is compelled and that Allah will not take him to account so long as his heart is at peace with iman. The verse about the one forced to utter kufr while his heart is firm in iman applies here. (An Nahl – 106)
The Prophet ﷺ guided those plagued with the question “Who created Allah” through several hadith. He said: “People will continue to ask one another until it is said: This is Allah who created the creation, so who created Allah Whoever finds anything of that then let him say: I believe in Allah.” (Sahih Muslim 134a)
In another narration he commanded that Surah al Ikhlas be recited, that the person spit lightly to his left three times and seek refuge from Shaytan. (Sunan Abi Dawud 4722, Sahih al Jami 8182).
In a further narration he said that when Shaytan reaches the point of saying “Who created your Lord”, the person should seek refuge with Allah and stop. (Sahih al Bukhari 3276, Sahih Muslim 134)
From these narrations the method is clear: say “I believe in Allah”, recite Surah al Ikhlas, spit lightly to the left three times without saliva, seek refuge from Shaytan and cut the thoughts.
For waswas in wudu and ghusl, the hadith of Sa d shows the prohibition of wasting water: “What is this waste” “Is there waste in wudu” “Yes, even if you are on a flowing river.” (Ibn Majah 425)
The Prophet ﷺ said: “A mudd is enough for wudu and a sa is enough for ghusl from janabah.” (Sunan Ibn Majah 269)
Jabir ibn Abdullah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that a sa is enough for ghusl, and when a man objected, he replied: “It was enough for someone who had more hair than you and was better than you.” (Sahih al Bukhari 252)
A mudd is about two thirds of a litre, and a sa is about two and three quarters of a litre. It is authentically reported that the Prophet ﷺ performed wudu with less than a mudd, about two thirds of a small bottle of water.
An Nawawi, may Allah have mercy on him, explained that the scholars are unanimously agreed that exceeding three washings is disliked, and that if a person doubts whether he has washed two or three times, he should treat it as two and add one, as this is what fits the legal principles. (Sharh an Nawawi ala Muslim 3/463)
Treating waswas after urination begins with understanding the nature of droplets and the difference between urine, semen, madhiy and wadiy. In most cases what appears is only a small amount of urine.
Anatomical differences make this more apparent in men. Pressing the bladder, coughing and other actions do not stop urine formation because the kidneys continue to work. Overdoing these actions only strengthens waswas, as the person constantly sees new droplets.
The neglected Sunnah of sprinkling water on the private parts after wudu is a direct practical solution.
Al Hakam ibn Sufyan al Thaqafi saw the Prophet ﷺ perform wudu then take a handful of water and sprinkle it on his private parts. (Sunan Ibn Majah 379, Sunan an Nasa i 134, Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah by as Sindi 1/172)
The scholars explained that this was to repel waswas and teach the ummah.
Regarding small amounts of impurity, some scholars hold that a small trace such as a drop of urine or wadiy is excused.
The Shafi is excuse small amounts; the Malikis do likewise in cases that are hard to avoid; the Hanafis excuse up to a dirham’s amount of some impurities. Patients with waswas may follow the easier recognised view because they have an excuse. (Al Wuswasah ru yah tibbiyyah shar iyyah page 114 onwards)
For intention in the prayer, the hadith “Actions are only by intentions, and every person will have only what he intended” (Sahih al Bukhari 6689) emphasises sincerity, not complicated formulas. It is impossible for a person to stand and begin praying without intending to pray.
The example of hijrah shows that what matters most is whether the act is for Allah or for a worldly purpose. So when someone stands to pray Dhuhr he certainly intends the obligatory Dhuhr prayer for Allah, without needing to strain or repeat internal statements.
For the opening takbir, the hadith show that the Prophet ﷺ sometimes raised his hands with the takbir, sometimes before it and sometimes after it; he raised them to the shoulders or to the top of the ears, with fingers extended. (Al Bukhari, Abu Dawud, Ibn Khuzaymah, Sifat salat an Nabi by al Albani page 86).
All of these are valid. The person should say “Allahu akbar” naturally, as he speaks ordinarily, without focusing obsessively on articulation. Repeating the takbir many times leads either to unnecessary movements inside the prayer or to the mistake of leaving and re entering the prayer without need.
For frequent doubts in the number of rakahs and in the occurrence of the intention, the scholars noted that these cases are often theoretical and relate to the mustankih.
Al Hajjawi mentioned that on the madhhab doubts about the intention would require restarting, but Ibn Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on him, pointed out that such a situation hardly occurs in reality for a sane person except for the one afflicted with waswas, whose doubts are not considered. (Ash Sharh al mumti ala Zad al Mustaqni 2/299)
Al Rahibani explained that when doubt becomes frequent so that it resembles waswas, sujud al sahw is not prescribed. Instead the doubts are to be thrown away in prayer, wudu, ghusl, removing impurity and tayammum, because paying attention to them leads to stubbornness and unnecessary addition to the prayer despite being certain of completing it. (Matali uli an Nuha 1/507)
For waswas about breaking wudu in the prayer, the ruling is founded on the hadith: “He should not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.” (Sahih al Bukhari 137)
Many companions and tabi in forbade leaving the prayer because of feeling moisture. Sa id ibn al Musayyib said that even if something were to flow down his thigh he would not leave the prayer until he completed it. (Muwatta Imam Malik Book 2 Hadith 58).
Mujahid said that praying while something is coming out is more beloved than obeying Shaytan by leaving the prayer. (Dhamm al muwaswisin by Ibn Qudamah page 42).
For waswas about pronouncing divorce, Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on him, explained that an established marriage cannot be removed by mere illusions and waswas. Reading words of divorce in fiqh books, teaching them or relating someone else’s divorce does not cause divorce.
Even if a person overtaken by waswas utters words of divorce without real intention or choice, divorce does not take effect. Divorce is only effective when a person truly intends it and pronounces it or writes it freely, not under compulsion or unconscious pressure. (Fatawa Nur ala ad Darp 2/19)
He mentioned the authentic hadith: “Three matters, their seriousness is seriousness and their joke is seriousness: divorce, marriage and emancipation.” Whoever concludes a marriage or pronounces divorce jokingly, while intending the act itself, is held to it. Therefore a person must be cautious and not play with these formulas in real life, but the waswas sufferer who lacks intention and feels forced is not included in this ruling.
Therapeutic Principles and Stages of Treatment by Dr Khalid ibn Hamad al Jabir
The overall therapeutic understanding combines Islamic guidance with medical and psychological treatments. The first stage is to clarify concepts: distinguishing ordinary waswas from obsessive compulsive disorder, understanding that involuntary thoughts do not harm iman, and that obsessive compulsive disorder has biological, hereditary and environmental causes.
The second stage is to accept treatment, especially medical treatment when indicated, and to correct wrong beliefs about psychiatric medication. Structured psychotherapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy are used to address distorted thinking and behaviour.
The third stage is active practice of behavioural principles: resisting repetition, preventing rituals, cancelling special systems, confronting feared situations, using verbal affirmations, writing and imaginative practice, and working with family members to limit compulsions.
The fourth stage is consolidation and continuation, maintaining progress, dealing with relapses as part of treatment, and integrating the religious principles of certainty, ease, avoiding excess and holding firmly to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ as a measure for purification, prayer and daily life.
The conclusion is that combining medication with psychological treatments brings clear success in treating obsessive compulsive disorder when the right medicine, dose and behavioural programme are chosen for each person. There are individual differences in response to medication and therapy. What benefits one person may not benefit another, and the treatment path must be personalised with patience and perseverance.
Core Beliefs and Convictions in Obsessions
A central point is that obsessive thoughts are not the same as beliefs. Belief is what the heart accepts and ties itself to by choice. The person with obsessive compulsive disorder rejects the intrusive thought and hates it, and this rejection is itself a sign of iman. The hadith that these heavy thoughts are “pure iman” shows that their presence is not a proof of weak faith, but that the person’s struggle against them is honoured. (Sahih Muslim 132–133)
The verse of An Nahl shows that compulsion in speech does not harm iman when the heart is content with faith (An Nahl – 106).
Likewise, someone forced by illness to experience thoughts he does not accept is not taken to account for them. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah has overlooked for my ummah what their inner selves whisper to them as long as they do not act upon it or speak about it.” (Sahih al Bukhari 6664)
There is therefore no need to renew Islam or iman continually on the basis of intrusive thoughts, and the person should not declare himself to have left Islam unless he deliberately and knowingly chooses a belief that contradicts the religion.
Obsessive Behaviours and Responses
Obsessions produce compulsive behaviours such as repeated washing, checking, arranging, confessing and asking questions. These behaviours temporarily relieve anxiety but strengthen the illness in the long term.
The recommended response is the opposite. When an obsessive fear demands a repeated action, the person should, to the extent of his ability, refrain and move on.
He should decide that one wudu is sufficient, one ghusl is sufficient, one prayer is sufficient, and that doors and cookers checked once do not need to be checked again. If he finds this difficult in one step, he can set reasonable limits and gradually shorten and reduce rituals.
Declaring Shaytan a liar in doubtful matters, as the hadith teaches, is also a behavioural response. If a thought comes saying “You have nullified your wudu”, he should answer: “You have lied”, unless he hears a sound or smells something clearly. (Sunan Abi Dawud, Musnad Ahmad)
Managing Pressure Anxiety and Doubt
Obsessive compulsive disorder creates intense pressure, anxiety and doubt. The person often feels sinful, guilty and ashamed, imagines that he is under Allah’s anger and sees himself as a hypocrite.
The religious and therapeutic principles counter this. Illness is a trial through which ranks are raised when the servant is patient. The hadith that whoever intends a bad deed and does not do it receives a good deed, when applied by analogy to someone forced by obsessive thoughts who resists acting on them, shows that his state is honoured, not despised. (Sahih al Bukhari 6491)
Recognising that certainty is not removed by doubt gives a clear mental framework. Knowing that repeated fiqh questions and endless theological discussions about waswas only feed the illness helps to cut the cycle.
The example of the Prophet ﷺ dealing with the question “Who created Allah” by brief commands to believe, recite and seek refuge, rather than long argument, is a model for managing these anxieties.
Waswas is like itching. Scratching gives a brief relief but worsens the urge. The more the person debates, explains and checks, the more he wants to do so. The more he resists, turns away and keeps to the Sunnah, the more the urge decreases.
Stopping Compulsions
Stopping compulsions is a practical path. The person should fix external rules based on the Sharia and stick to them. For example, he decides to take a single wudu for each prayer unless a clear nullifier occurs, and not to repeat it because of thoughts. He decides to use an amount of water close to a mudd for wudu and not exceed three washings. He decides to leave the prayer only if he hears a sound or smells something, not because of a vague feeling.
He should implement the Sunnah of sprinkling water after wudu to answer later doubts about moisture. He should ask his family to intervene when he exceeds a reasonable limit in washing or checking.
He should also cancel invented conditions, such as demanding that every doubt be cleared, every possible impurity be removed and every fearful thought be answered. Instead, he must accept, based on the religion, that a certain level of uncertainty on minor matters is normal and that the Sharia came with ease, not with perfectionism that destroys life and worship.
Long Term Treatment and Relapse Management
Long term treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder requires combining knowledge, medication, behavioural practice and spiritual grounding. The person should know that obsessive compulsive disorder as an illness can improve and end with treatment, even if ordinary satanic waswas remains part of the human test until death.
Relapses and returns of symptoms do not mean failure. They are part of the path. The principles remain the same: understanding that thoughts are not beliefs, that certainty is not removed by doubt, that excess in purification and worship is transgression, and that the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in purification, prayer and daily life is the correct measure.
Maintaining progress means continuing medication where prescribed, completing psychological programmes, keeping to the behavioural limits that have been set, seeking support from family and therapists, and renewing the intention to be patient and to hope for reward from Allah.
By Allah’s permission, when these therapeutic principles are followed and the person strives with patience and balance, obsessive compulsive disorder can be treated in a way that protects his iman, his worship and his daily life together.
Full Article
Introduction
Obsessive compulsive disorder is a known psychological illness that afflicts a person without will and without choice. It is, like other physical and psychological illnesses, a trial through which the servant is rewarded for being patient, and the servant is encouraged to seek treatment for it; for Allah has not sent down any illness except that He has sent down for it a cure.
Because the word waswas is used as the term for this illness, it has become mixed in people’s minds with waswas that comes from the self and from Shaytan.
This shares with obsessive compulsive disorder the fact that its beginning is not by a person’s choice, but it differs from it in that obsessive compulsive disorder has physical causes, and it has levels of repetition, pressure and compulsion that are far more intense than the other type.
It seems that this shared use of the same term for the two understandings is among the most important reasons for confusion in understanding obsessive compulsive disorder, and for mixing it up with satanic waswas. That has led to some mistakes in dealing with it, and has also led patients to blame themselves and to think that what they are going through comes from weakness of iman.
For that reason some specialists, such as Dr Wael Abu Hendi, suggested changing the word waswas in this context and naming the illness compulsive possession.
Dr Wael Abu Hendi said: In reality, we do not see anything that prevents the devil, as a whispering retreating one, from whispering to a person who is ill with obsessive compulsive disorder at the same time as his illness. This means that a person can be exposed at the same time to whispers from the self, whispers from the devil, and obsessive compulsive disorder. This is because whispers differ in their origin and fall into three types, two of which are within the limits of a person’s capacity.
These two are the whispers of the self and the whispers of the devil. A person is able to rid himself of them, if he wishes and is attentive, by what he learns from his religion, by seeking refuge with Allah, and by adhering to principles that bring him closer to Allah. These two types may sometimes assist one another. Obsessive compulsive disorder, however, is something different, in which compulsion is more dominant than whispering. This last type lies outside the limits of a person’s capacity.
The devil has no role in it except that he may be a source of an intrusive thought, an intrusive image, or repetitive thoughts with a religious nature. He often casts what he has and then withdraws, leaving the person to his condition. If the structure of the person’s brain is predisposed to obsessive compulsive disorder, he becomes affected by it and becomes ill. Allah knows best about his illness and will recompense him with His just recompense, for He is the Most Just, exalted is He.
Al wuswas Al Qahri, page 17–18
Does this mean that Shaytan has no part at all in the occurrence of obsessive compulsive disorder
No. There is still a possible connection between Shaytan and the emergence of obsessive compulsive disorder, but that has no effect on the patient’s iman, nor on his reward or his punishment because of the illness itself. Just as the blood of istihadah is a purely biological matter that has no link to the iman of the woman who has it, yet the Prophet ﷺ said about it that it is
This is a sound hadith (Sunan An Nasa’i 209)
The point is that there are inherited, biological and environmental causes of the illness that make its nature different from the nature of the ordinary satanic waswas, and that difference leads to different ways of understanding it and different ways of treating it.
In order to make the discussion about obsessive compulsive disorder and how to deal with it clear, the answer will be arranged under the following headings.
The Meaning of Waswas in Language and Usage
الوسوسة والوسواس : حديث النفس . يقال : وسوست إليه نفسه وسوسة ووسواسا ، بكسر الواو .
Also, waswasah is the bad passing thought. Allah the Exalted said:
فَوَسْوَسَ لَهُمَا الشَّيْطَانُ
Then Shaytan whispered to both of them
(Al Araf 20, Mufradat alfaz al Qur an by al Raghib al Asfahani page 869.)
And waswas is the hidden whisper. In the Qur an Allah said:
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ وَنَعْلَمُ مَا تُوَسْوِسُ بِهِ نَفْسُهُ
And indeed We created man, and We know what his own self whispers to him. (Qaf 16.)
A man is described as musawwis if waswasah overwhelms him.
The word waswas is also used for Shaytan himself, by way of using the verbal noun to refer to the doer. Thus it becomes one of his names, as Allah the Exalted said:
مِنْ شَرِّ الْوَسْوَاسِ الْخَنَّاسِ الَّذِي يُوَسْوِسُ فِي صُدُورِ النَّاسِ
From the evil of the whisperer who withdraws who whispers into the chests of people. (Surah al Nas 4–5)
Waswas in Usage
Waswas, in usage, is the talk of the self or of Shaytan about matters in which there is no benefit and no good.
The Most Important Hadiths that Describe Waswas
These hadith can be divided into several groups in how they address waswas.
First Group: Hadith that Describe the Waswas of Shaytan that Calls a Person to Commit a Sin
Second Group: Hadith that Confirm the Soundness of Iman for the One who Suffers from Waswas
The meaning is that they found in themselves bad talk about the religion or about the Lord, and they did not dare to express it. It is likely that this is the talk explained in the hadith that comes after this, about who created Allah.
Third Group: Hadith that Remove Accountability for Inner Talk and Waswas
Fourth Group: Hadith that Attribute Waswas to Shaytan
Fifth Group: Hadith that Give Practical Treatment which Includes Seeking Refuge with Allah from Shaytan
Sixth Group: Hadith that Give Practical Behavioural Treatment for Waswas without Mention of Seeking Refuge
A Pause with the Meanings of the Hadith of Waswas
When we consider these hadith, we find that they describe two basic types of waswas.
The first type is the waswas that calls a person to look at, to do, or to listen to something forbidden. This type of waswas comes from the nature of the human self. It comes into the self from the side of its desires and what it yearns for and asks for.
This waswas is not the result of a biological defect, nor is it an illness in and of itself. It is understandable that it should affect all human souls without restricting it to a special illness category for the one who is tested with it.
The response to this type of waswas is what exposes a person to reckoning and recompense from Allah.
The source of this waswas comes from three things. The self that commands to evil, the shayatin of the jinn, and those who are like them from humankind. But the waswas of human beings is audible speech, not hidden passing thoughts in the self and the mind.
The second type is waswas in the sense of passing doubt, which does not come as a regular habit. It comes in matters of religion and worldly matters, so it makes a person doubt the very foundation of his iman or his wudu and his prayer and his friend and his relative, and similar things, and it resembles the lack of attention and lack of focus in the prayer.
This waswas does not call the self to what it loves. Rather it wants to bring doubt and uncertainty to the person, whether by causing doubt about what he believes as iman, or about an action, whether he did it or not, or the goal of the waswas is to occupy the mind away from what is required from it and for it.
This type of waswas can disappear immediately through seeking refuge with Allah from Shaytan, and through remembering that these thoughts have no proof, so he stops them by struggling with his self and by being firm with it.
The source of this waswas is Shaytan, and it is possible that some of it is from the inner talk of the self.
Muslim scholars made it clear that this passing waswas is different from the other type which modern medicine has named obsessive compulsive disorder.
Al Hattab, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
The True Nature of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder OCD
In the book Al bandul by Dr Muhammad al Shami it says: “Obsessive compulsive disorder is the dominance of a specific thought that imposes itself on the one who has it with an insistence that he cannot overcome. It is a thought that is foreign to the person’s way of thinking.
He knows that it is not from him, and that it is not correct according to him, and that it is not convincing. It is usually accompanied by fear and anxiety because of its very existence, or because of its possible consequences.
Yet he cannot drive it out of his mind. Rather it keeps repeating in his mind until it hinders his daily life. Then it compels him to do compulsive acts, thinking that these acts will reduce the intensity of the waswas, but in reality the waswas increases with time.” (Mu’jam as sihhah an nafsiyyah al muasir by Dr Rashad Musa page 184.)
The fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM 5, which is the recognised reference in medical circles throughout the world, defines this disorder as involving both of the following.
One. The presence of waswas or compulsive acts, or both.
a. Repeated and fixed thoughts, impulses, or images that at some time during the course of the disorder are experienced as intrusive and unwanted, and that in most people cause marked anxiety or distress.
b. The afflicted person tries to ignore or suppress such thoughts, impulses, or images, or to neutralise them with some other thought or action, that is, by doing a compulsive act.
Compulsive acts are defined by two qualities.
a. Repeated behaviours such as washing the hands, ordering, checking, or mental acts such as silent recitation in the prayer, counting, repeating words silently, which the afflicted person feels driven to do in response to a waswas, or according to rules that must be rigidly applied.
b. The behaviours or mental acts are aimed at preventing or reducing anxiety or distress, or preventing some dreaded event or situation. However these behaviours or mental acts are not connected in a realistic way with what they are designed to neutralise or prevent, or they are clearly excessive.
Two. The waswas and compulsive acts consume time, for example they take more than an hour every day, or they cause severe distress, or impairment in social or occupational functioning, or in other important areas of functioning. (DSM 5)
Dr Wael Abu Hendi says: Muhammad ʿAbduh divided waswās into two types.
- One is waswās toward good, which he called inspiration, and he held that its source is the righteous angels.
- The other is waswas toward evil, whose source is Shaytan. All of these meanings are, in reality, far removed from obsessive compulsive disorder.
What is not indicated in any of these meanings is the concept of domination and coercion. This is the feeling a person has that a thought dominates his thinking and that he is stripped of the ability to get rid of it, such that the matter goes beyond the limits of a person’s capacity to control it. He feels that the thought has control over him, that he is overpowered by it, and that he is compelled to think about it.
This meaning is not found in the explanations of the Arabic lexical dictionaries available to me under the root waswasa. Perhaps the solution to this problem is to add the description compulsive to the word waswas, which does not always occur, or to say a dominating thought instead of a waswas thought or waswas.
This is something some translators noticed, so they translated Obsessions as dominating thoughts rather than waswās. It is also what the author of al Mawrid dictionary noticed when he translated it as possession.
The same understanding, I think, was also present in the minds of the earliest Arabs who studied and translated psychiatry during the period when psychoanalytic theory was dominant, when they called obsessive compulsive disorder the obsessional neurosis.
Accordingly, there are three types of waswās according to a modern Islamic understanding that draws on the data of fiqh and the noble Prophetic hadith, together with the data of modern Western science.
- First: the waswās of the self. This relates to what the self finds pleasing, what it loves, and what it wishes for, regardless of whether it is lawful or unlawful.
- Second: the waswas of Shaytan. This is the whispering deceiver who is an enemy to the human being in his religion and his worldly life. He adorns actions for the self and tries to distract the believer from worshipping his Lord. He does this through deception rather than aversion. He deceives the children of Adam, and seeking refuge in Allah is sufficient to be rid of him.
- Third: obsessive compulsive disorder. One of the most important features of its thoughts is that they run against the person’s own nature. They repel him, disturb him, and frighten him, and he feels overpowered by them. Seeking refuge in Allah from Shayṭān the accursed is not sufficient, on its own, to be free from them.
Al wuswas Al Qahri page 16–17
The Extent of its Spread
The person with obsessive compulsive disorder feels that he is the only one who suffers from this illness, unlike other people.
In reality this illness is considered one of the widespread illnesses among human beings. It afflicts between two and three percent of people, that is one person in every forty, while its spread among children is one child in every two hundred.
Types of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Obsessive compulsive disorder has different forms that vary greatly. They all share the fact that there is a specific thought that dominates the person’s thinking and he cannot resist it, so it compels him to carry out a certain action. It is hard to list all types of waswas here but we can mention the most well known.
a. Waswas of cleanliness and purity. This makes the patient feel that a part of his body, usually his hands, is not clean, so he washes them, then he feels the same feeling of uncleanness, so he enters again to wash them.
The thought continues and the action is repeated many times. He might keep washing them for an hour each time until the skin of the hands is affected and torn. He also repeats bathing many times and each time the bath is long and may reach an hour or hours because of doubt that he did not wash every part of his body very well.
Despite the patient’s amazement at the annoying thought, with time he justifies it by saying that he feels that something has affected his cleanliness or that the purification he did was not sufficient, so he repeats it and is not satisfied no matter how strong and intense each washing is.
This also includes excessive disinfecting to protect from viruses and bacteria. This has been seen a lot during the Coronavirus pandemic that began in the year 2020. The disinfecting does not stop until it reaches the level of waswas that anything can transfer illness to him.
A patient with this type of waswas may reach the point of not leaving his house except for extreme need, for fear of becoming involved in the tiring repeated rituals that he follows each time he goes out and returns.
Among the forms of this waswas is a woman’s exaggerated disgust with herself during her menstruation. She washes the clothes she wears every day, along with the bed covers and chairs she used, even though she uses sanitary pads excessively.
She is also disgusted by other women in the same days to the extent that she prevents them from sitting on her bed or chair or using her private bathroom. She avoids passing in the street near rubbish places for fear that there might be used sanitary pads thrown in the rubbish.
For men the waswas comes in the form of small drops of urine that come down after urinating, which is called urinary incontinence. We find the one with waswas trying hard to force out all the urine in his bladder by many methods such as repeated coughing and harsh rubbing. He spends more time than necessary in cleaning and washing for purification.
Waswas of the prayer. This includes constant doubt about the number of rakahs and about bowing and prostration. He repeats the prayer again and again to be sure it is correct. He prostrates for forgetfulness often to make up what he thinks he has neglected in the prayer.
He also doubts whether he has formed the intention for the prayer and whether that intention is correct. He stands for a long time thinking about it before performing the prayer until the time for the prayer can pass while he is still thinking about the intention. He also doubts whether he has said the opening takbir of the prayer correctly and repeats the takbir more than once to be sure that it is valid
Waswas of religious thoughts.
These are thoughts and phrases that insult Allah the Exalted or the Messenger ﷺ or the religion or the Qur an. These thoughts cause severe distress to the person because he feels that he has left the religion because of these thoughts which he does not accept, but which he cannot drive away. He may keep repeating the two testimonies many times on the basis that he has left the religion and needs to enter it again.
These thoughts are completely different from the thoughts of atheism where the person thinks because of a doubt, not because of rejection and attempts to expel the thought, as happens in obsessive compulsive disorder. It is noteworthy that most of those who suffer from this type of waswas are from those who are keen to adhere to the religion.
Waswas of religious actions.
For example, extremism and exaggeration in pronouncing the letters correctly during speech or during recitation of the Qur an, beyond the natural limit for speaking and tajwid. Also waswas in married men concerning whether they have divorced their wives without intending to.
Waswas in the purity of water found in the street when there is no sign of impurity. Waswas about whether the name of Allah was mentioned over the slaughtered animal or not. Among Christians this comes in the form of repeated confession in church in order to gain forgiveness, and fear that he might have stepped on something resembling a cross.
Waswas of checking and verifying.
The person does not stop checking whether doors and windows are closed, again and again, and he keeps doubting that they have not been closed.
He similarly checks whether the cooker has been turned off again and again, with repeated fears that a fire may happen. He might return home after going out in order to check again. He is late to his appointments because of this repeated doubt and checking and returning.
Waswas of counting.
He keeps counting money again and again in order to be sure of its amount, even though he knows the amount very well. He might count his personal belongings many times, such as pens, or parts of the house such as the tiles on the floor.
Waswas of ordering.
He does not tire of arranging his belongings so that they are equal, harmonious and symmetrical, and he becomes very upset if anything among them changes. He does not accept any change in the system. The ordering can include trivial matters such as arranging the small threads at the edges of a carpet.
Sexual waswas.
This has different forms. For example, a person looks, against his will, at the places of the sexual organs of others he meets in the street. He does not do that out of desire but he cannot keep his gaze away from those places.
He may also imagine the scene of sexual intercourse in his mind, again without desire, and the scene remains fixed and he cannot ignore it or distract himself from it. There is fear that he might assault a woman or a child sexually, even though he loves them and does not want to do that and cannot imagine himself doing it at all. Or he imagines that he is sexually deviant, such as having homosexual leanings, even though in reality he is not like that at all.
Waswas of harming.
A mother may feel that she is going to hurt her children in some way, even though she loves them very much and cannot imagine doing that to them. Waswas can also come in the form of imagining that he will kill other people with a knife or a gun even though violence is not in his nature and he does not want to do that at all and cannot imagine that this action would come from him.
The Difference between Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Satanic Waswas
From what we have explained, we can compare the two types of waswas, based on the known religious concepts.
We can summarise this comparison in words instead of a table.
Obsessive compulsive disorder afflicts between two and three percent of people, while satanic waswas affects all people.
Obsessive compulsive disorder can begin at any age, especially in adolescence, while satanic waswas is present from birth and becomes more active with puberty and the beginning of responsibility and after that.
In obsessive compulsive disorder the person feels that the thoughts are intrusive and not from himself. In satanic waswas they are not intrusive in that way and he feels that they are close to his self.
The feelings that accompany obsessive compulsive disorder are feelings of rejection and severe anxiety. In satanic waswas there are feelings of pleasure when the waswas is connected to desire, and slight anxiety when it is connected to a doubt.
The thoughts of obsessive compulsive disorder are not logical, while most satanic waswas have some logical aspect and can be given an explanation or a mental justification.
Obsessive compulsive disorder increases among those who are anxious, those who already have tendencies to waswas, those who are hesitant, and those who have weak personalities and little self confidence.
Satanic waswas increases among those who are far from Allah and have weak iman, and sometimes it also increases among those who have strong iman because Shaytan fights them more intensely.
The treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder is through medication and behavioural and cognitive therapies, while the treatment of satanic waswas is through drawing close to Allah, opposing the commands of Shaytan, and purifying the self that commands to evil.
Obsessive compulsive disorder ends with the end of treatment, whereas satanic waswas only ends with the end of life. It is a journey of striving as long as the human being is alive.
In the culture of society obsessive compulsive disorder is strange and not generally understood, but satanic waswas is understood and accepted socially as part of the challenge between the person and Shaytan.
Understanding and support for the one who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder is very little, whereas understanding and support for the one who suffers from satanic waswas is widely available.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in the Words of Muslim Scholars
Muslim scholars knew obsessive compulsive disorder and distinguished it from passing doubt. The Malikis called it overwhelming doubt and they said mustankih, meaning that it overpowers the person so that he cannot push it away.
Shaykh Muhammad alish, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
Ibn Qudamah, Ibn Al Jawzi & Ibn Al Qayyim Speaking On How To Deal With Constant Doubts During Wudhu Or Ghusl
Ibn Qudamah, Ibn al Jawzi and Ibn al Qayyim all spoke about it and gave some cognitive methods for dealing with it. However their words contain blame for those who are afflicted with waswas.
Imam Ibn Qudamah said under the chapter: Whoever is certain of purity and doubts the occurrence of ritual impurity, or is certain of ritual impurity and doubts purification, then his ruling follows what he is certain of.
Explanation
Meaning, if a person knows that he performed wudu and then doubts whether he nullified it or not, he proceeds on the basis that he remains in a state of purity. If he knows that he was in a state of ritual impurity and then doubts whether he performed wudu or not, then he remains in a state of impurity. In both situations, he relies upon what he knew before the doubt and disregards the doubt itself.
This is the view of al Nuri, the people of Iraq, al Awzaʿi (d. 157 AH), al Shafiʿi (d. 204 AH), and the rest of the ulama as far as we know, except al Hasan al Basri (d. 110 AH) and Malik ibn Anas (d. 179 AH).
Al Hasan said that if a person doubts the occurrence of ritual impurity while already in the prayer, he continues the prayer. If the doubt occurs before entering the prayer, he performs wudu.
Malik said that if a person doubts ritual impurity and this doubt frequently overwhelms him, then he remains upon his wudu. If it does not frequently overwhelm him, he performs wudu, because he has entered the prayer while in doubt.
Our Evidence
What is narrated from ʿAbd Allah ibn Zayd, that a man complained to the Prophet ﷺ that he imagines something occurring while he is in the prayer. He said, Do not leave until you hear a sound or find a smell. This is agreed upon.
Muslim also narrates from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, If one of you feels something in his stomach and is uncertain whether something came out of him or not, then he should not leave the masjid until he hears a sound or finds a smell.
Also, when a person doubts, two possibilities oppose one another, so both must fall away, just as two opposing testimonies fall away, and one returns to certainty. There is no difference whether one of the two possibilities seems more likely to him or whether both are equal, because when predominance of assumption is not controlled by a Sharia measure, it is not considered. This is similar to how a judge does not consider the claim of one of two disputants merely because he assumes him to be truthful without evidence.
Section
If a person is certain of both purity and ritual impurity, but does not know which of the two came later, such as someone who is certain that during the time of Zuhr he was once in a state of purity and once in a state of impurity, but does not know which followed the other, then he returns to his state before midday.
If he was in a state of impurity before midday, then he is now in a state of purity, because he is certain that he moved from impurity to purity, and he is not certain that this purity ended. The impurity that is certain after midday may have occurred before the purification or after it.
Its occurrence after purification is doubtful, so certainty of purity is not removed by doubt. This is like when a testimony establishes that a man repaid Zayd one hundred, and the defendant produces testimony that the claimant admitted the defendant owed him one hundred. No right is established, because the admission may have occurred before repayment.
If he was in a state of purity before midday, then he is now in a state of impurity, for the same reasoning from the other side.
Section
If a person is certain that during the time of Dhuhr he nullified his purity and performed wudu after a state of impurity, but doubts which of the two occurred first, then one considers his state before midday.
If he was in a state of purity before midday, then he remains in a state of purity, because he is certain that he nullified that purity and then performed wudu. It is not possible that he performed wudu for ritual impurity while the earlier purity still remained. The nullification of this second purity is doubtful, so certainty is not removed by doubt.
If he was in a state of impurity before midday, then he is now in a state of impurity, because he is certain that he moved from impurity to purity and then nullified it. Purity after that nullification is doubtful. Allah knows best.
Conclusion of the Chapter
These are all the nullifiers of purity. Purity is not nullified by anything other than these according to the view of the majority of the ulama. It has been related from Mujahid (d. 104 AH), al Hakam ibn ʿUtaybah (d. 115 AH), and Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman (d. 120 AH) that trimming the moustache, cutting the nails, and plucking the armpit hair require wudu. The view of the majority of the ulama is contrary to them, and no proof is known for what they said. Allah the Exalted knows best.
Al Mughni (1/262–264)
Ibn Al Jawzi said:
Shaytaan’s Deception of Them in Cleansing Oneself After Relieving Oneself and in Ritual Impurity
From this is that he commands them to remain for a long time at the place of relieving oneself. This harms the liver. Rather, there should only be a measured amount. Among them are those who stand, walk, clear their throat, raise one foot and lower the other, thinking that by this they will fully cleanse themselves. The more they increase this, the more urine descends.
The explanation of this is that water seeps into the bladder and gathers there. When a person prepares to urinate, what has gathered exits. If he walks, clears his throat, or pauses, another small amount seeps down.
The seepage does not truly stop. What suffices him is to milk what remains in the male organ between his fingers, then follow it with water.
Among them are those for whom he makes excessive use of water seem good. Yet what suffices him, after the visible impurity has gone, is washing seven times according to the strictest views.
If stones are used where the impurity does not go beyond the exit, three stones suffice if they clean it (the prophet ﷺ used to use stones to clean himself, this is in Sahih Muslim 1300). Whoever is not content with what the Sharia has deemed sufficient is an innovator in the Sharia, not one who follows it. Allah is the One who grants success.
Shaytaan’s Deception of Us in Wudu
Among them are those upon whom he causes confusion regarding intention. One sees him saying, I lift ritual impurity, then saying, I make prayer permissible, then repeating and saying again, I lift ritual impurity.
The reason for this deception is ignorance of the Sharia, because intention is in the heart, not on the tongue. Burdening oneself with verbal wording is something not needed, and there is no meaning to repeating the wording.
Among them are those upon whom he causes confusion by making them scrutinise the water used for wudu. He says to him, how do you know it is pure, and he imagines within it every far fetched possibility. The ruling of the Sharia suffices him, which is that the original ruling of water is purity, so the original ruling is not left due to mere possibility.
Among them are those upon whom he causes confusion through excessive use of water, and this gathers four disliked matters. Squandering water. Wasting valuable lifetime in what is neither obligatory nor recommended.
Overstepping the Sharia by not being content with what it was content with of using little water. Entering into what it forbade of exceeding three times. It may even be that he prolongs wudu until the time of prayer passes, or its beginning passes, which is the virtuous time, or he misses the congregational prayer.
The deception of Iblis in this is that he says, you are in an act of worship, and if it is not correct the prayer will not be correct. If he were to reflect upon his state, he would know that he is in opposition and negligence. We have seen people who look deeply into these whisperings, yet do not care about what they eat or drink, nor guard their tongues from backbiting. If only they would reverse the matter.
In the hadith from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAmr ibn al ʿAs (d. 63 AH), that the Prophet ﷺ passed by Saʿd while he was performing wudu and said, what is this excess, O Saʿd. He said, is there excess in wudu. He said, yes, even if you are at a flowing river.
Contrary to the Sunnah of their Prophet ﷺ. Abu al Wafaʾ ibn ʿAqil (d. 513 AH) used to say, the greatest gain with intelligent people is time, and the least thing worshipped with is water.
The Prophet ﷺ said, pour a bucket of water over the urine of the Bedouin. He said regarding semen, remove it from yourself with a palm stalk. He said regarding footwear, its purification is by rubbing it on the ground. Regarding the hem of a woman’s garment, he said it is purified by what comes after it.
He said, the urine of a young girl is washed, and the urine of a young boy is sprinkled. He used to carry the daughter of Abu al ʿAs ibn al Rabiʿ (d. unknown) during the prayer. He forbade the shepherd from informing the one who asked him about water of what he intended to give him, and he said, what have you left for us as purification. He said, O owner of the water, do not inform him.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ dealt gently with the Bedouins, rode a donkey without a saddle, and nothing is known of his character of being severe through excessive water. He performed wudu from the water container of the masjid. The state of the Bedouins is well known, one of them would come from the desert like an animal. Did you not hear that one of them urinated in the masjid. All of this was to teach us and inform us that water remains upon its original ruling of purity. He performed wudu from a pool whose water was like soaked henna.
As for his saying, protect yourselves from urine, then this protection has a known limit, which is that one does not neglect a place that urine has touched until water follows it. As for excessiveness, then when it clings to a person and time is consumed by what the Sharia has not judged by, it is blameworthy.
Statement of the Author
Aswad ibn Salim, who was from the senior righteous people, used to use a lot of water in his wudu, then he left that. A man asked him about the reason for leaving it. He said, I slept one night and a caller called out to me, O Aswad, what is this.
Yahya ibn Saʿid al Ansari (d. 143 AH) narrated to me from Saʿid ibn al Musayyib (d. 94 AH), who said, if wudu exceeds three times, it is not raised to the heavens. He said, I said, I will not return, I will not return. Today a handful of water suffices me.
Talbis Iblis page 135–137
وقال إسحاق بن منصور: “قلت لأحمد: نزيد على ثلاث فى الوضوء؟ فقال: لا والله إلا رجل مبتلى”.
ومن ذلك الوسواس فى انتقاض الطهارة لا يلتفت إليه.
وفى صحيح مسلم عن أبى هريرة رضى الله تعالى عنه، قال رسول الله صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم.
وفى الصحيحين عن عبد الله بن زيد قال:
وفى المسند وسنن أبى داود عن أبى سعيد الخدرى أن رسول الله صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم قال:
“كانَ النَّبىُّ صلّى الله تَعالى عليهِ وسلم إِذا بَالَ تَوَضأَ وينتضح”.
وفى رواية: “رَأَيْتُ رَسُولَ اللهِ صلّى اللهُ عليهِ وسلَم بَالَ ثُمَّ نَضَحَ فَرْجَهُ”.
وكان ابن عمر ينضح فرجه حتى يبل سراويله.
وسئل الحسن أو غيره عن مثل هذا فقال: “اله عنه”. فأعاد عليه المسألة فقال: “أتستدره لا أب لك، أله عنه”
ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad (d. 290 AH) said: I said to my father, I perform wudu excessively. He forbade me from that and said, O my son, it is said that for wudu there is a devil called al Walahan. He said this to me more than once, forbidding me from pouring excessive water. He would say to me, reduce this water, O my son.
Ishaq ibn Mansur al Kawsaj (d. 251 AH) said:
I said to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 241 AH), do we increase beyond three times in wudu. He said, no, by Allah, except a man who is afflicted.
Aswad ibn Salim (d. unknown), the righteous man and a shaykh of Imam Ahmad, said:
I was afflicted with excessive wudu. I went down to the Tigris to perform wudu, and I heard a caller saying, O Aswad, Yahya narrates from Saʿid, wudu is three times, whatever is more than that is not raised. I turned around and saw no one.
Abu Dawud (d. 275 AH) narrated in his Sunan from the hadith of ʿAbd Allah ibn Mughafal (d. 59 AH), who said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, There will be among this Ummah people who go beyond bounds in purification and supplication.
When this hadith is joined with the saying of Allah Most High, “Indeed Allah does not love those who go beyond bounds” (al Aʿraf 55), and it is known that Allah loves His worship, this leads to the conclusion that the wudu of the one afflicted with obsessive whispering is not an act of worship that Allah accepts, even though it may lift the obligation from him. Yet the eight gates of Paradise are not opened for his wudu, such that he may enter through whichever of them he wishes.
From the harms of obsessive whispering is that it burdens a person’s liability with more than what he needs, when the water belongs to someone else, such as bathhouse water. He leaves while his liability is held in pledge for what exceeded his need. This debt grows and extends until he is heavily burdened by it, harming him in the Barzakh and on the Day of Resurrection.
Section
From this is obsessive whispering regarding the nullification of purity, which is not to be paid attention to.
In Sahih Muslim, from Abu Hurayrah (d. 59 AH), the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
If one of you feels something in his stomach and it becomes unclear to him whether something came out of him or not, then he should not leave the masjid until he hears a sound or finds a smell.
In the two Sahih collections, from ʿAbd Allah ibn Zayd (d. 68 AH), it is said:
A man was complained about to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he imagines he finds something during the prayer. He said, He should not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.
In the Musnad and the Sunan of Abu Dawud, from Abu Saʿid al Khudri (d. 74 AH), that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
Indeed Satan comes to one of you while he is in the prayer, takes hold of a hair from his rear and pulls it, so he thinks that he has nullified his wudu. He should not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.
The wording of Abu Dawud is:
If Satan comes to one of you and says to him, you have nullified your wudu, then let him say to him, you have lied, unless he finds a smell with his nose or hears a sound with his ear.
So the Prophet ﷺ commanded that Satan be declared a liar in a matter where his truth is possible. How then when his lie is known and certain, such as his saying to the one afflicted with whispering, you did not do such and such, when he did do it.
Shaykh Abu Muhammad Ibn Qudamah (d. 620 AH) said:
It is recommended for a person to sprinkle his private part and trousers with water after urinating, in order to repel obsessive whispering from himself. When he then finds moisture, he says, this is from the water that I sprinkled.
This is due to what Abu Dawud narrated with his chain from Sufyan ibn al Hakam al Thaqafi or al Hakam ibn Sufyan (d. unknown), who said:
When the Prophet ﷺ urinated, he would perform wudu and sprinkle water.
In another narration:
I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ urinate, then sprinkle his private part.
Ibn ʿUmar (d. 73 AH) used to sprinkle his private part until his trousers became wet.
Some of the companions of Imam Ahmad complained to him that he found moisture after wudu. He ordered him to sprinkle his private part when he urinated, and said, Do not make this your concern. Turn away from it.
Al Hasan al Basri (d. 110 AH), or someone else, was asked about this matter and said, Turn away from it. The man repeated the question, so he said, Are you trying to draw it out, may you lose your father. Turn away from it.
Ighathat al Lahfan fi Masaid al Shaytan by Ibn Al Qayyim (1/143)
This blame may be heavy on some people who have obsessive compulsive disorder when they read it today. Undoubtedly this amount of blame is conneycted to the fact that the true nature of the illness and its non voluntary aspect was not entirely clear to them.
At the same time some of this blame is useful because it points to the responsibility that the one with waswas has to take the path of treating his illness.
In reality his amazement comes from the fact that he does not consider waswas an illness. He sees it only as obedience to the waswas of Shaytan. For that reason he is amazed that the one who falls into waswas is unable to stop it. That is exactly the obsessive compulsive illness.
Ibn al Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him also said: And from Shaytaan’s plotting, by which he reached what he reached through the ignorant, is the whispering by which he trapped them in the matter of purification and prayer at the point of forming the intention, until he cast them into burdens and shackles, and took them out of following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He made one of them imagine that what the Sunnah brought is not enough, until he adds to it something else. So he combined for them this corrupt assumption, present exhaustion, and the nullification of reward or its reduction.
There is no doubt that Shaytan is the caller to whispering. Its people have obeyed Shaytan, answered his call, followed his command, and turned away from following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his way, to the extent that one of them thinks that if he performs wudu as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed wudu, or performs ghusl as he performed ghusl, he has not become pure and his state of impurity has not been lifted.
The person afflicted with whispering sees that this amount is not enough even to wash his hands.
It is authentically reported from him that he performed wudu once once, and he did not exceed
So the one afflicted with whispering is wronging, transgressing, and unjust by the testimony of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. How then does he seek closeness to Allah through something by which he is doing wrong and transgressing His limits.
If the one afflicted with whispering saw someone doing this, he would strongly object and say: This amount is not enough to wash 2 people. How so when dough dissolves in water and changes it. And spray falls into the water and renders it impure according to some of them, and corrupts it according to others, so purification with it is not valid.
The vessels from which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, his wives, his companions, and their women used to perform ghusl were not large vessels, nor did they have a supply feeding them like bath pipes and the like. They did not take care that they overflowed so that water ran from their edges, as is taken care of by the ignorant people afflicted with whispering in bath basins.
The guidance of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, which whoever turns away from has turned away from his Sunnah, is the permissibility of performing ghusl from pools and vessels even if they are lacking and not overflowing.
Whoever waits for the pool until it overflows and then uses it alone, and does not allow anyone to share with him in using it, is an innovator opposing the Sharia.
Our shaykh said that he deserves severe disciplinary punishment which restrains him and those like him from legislating in the religion what Allah has not permitted, and from worshipping Allah with innovations rather than following.
These authentic Sunnahs indicate that the Prophet ﷺ and his companions did not pour excessive amounts of water. The successors who followed them with excellence continued upon this.
Saʿid ibn al Musayyib said: I cleanse myself after relieving myself from a jug, and I perform wudu, and there remains extra from it for my family. (The muhaqiq said he did not come across it with this exact wording. Its meaning appears in what al Athram narrated from ʿAbd al Rahman ibn ʿAtaʾ, that he heard Saʿid ibn al Musayyib and a man from the people of Iraq asking him about what suffices a person for washing from major impurity.
Saʿid said: I have a basin that holds 2 mudds of water or something close to that. I perform ghusl with it, it suffices me, and there remains extra. He said: Saʿid also said: I have a small vessel or a cup that holds only 1/2 mudd or something close to that. Then I urinate, then I perform wudu, and there remains some extra.)
Imam Ahmad said: From the understanding of a man is his little attachment to water.
Al Marwadhi said: I performed wudu for Abu ʿAbd Allah at al ʿAskar, and I screened him from the people so that they would not say: He does not perform wudu properly, because of how little water he poured.
Ahmad used to perform wudu and he would hardly wet the ground.
Likewise, in his ghusl, he would put his hand into the vessel and take water from it.
The one afflicted with whispering does not permit that. He may even judge the water to be impure or strip it of its purifying nature by that.
In summary, his soul does not comply with following the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and doing as he did, ever. How can the one afflicted with whispering bring himself to perform ghusl, he and his wife, from one vessel the size of a farq, close to 5 ratls by the Damascene measure, dipping their hands into it and pouring over themselves.
The one afflicted with whispering recoils from that just as the polytheist recoils when Allah alone is mentioned.
And his saying: Sin is what troubles the chest. (Reported by Muslim 2553 from al Nawwas ibn Samʿan.)
Some of the Salaf said: Sin is the unease of the hearts. (In one recension it appears as jawār (neighbouring or proximity), in another as hazāz (irritation or sharp discomfort), and in another as hawk (scraping or rough friction), and all of this is distortion of the wording. This wording has been altered in some transmissions. The correct wording is from the statement of ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿud, may Allah be pleased with him. It was reported by Hannad in al Zuhd 934, Abu Dawud in al Zuhd 125, and al Tabarani in al Kabir 9/149 through the route of al Aʿmash from Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Yazid from Abu al Ahwas from him. It was also reported by al ʿAdani as mentioned in al Matalib al ʿAliyah 1590. Al Tabarani also reported it through the route of Mansur from Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al Rahman ibn Yazid from his father from him, and through the route of Mansur from Ibrahim from him with the wording: Beware of the unease of the chests. Al Bayhaqi reported it in al Shuʿab 5/458 through the route of Habib ibn Sinan al Asadi from Abu Waʾil from him. It was authenticated by Ibn Rajab in Jamiʿ al ʿUlum wa al Hikam page 251. He said: Imam Ahmad used it as proof. Al Haythami said in Majmaʿ al Zawaʾid 1/424: Al Tabarani reported it, all of whose chains have trustworthy narrators. It is in al Silsilah al Sahihah 2613. It also came from Ibn Masʿud as a raised report with al Bayhaqi in al Shuʿab 4/367. Al Mundhiri said in al Targhib 3/25: I do not know of any criticised narrator among them, but it was said that the correct version is that it is stopped.)
Ighathat al Lahfan fi Masaid al Shaytan by Ibn Al Qayyim page 219–224
After mentioning these words we stress once again that the blame in them for those with waswas is directed at those who defend their waswas and give their compulsive actions a cloak of legitimacy and reason.
Part of it also comes from the lack of full information available to our scholars about the illness and its non voluntary side. This blame is still useful, because it reminds us of the responsibility on the one with obsessive compulsive disorder to seek treatment.
Advice, Guidance and Principles for Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Dealing with It
1: The basic rule is that all passing thoughts and waswas, of all types, come to the person without choice and he has no power to prevent them.
He is therefore not taken to account for their occurrence. What is required from him is to give a suitable response. For satanic waswas this is seeking refuge with Allah. For obsessive compulsive disorder this is being firm in following the path of medical and non medical treatments.
2: Following the path of medical treatment is very important if the doctor sees it as suitable. One of the things that people fear most about seeking treatment is psychiatric medication because of many beliefs about it, most of which are wrong.
For example, they believe that it causes dependence and addiction, that its harm is greater than its benefit, that it causes catastrophic effects on the human body, and similar beliefs. All of that is not true. It does not cause dependence.
Its harm is not greater than its benefit. Its negative effects are not catastrophic or dangerous for the person’s organs or life. Medicine was created for the benefit of patients, not for their harm. If the harm of medicine were greater than its benefit then the use of that medicine would have been banned in the different countries, ministries of health and similar institutes would have stopped it immediately, and doctors who are legally responsible would have stopped prescribing it.
Through scientific experiments, practically tested on millions of people over decades, it has been established that medication is very beneficial in treating obsessive compulsive disorder.
3: There are treatment programmes based on different schools of non medical psychotherapy, such as cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy. The patient should go back to his doctor so that he can choose the treatment which is suitable for his case.
4: Using verbal affirmations is important in treatment. For example, repeat to yourself: I do not hold bad thoughts about Allah. I do not believe the wudu has been invalidated. My prayer is valid. My hands are clean.
5: Write these statements ten times every day.
6: Repeat to yourself that what you are suffering from are symptoms of an illness. They are not from you, and they have no connection with the level of your iman. Remember that to yourself and write it ten times every day if you are suffering from this misconception.
7: Imagine the suffering of repeating actions, and then imagine yourself not repeating. Live in your imagination as if you are a healthy person, even if only in your mind, until you adopt that state and then live it in reality.
8: Prevent yourself, by all possible means, from repeating the same action again. Busy yourself quickly with another matter so that you do not become exposed to the compulsion of the obsessive thoughts. Know that this will cause tension while you are resisting, especially at the beginning. However, if you resist the waswas will become weaker, and if you give in to it, it will increase.
9: When you resist the waswas, you are resisting all of them together as much as you can. Do not resist them by dividing them up. The different types of waswas strengthen one another. Focus on the strongest, but that does not prevent you from working to get rid of them all.
10: Do not waste time thinking about the reason why the waswas occurred. You will not reach a specific cause and say: This is the cause. Occupy yourself instead with the solutions straight away.
11: Debating with the thought increases it. Do not think about the waswas, and do not think about its opposite. Think about a third matter that is different.
12: Cancel the special system that you have imposed on yourself and on those around you, such as a special system for cleanliness. Confront directly what you fear. Throw yourself into what you run away from. Sleep on the bed that you think is impure and be patient with that until the barrier of waswas is broken.
13: Ask for help from those around you in breaking your special system and in facing what you fear. For example, ask your family to watch you while you are washing your hands and to stop you at a natural limit.
14: There is no treatment without effort and without resistance. If you do not exert yourself in resisting and pushing the waswas away, it may not go away from you completely.
15: Maintain your progress and continue to confront the waswas, even if you feel weak or have a relapse at some time.
16: Certainty is not removed by doubt. A matter that is certain does not change because of doubts and suspicions that cross your mind, especially when you know that you are suffering from waswas. You must constantly tell yourself: I am suffering from waswas, therefore my doubts have no value.
17: A normal person who does not suffer from waswas must base his actions on knowledge, as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to the one who doubted whether he had passed wind in the prayer: “He should not leave until he hears a sound or finds a smell.” This is in al Bukhari 137. How then can someone who knows that he has waswas give in to passing thoughts without any knowledge
18: You are allowed to follow the easiest valid fiqh view in matters where there is recognised scholarly difference, after consulting a mufti and explaining your condition to him. Taking the strictest view or the one which seems most cautious is, firstly, not piety on your part. It is rather a result of your waswas. Secondly, it increases your problem and delays your treatment.
19: Do not give in to feelings of guilt and shame and self blame. What you are going through is not a sin. It is an illness that you did not choose and over which you have no control.
20: The basic rule regarding things is permissibility unless there is a clear text that makes something forbidden. We cannot judge something to be impure without clear evidence.
21: Among the objectives of the Sharia is ease, especially for those who have excuses. That does not mean cancelling obligations or acts of worship. It does mean that the pillars should be fulfilled completely in the easiest way.
22: The intention does not need to be spoken aloud and does not need any forced effort to summon it. The very fact that you moved to do something means that you had the intention for it. Otherwise you would not have directed your body to do it.
23: Do not occupy yourself with the question: Has my action been accepted by Allah or not Simply do what you must do. You are not required to occupy yourself with what comes after that.
24: A person is not taken to account for what his inner self speaks about. He is taken to account for what he believes in, accepting it and tying his heart to it, or for what he does from voluntary actions.
25: You do not need to renew your Islam or your iman as long as you have not believed, by your own choice and full conviction, something that contradicts the religion.
26: Being patient with the trial of illness brings reward from Allah. Very often the person with waswas feels that he is sinful and under the anger of Allah because of his mistakes, while in reality, and because he is patient with the trial, his good deeds increase and his rank with Allah is raised by His permission.
28: In the hadith: “Whoever intends a bad deed and does not do it, Allah writes it for him as a complete good deed.” Reported by al Bukhari 6491. Imagine a person who intends with his free will to do a bad deed and then does not do it. Allah writes it for him as a good deed. What then of a person who has compulsive thoughts that he does not want, that push him to do some forbidden things, while he resists them and does not do them. How great will his reward be
29: Repeating fiqh questions about matters connected to waswas only feeds the illness, it does not cure it. It gives a temporary calm, but soon the attack of waswas returns. Asking the question and receiving the answer become nourishment for the circle of waswas. For that reason, when the companions suffered from the waswas “Who created Allah” the Messenger ﷺ did not answer them with a detailed theological answer, because it is not a theological doubt but rather a passing waswas. If he had answered it with detailed explanations it would have fed it. His answer was short and he commanded them to stop at that point. The matter of waswas is similar to itching. The more you scratch, the more you feel the desire to scratch.
30: Turning away is the key word in dealing with obsessive compulsive disorder.
Ad Dardir, may Allah have mercy on him, said in ash Sharh as saghir 1/170: “If a person who is not mustankih has doubt about a part of his body, whether water reached it, he must wash it by pouring water over it and rubbing it. As for the mustankih, whose doubt comes frequently, he must turn away from it, because following the waswas ruins the religion from its foundations. We seek refuge with Allah from that.”
We know that turning away is not always within reach and that the pressure of the illness can be stronger than that. The aim is that the patient uses all means until he reaches the point where he can turn away.
Suggested Examples of Self Help Actions That a Patient Can Follow as Supportive Behaviours alongside Structured Treatment
Treating Waswas in Religious Thoughts about Allah
First. Some people with waswas have bad thoughts about Allah or about the religion or the Messenger ﷺ or the Qur an, and they feel that they are responsible and will be taken to account for these thoughts. That is not correct.
To the extent that the patient feels fear and awe that he has fallen into something against Allah and His Messenger by cursing and similar things, he must equally understand that he is compelled and forced by this and has no power over it. As long as his heart is at peace with iman, these thoughts are like compulsion and coercion. Allah will not take him to account for them. Allah the Exalted said:
إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالْإِيمَانِ
Except for whoever is forced while his heart is at peace with iman. (An Nahl 106)
Second. There are hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ guided the one who has waswas about Allah to what he should do when it occurs.
2: “People will soon keep asking one another until someone says: This is Allah who created the creation, so who created Allah When they say that then say: Allah is One. Allah is the Self Sufficient. He does not beget, nor was He begotten, and there is none equal to Him. Then spit lightly to your left three times and seek refuge from Shaytan.” (Sahih al Jami 8182.)
From these hadith we learn that whoever is affected by such waswas must do the following.
Say: I believe in Allah.
Recite Surah al Ikhlas.
Spit lightly to his left three times without saliva.
Stop the waswas completely.
Treating Waswas about Lengthening Wudu and Ghusl
A mudd is roughly two thirds of a litre, about six hundred and eighty seven millilitres, which is about the size of a small bottle of water. A sa is about two and three quarters of a litre, roughly equal to one and a half large bottles of water, each of which holds one and a half litres.
It is authentically reported that the Prophet ﷺ performed wudu with water that was about two thirds of a mudd, which is about two thirds of a small bottle of water.
We learn several benefits from these hadith.
1: Wasting water is forbidden, even if the water is used in an important act of worship such as wudu for the prayer, and even if the water is in a flowing river where the water returns to the river and there is no loss.
2: The Prophet ﷺ who taught us wudu also taught us the amount of water to be used for wudu, and that whoever goes beyond this limit has done wrong and has done injustice. This is a serious warning.
3: Some of the early generations found it difficult to understand how such a small amount could be enough, and the answer was that it was enough for the best of creation ﷺ. There is therefore no argument for someone who says he feels that this amount does not suffice for his wudu.
Treating Waswas about Cleaning after Urination
Some people with waswas complain that they suffer while cleaning themselves after urinating. Many of them remain for a long time in order to be sure that no drops of urine are coming out after they have finished urinating.
Earlier we saw that scholars, centuries ago, mentioned the presence of this waswas. This is the issue that appears in fiqh under the heading of urinary incontinence and some jurists call it “the person with a drop or two”. There are several points that must be considered here.
1: This type of waswas is more common in men than in women and is linked to what each of them can see, because of the differences in their anatomy. The organ that produces urine in men is outside the body. It can therefore be watched very easily during urinating and cleaning. For the woman it is hard for her to see the outlet of urine directly. Her waswas is usually about vaginal discharge or blood that comes out and she sees it on her clothes.
2: There is a physical reason for drops of liquid to come out a little after the liquid has been emptied through a narrow passage. For example, after using a hose, some droplets of water cling to the inner walls of the hose.
Over time these gather into a drop which then falls. This is what happens in the male organ. In men the distance that the urine passes through is five times longer than in women. In adult men it is about twenty centimetres whereas in women it is about four centimetres. For that reason droplets of urine after urinating are more common in men and this type of waswas is more frequent in them.
3: Some people with waswas complain that what comes out of them is semen or madhiy or wadiy. In reality, in most cases what comes out is drops of urine, except in some illnesses of a physical nature. Under normal conditions semen or madhiy, which is a clear sticky fluid that comes out after sexual excitement and exists in both men and women, cannot come out after urinating because they are connected to sexual excitement.
Sexual excitement is accompanied by physiological changes in both genders and does not occur while urinating. If they did occur together it would be a physical illness. Wadiy, which is a white non sticky fluid, comes out in cases of prostate inflammation in men. That is a physical illness that is treated by doctors of andrology. Therefore what comes out and causes waswas in most patients is drops of urine, except in medical cases which have a physical treatment.
4: Using different methods to press on the bladder in order to expel urine will not put an end to urine coming down. Simply put, the kidneys work all the time and excrete urine in small droplets, which then gather in the bladder until it is full. Then the person feels the desire to urinate and deliberately gives the command for the valve of urine to open so that it comes out.
In the sitting position the person continues to allow the valve to remain open and so every small droplet that is produced in the kidneys comes out straight away. It is therefore a continuous process that does not stop. These actions have no benefit at all. They only strengthen the waswas more and more because the person with waswas keeps finding fresh droplets coming down every minute, so he feels he must take even more precautions.
There is a hadith that gives the direct practical solution to this problem. It is a Sunnah that has been neglected, both by patients and by healthy people. It is sprinkling water on the private parts after wudu, or as some scholars said, sprinkling the water mentioned in the hadith on the private parts themselves. In either case the act of sprinkling is sought and its meaning is clear. The hadith is that al Hakam ibn Sufyan al Thaqafi saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ perform wudu and then take a handful of water and sprinkle it on his private parts. This is in Sahih Sunan Ibn Majah 379 and in Sahih Sunan an Nasa i 134. (Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah by as Sindi 1/172.)
The scholars said in explaining the hadith: “That is, he sprinkled the water on that place in order to repel waswas and teach the ummah.” (Sharh Sunan Ibn Majah by as Sindi 1/172.)
Look at how simple this Sunnah is in action and how strong its effect is in preventing waswas. Whenever the person with waswas feels wetness he can say: This is from the effect of the sprinkled water. This helps to push the waswas away.
Regarding the ruling of washing clothes which have a small amount of impurity, there is difference among scholars concerning this and concerning the amount that is considered small. If the impurity is small, like a drop of urine or wadiy, the Shafi is hold that it does not need to be washed. The Malikis agree with them in the case where it is hard to avoid it, such as when flies carry traces of excrement or urine. The Hanafis hold that if it is from major impurity such as blood, urine or wine, which has clear proof that it is an impurity, then the amount of a dirham or less is excused. Other scholars disagreed with them.
The patient can follow the easier of these opinions, because they are opinions in a matter of accepted scholarly difference and he is among those who have an excuse in this matter. (See the book al Wuswasah ru yah tibbiyyah shar iyyah page 114 and onwards regarding taking the easier opinion for the one with waswas.)
Treating Waswas about Intention, Especially in the Prayer
The person with waswas in intention feels that he has not formed the intention for the prayer, so he may remain for hours trying to form and renew the intention. This comes from not understanding the meaning of intention and how to form it. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Actions are only by intentions, and every person will receive only that which he intended.” (Sahih al Bukhari 6689)
The meaning is that there must be an intention for any action at all. It is not possible for there to be an action without an intention. It is impossible for a man to stand to pray and begin his prayer without intending to pray.
The purpose of the hadith is to emphasise sincerity to Allah, that he prays for Allah and not to be seen by people or out of fear. This is shown in the last part of the first hadith. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Whoever’s hijrah is to gain some worldly benefit or to marry a woman, his hijrah is to that for which he made hijrah.” (Sahih Al Bukhari 1)
Hijrah is the action. Whoever emigrates must have had the intention to emigrate. What matters most is that the hijrah should be for Allah alone. Similarly, when the person stands for the Zhuhr prayer he certainly intends to pray the obligatory Zhuhr prayer for Allah.
Treating Waswas about the Opening Takbir
Earlier we mentioned that the scholars of the past spoke in their books about those who have waswas in the opening takbir. Some of them repeat it more than once because they think they did not say it correctly.
Some of them cut the word while pronouncing it, so they say “Allahu akkkabir”. The basic problem comes from the issue of intention which we just discussed and from imagining that if he raises his hands incorrectly or does not say the word in a perfect way, he has not entered the prayer.
(البخاري وأبو داود وابن خزيمة) و (كان يرفع يديه تارة مع التكبير وتارة بعد التكبير وتارة قبله)
(أبو داود وابن خزيمة) كان يرفعهما ممدودة الأصابع [لا يفرج بينها ولا يضمها] )
(البخاري وأبو داود) و (كان يجعلهما حذو منكبيه وربما كان يرفعهما حتى يحاذي بهما [فروع] أذنيه)
The matter is broad and whichever way the person does it is acceptable.
Regarding saying the takbir, all that is required from the person praying is not to focus on how to pronounce the word. Focusing on an easy normal action makes it more difficult.
Just as he speaks with his usual everyday speech without focusing on each word he brings out, so the opening takbir consists of words that he can say naturally and immediately.
The greater problem for the person with waswas who repeats the takbir is that he falls into one of two mistakes. Either he considers himself to have already entered the prayer, and then his repetition becomes an unnecessary and unjustified movement inside the prayer, and that is not permitted.
Or he considers himself not to have entered the prayer, even though his intention and his takbir have brought him into it, so he behaves in a normal manner as if he is outside the prayer while he is in fact inside it.
Some people say the takbir, then say the salam to end the prayer and come out of it, and then say the takbir again to enter it, and so fall into another prohibited matter, which is leaving the prayer without any need or excuse.
Treating Waswas about Doubt in the Number of Rakahs
Al Hajjawi (Author of Zad al-Mustaqni’ fi Ikhtisar al-Muqni’) said: And if he doubts within it, he must restart it.
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen said: As for the second case: if decisive resolve is made conditional upon a condition, then according to the madhhab it becomes invalid.
As for the third case: if he hesitates as to whether he will break it or not, then according to the madhhab it becomes invalid, while the correct view in both cases is that it does not become invalid.
The fourth case: if he firmly resolves to do something prohibited but does not do it, then it does not become invalid, because invalidation here is tied to actually doing the prohibited act, and that has not occurred.
His statement: If he doubts within it, he restarts it, meaning that if he doubts whether he made the intention or did not make it, then he must restart it, meaning the prayer, because the basic principle is non existence.
However, there remains the question of whether this situation actually occurs. Is it possible for a person to perform wudu, go to the masjid, begin the prayer with the takbir, and then say: I doubt the intention? What is apparent is that this does not occur, and that the issue is hypothetical, unless the person is afflicted with waswas. The one afflicted with waswas, his doubt is not considered. For this reason, the poet said:
والشك بعد الفعل لا يؤثر
وهكذا إذا الشكوك تكثر
Doubt after the act does not have any effect,
And likewise when doubts become frequent. (See: a didactic poem on usul al fiqh and legal maxims by the author, may Allah have mercy on him, p. 10.)
When doubts become frequent, this is waswas and is not taken into account. Because of this, imagining this issue is difficult, since it is impossible for a sane person who knows what he is doing to enter the prayer, say the takbir, and recite, then say: I doubted the intention.
For this reason, some of the people of knowledge said: If Allah were to obligate us with an action without an intention, that would be charging with what cannot be borne. (See: Majmuʿ al Fatawa 18/262, Ighathat al Lahfan 1/134.)
But assuming its existence, even if only theoretically, then we say: if he doubts the intention, he must restart the act of worship, because the basic principle is non existence, and he has doubted its presence.
(Ash Sharh al mumti ala Zad al mustaqni 2/299.)
al-Rahibani said:
Treating Waswas about Breaking Wudu during the Prayer
Some people with waswas feel that their wudu has been invalidated during the prayer, so they leave the prayer. They then go to make wudu and pray again. They continue doing this.
This means that if the person praying feels that he has passed wind or that his wudu has been invalidated in the prayer, the Messenger ﷺ made two clear signs that indicate certain knowledge that wudu has been invalidated.
These are hearing a sound or finding a smell. If neither of these two signs occurs, he must not leave his prayer and must complete it.
It is narrated from many companions such as Ibn Abbas and Ibn Umar, and from the tabi in such as Sa id ibn al Musayyib, Sa id ibn Jubayr and Mujahid, that they forbade leaving the prayer because of feeling drops of urine.
Yahya narrated to me from Malik, from Yahya ibn Saʿid, from Saʿid ibn al Musayyib, that he heard him while a man was asking him. The man said: I feel wetness while I am praying, should I leave the prayer? Saʿid said to him: If it were to flow down my thigh, I would not leave until I had completed my prayer. (Muwatta Imam Malik Book 2 Hadith 58/ 1/47)
Treating Waswas regarding Pronouncing Divorce (Talaq)
An example is a man who thinks that he has said words of divorce even though he did not intend to divorce. A person is taken to account and the rulings apply to him for what he does deliberately, by his own choice and full will.
He is not taken to account for what his inner self whispers about, unless it becomes a voluntary action. Earlier we mentioned the hadith: “Allah has overlooked for my ummah what their inner selves whisper to them as long as they do not act upon it or speak about it.”
Action and speech are things that the person himself and those around him can see and hear. If a person thinks that he has done something or said something in front of people, and the others say that he did not do that or say that, then this is a false impression on his part. He is not taken to account for it and the result of that thing is not applied.
Some scholars even said that the divorce of the one afflicted with waswas does not occur, even if he utters it, unless he means divorce.
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen was relayed a question and it was said to him that:
The listener ʿAbd al Raḥmān Saʿīd al Faqīh from al Jubayl says that he suffers from chest tightness and frequent doubts and waswas, especially when he reads books of fiqh in the chapters on divorce and oaths. This is particularly the case when a situation is described of a man who divorced his wife and his exact words are mentioned, as if he himself were the one speaking them. He fears that a divorce may occur from him, even though he is only describing the divorce of another person.
This has caused him anxiety and doubt. Does divorce take effect from him, or from others like him, who recount cases of divorce of others on their own tongues, or for example in a teaching context or the like? He also asks for an explanation of the hadith, if it is authentic in this wording: “Three matters, their seriousness is seriousness and their unseriousness is seriousness: divorce, marriage, and emancipation.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on him asnwered:
فضيلة الشيخ: الحديث الذي ذكره ماذا عن صحته؟
Regarding the hadith that was mentioned, what about its authenticity?
فضيلة الشيخ: بالنسبة لعقد النكاح هل تمثلون بمثال لانعقاده في حالة الهزل؟
Regarding the marriage contract, can you give an example of its validity in the case of jokin?
فضيلة الشيخ: هل لا بد أن يكون من ولي الفتاة نفسها؟
Does it have to be from the girl’s guardian himself?
Conclusion To The First Segment
We confirm in the end that combining the use of medication for obsessive compulsive disorder with psychological therapies gives clear success in treating this disorder, especially if the therapist and the doctor are able to choose the right medicine, the right dose and the suitable behavioural treatment in the right way.
There are individual differences between people in their acceptance of medication and in the suitable dose for each person, and in their acceptance of behavioural and cognitive treatments. What benefits one person may not benefit another.
Therapeutic Principles in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder by Dr Khalid ibn Hamad al Jabir
Stages Of Treating Obsessions
We see that the stubbornness and persistence of obsessive compulsive disorder stands upon four principles or four foundations, or we can say four stages.
So we say there are four stages.
- The first stage is understanding, understanding the obsessions and understanding obsessive compulsive disorder.
- The second stage is taking the initiative to seek treatment.
Why do we begin with understanding? Because we have noticed that many patients with obsessive compulsive disorder do not understand obsessive compulsive disorder in a correct way. They do not understand the strategies of obsessions, how obsessions operate, and they do not understand the correct way to deal with obsessions. This is what we will focus on in this session.
The second stage is that you change your way of dealing with the obsessions. This is the main axis.
- The third stage, or the third pillar of treating obsessive compulsive disorder, is that you stop responding to the obsessions. You change your behaviour with respect to the obsessive behaviours. You confront the obsessions, and you oppose the obsessive behaviours. You do not respond to them.
- The fourth stage is that you change some of the deep rooted convictions and psychological traits in you which may be feeding these obsessions. We will speak about them, if Allah wills, later. Let us consider this part of a treatment plan. These are convictions and obsessive traits, such as mistaken caution, mistaken self blame, mistaken perfectionism. We will explain them, if Allah wills, in a moment.
The First Principle Of Treatment
The first principle says:
The symptoms that you have belong to a well known medical illness called obsessive compulsive disorder. It has a diagnosis and recognised diagnostic criteria which the doctors know.
What are those criteria?
They are that a person is afflicted with something that presses upon him: thoughts, or mental images, or impulses and urges that press upon him. He does not like them, he does not want them, and he hates them. He does not wish them to be there, but they continue to press upon him, and they keep insisting and insisting. We call them intrusive.
Sometimes these thoughts are accompanied by, or not accompanied by, behaviours and actions which he performs even though he does not want to perform them. For example, repeated ablution, or certain repeated behaviours in the prayer.
He repeats the opening takbir, he repeats the intention, while he does not want to do that, yet he finds himself forced to perform actions which he does not want. He sees them as silly, not worth it, and sometimes he feels ashamed of them. Yet in spite of that, he performs them.
If these characteristics come together in a patient, then that indicates the presence of obsessive compulsive disorder. Of course the precise diagnosis is always established in the clinic.
The Difference Between Simple Whisperings And Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Before we go further into the types of obsessions, we can mention the difference between whisperings, cognitive doubt, and obsessive compulsive disorder.
Simple whispering is the whispering of Shaitan in sin or in obedience. He whispers to you to do a sin, or to leave an act of obedience, and it is usually in matters of desires that the person naturally likes. He falls into them without compulsion.
There is no pressing or intrusive thought. A person may dislike falling into that sin, and he may hate it when he thinks about it, and he may also love it because it is a desire that calls him. Then he does it out of psychological weakness, not because of a pressing obsessive thought. So it is a decorated desire, either by committing a sin or leaving an act of obedience.
As for cognitive doubt, or what may be called an intellectual form, it is scientific questions that occur to some people who have enthusiasm for knowledge and desire for questioning and analysis. They read and look into matters which may be complicated, but at the end of the day nothing is pressing upon them.
He himself reads by choice. He himself studies. He himself looks into books, and he is able to stop reading and stop looking whenever he wishes. Yet he has this desire and passion to read and to seek knowledge in this direction where doubts and misconceptions are discussed.
As for obsessive compulsive disorder, no. Obsessive compulsive disorder is something that presses upon you. It presses upon you while you do not want it, you do not like it, and you hate it.
There is also a level in some forms of cognitive doubt which is called a cognitive or existential crisis. This is not obsessive compulsive disorder, but sometimes because of excessive reading in misconceptions and doubts a person reaches a stage of cognitive pain. Yet this is not the same as obsessive compulsive disorder in the sense of a pressing thought that forces itself upon him.
So it must be clear that obsessive compulsive disorder is something that presses upon you when you do not want it, and you hate it. It causes great suffering.
You Are Not Alone
From the important matters under this first principle is that you must know that obsessive compulsive disorder is a psychological illness, and that you are not alone. You are not alone.
We have held many programmes for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder, group programmes which we called therapeutic courses, and they are very beneficial.
In these therapeutic courses, patients sit together and hear each other speak. Some of them say in amazement, “Is it possible that there are people like me? I thought I was strange. Are there really others who have the same things that I have?” Yes, you are all like one another. You are all similar in this. It is an illness, an illness like other illnesses.
The rate of its occurrence varies between about one percent and three percent, roughly from one to three percent. Men and women are very close in rate, almost equal. Women may be slightly more.
The illness usually begins in middle school, secondary school, and university. Around seventy percent of cases appear there. There are cases that begin after university, and that does occur, but most begin around those stages.
Types Of Obsessions
There are many types of obsessive compulsive disorder. According to the classification that we have suggested in an Islamic context, the first type is the obsession of worship.
Obsessions Of Worship
Obsessions of worship are of many kinds.
There is the obsession with istinja and purity. For example, in removing urine and stool, the person keeps pressing upon himself and prolongs the time of expelling urine or stool. Or he prolongs the time in cleaning himself.
Or he becomes obsessed with what some people call splashes and droplets, meaning drops of water that have scattered, or spray which has scattered, whether from urine or from something else, onto the legs or on the chair or elsewhere, with many details.
Sometimes he presses upon his abdomen in order to bring out what he imagines remains. He says to himself, “There is still something left, it has not come out yet.” This relates to istinja and taharah.
Sometimes the obsession is with impurity. It is not about istinja itself, but about najasah. He imagines that impurity has moved from the place of istinja to his hand, and from his hand to the bathroom door, and from there to people. Some patients believe that they might transfer the impurity they have to the entire world. For example, he may shake hands with a person, and that person travels to another country, and there he imagines that he has carried the impurity with him and transferred it to that country. This is a form of obsession with impurity.
Another type is obsession with ablution. Ablution has a long story with these patients.
He may become obsessed before even entering the place of ablution. There is hesitation and repeated questions: “Shall I make ablution now or not?”
He may become obsessed regarding the intention before ablution, “Did I intend or not?” Or he becomes obsessed with the basmalah at the start of ablution, “Did I say Bismillah correctly or not?”
He may become obsessed with whether the water reached or did not reach, so he repeats: “Did I wash my hands or not? Did I wash my face or not?” Or he becomes overly focused, saying, “I heard a sound, so I have now lost my concentration.” The obsession comes and says to him, “If you lost your concentration, then the connection is cut off.” This is more pronounced in prayer, but exists in ablution also.
Examples of ablution obsessions are many. For example, obsession concerning the passing of wind. He keeps asking, “Did something come out of me or not? Did my ablution break or not?” He lives in a constant cycle.
So the ablution which normally takes a regular person about two minutes may take the patient a quarter of an hour, half an hour, an hour, or even two hours and more.
There is also obsession with ritual bathing. That is another long story. “Did the water reach or not? Did it reach the apparent part or not? Did I wash or not? Did the soap go or not? Has all the shampoo been washed away or not?” Many questions and many pressing thoughts.
There is also obsession in the prayer itself, especially for women. The headscarf and the prayer garment, such as the jilbab or wrap in some countries. She asks, “Did my hair come out or not? Is it all covered or not? Did my feet appear afterwards or not?”
Then before the prayer she says, “Am I facing the qiblah or not? Am I slightly to the right or to the left?” Then she asks about the intention, “Did I intend the takbir? Did I say Allahu akbar correctly or not? Did I pronounce the letters of the opening chapter correctly? Did I recite the Fatiha correctly?” So she repeats it again and again. In the bowing and prostration she forgets, cuts off, and repeats.
These are just examples.
We simply want to point to some examples of obsessions in worship, such as obsessions in fasting: “I swallowed my saliva. Something entered my mouth.” Or obsessions in remembrance and reading the Qur’an.
There are many forms of obsession in remembrance and the Qur’an. He says to himself, “I must be fully present. I must repeat the remembrance many times. I must read the remembrance many times.” Or he repeatedly reads the verses of the Qur’an. Then Shaitan comes to him and says, “I read this verse intending such and such, or this verse is speaking about me, or I mocked this verse, or I laughed at this verse,” and so on. So there are many other kinds of obsessions in worship.
The second type is obsession with belief.
Obsessions Of Belief And Mental Obsessions
We combine obsession of belief with mental obsessions, such as religious obsessions, sexual obsessions, and obsessions of harming and aggression.
Some patients have disturbing impulses or urges that they might harm others, stab them, or kill them, although they will not do that. Or sexual obsessions, that they may assault women, or feel desire toward forbidden relatives, and so on.
Obsessions of belief are among the most well known types, and they are of many forms.
There is the obsession of doubt: he doubts his Islam, “Am I a Muslim or not? Am I a disbeliever?” There is the obsession of insults and mockery: “I insulted, I mocked, I laughed.” There is the mixing of intrusive mental images, for example during prayer.
Certain images come to his mind when he is in front of him, or while he recites the Qur’an, and so on. Then he says, “I disbelieved. I left Islam. I mocked. I laughed,” and many other forms of obsession related to belief.
Obsessions Of Order And Organisation
From the other types of obsessions are obsessions with order and organisation.
There is obsession with tidiness and arrangement. The person wants everything always arranged. The kitchen must always be arranged. The table must always be arranged. He becomes distressed and upset when things are not arranged and not coordinated, whether in the cupboard, in the office, in the living room, or in the car.
Obsessions Of Cleanliness
There is also the obsession of cleanliness, cleanliness that is not religious, but general cleanliness. The house is cleaned and polished twenty four hours a day.
People may say, “MashaAllah, this person is neat and clean.” In reality this is not normal neatness.
There are many different pictures and forms, such as obsession with washing, where you find that his or her hand is cracked and injured from too much washing and soap. The person fears germs. Frequently, obsession with cleanliness is linked to disgust and fear of germs. There is disgust and fear of contamination.
Obsessions Of Checking And Repetition
The last type we will mention here is obsession of checking and repetition. He opens doors and closes them and then re opens them, “Did I lock this door or did I not?” All of us might have such doubts sometimes. All of us may check things once in a while.
However, we check once, then we stop. As for the patient, he checks ten times, fifteen times.
The Second Principle
The second principle from the important therapeutic principles in treating obsessive compulsive disorder is that the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder is not in dealing with the obsession itself, but in dealing with what comes after the obsession.
This is a very important point.
The whole treatment changes when this is understood.
We say that the mistake of the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder comes from the fact that he focuses on treating the obsession itself. He deals with the obsessive thought itself. He tries to debate it, and tries to drive it away. This way is wrong.
We say that treatment is not in dealing with the obsession itself. Rather it is in dealing with what comes after the obsession.
We will explain this shortly. What do we mean by “what comes after the obsession”? We mean the way you look at this thought. Do you fear it or not? What are your psychological traits and convictions related to the obsession? Are they present or not? This is what matters.
There is a very important question: the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder suffers intensely from the obsession, yet he continues to respond to it. Why does he respond to the obsession, despite all the hardship and exhaustion, and although often, not always but often, he knows that it is wrong?
He knows that it is wrong, so why at the moment of the obsession does he not think properly?
The reason is that there are many theories about this matter, but what we will focus on in this meeting today is a very fundamental concept. It is that these people, when the obsession comes to them, deal with it in a wrong way.
They deal with the obsession in a wrong way. They respond to it. Before even responding, they believe it. They fear it. They believe that it is correct. They think it has a meaning and that it points to something important and that they must pay attention to it. Then they respond to it. They build actions upon it and fall into a cycle. So the solution is that you change your way of dealing with this obsession.
We will give examples for this, if Allah wills, shortly.
Every one of us has strange things cross his mind in the events of the day and night, strange thoughts, strange impulses, strange desires. We deal with them as a natural part of life. Strange things that sometimes come and go. You deal with them as something that has come, and you carry on.
What happens with the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder is that once the obsession comes to him, he begins to believe it. He says, “Perhaps it is true,” and he starts to read. He asks the scholars. He reads fatwas. He treats the obsession as something that deserves attention and focus. He says, “I must read, I must look, I must search, I must ask, I must be cautious.” This is where the problem begins.
Therefore, the treatment which we will mention shortly is built upon this principle, namely that the way you deal with the obsession is the main issue.
Fundamental Convictions In Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
There are fundamental convictions which exist in obsessive compulsive disorder. We will mention them briefly now.
The First Conviction Of Obsessions
The first conviction, and the most important, is the conviction of importance. It is the belief that the obsessive thought is important. The person believes that the obsessive thought is important, that it has value and meaning, that it indicates something, and that he must pay attention to it.
The Second Conviction Of Obsessions
The second conviction is fear. It is fear of the obsession, racing with it, and dealing with the obsession in a manner of panic, fear, intensity, and trying to drive it away by force.
Therefore we mentioned that among the basic principles of treatment are the principle of removing importance and the principle of removing fear. We will speak about them when we return to the topic of fear and calmness.
The Third Conviction Of Obsessions
The third conviction is the conviction of responsibility, the exaggerated and inflated feeling of responsibility.
He says, “I am sinful. I am sinful and I must be cautious. It is not right. Where will I go from Allah? My Lord will be angry with me.”
This is the strategy of the obsession. It convinces you that you are anxious to obey Allah and you must obey Him and fear Him, when in reality all of this is false. It has no relation to true piety, sin, or disbelief.
The Fourth Conviction Of Obsessions
The fourth conviction is the conviction of certainty.
“I must be certain. I must be sure that my ablution is sound. How do I make sure that my ablution is sound?”
How do Muslims normally make ablution?
A Muslim simply makes ablution and moves on. That is all.
So how does a normal Muslim, an ordinary person, know that his ablution is sound? The fact that he completes the ablution indicates its completeness. When he has finished the ablution, that is enough. It does not require extra conditions.
The patient with obsessive compulsive disorder searches for conditions. He sets extra conditions, extra standards. He must be certain that he has recited the Fatiha correctly, “Did I pronounce the letters correctly? Did I say Ar Rahman correctly? Did I say the verse correctly?” and so on.
Every person who has a sound tongue and speech apparatus is able to recite the Fatiha properly. If his tongue and speech organs are sound, he will recite the Fatiha correctly.
The patient with obsessive compulsive disorder says, “I recited the Fatiha. Did I recite the Ha or the Ra? Did I recite it properly?” and so on. He strives for certainty regarding matters in which certainty is not required, or in which perfect certainty is not even possible.
In ablution for example, he wants to be one hundred percent sure that the water which washed his arm up to the elbows reached every single cell and every single point of the arm. There is no way to know this. The Sharia did not ask us to do that. Once you have washed in the usual way, that is enough.
The obsessive patient goes beyond this. He places extra conditions at the entrance.
Obsessive Behaviours
Besides the obsessive convictions, there are also obsessive behaviours.
Scientifically and in technical terms we divide these behaviours into two types: behaviours of response and behaviours of safety.
Behaviours Of Response
Behaviours of response are the direct responses to what the obsession demands from you. For example, when the obsession demands that you repeat ablution and you repeat it, this is a behaviour of response.
Behaviours Of Safety
Sometimes the patient performs behaviours which the obsession did not explicitly demand. The obsession did not insist on them, but the patient performs them in order to prevent the obsession, delay it, stop it, or reduce its pressure. These are behaviours whose aim is to stop the obsession. They are usually hidden and subtle.
We will mention examples of them, if Allah wills, shortly.
If the patient pays attention to behaviours of response and behaviours of safety, and stops them completely and entirely, then by the permission of Allah he will feel relief and a large part of the problem that afflicts him will end.
The Third Principle: The Patient With Obsessions Cannot Usually Treat Himself
The third very important principle is that the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder in most cases is not able to treat himself on his own.
There must be a treatment programme under follow up and supervision, even if partially.
Where did this conviction come from that only someone who has been afflicted with obsessive compulsive disorder can treat it? In my view this is itself a whispering trick. The obsession convinces you that you must search for someone who has experienced obsessive compulsive disorder.
Because of this, there have now appeared people on some platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp and so on, where someone says, “I am a recovered patient, I have previous experience, and I myself treat people.” Patients then subscribe to his material, even though he is not a specialist, and his speech is sometimes not correct.
It is not a condition that the therapist must have experienced obsessive compulsive disorder in order to treat obsessive compulsive disorder.
Rate Of Improvement After Treatment
What is the rate of improvement?
The rate of improvement is similar to the rate of improvement in other psychological illnesses. By the permission of Allah it reaches eighty percent or more.
Those who enter a proper programme benefit. We have run therapeutic courses. A therapeutic course means a course in which twenty or thirty people enter. It is very beneficial. We have tried it and the rates of response were very high, reaching maybe sixty percent, and this is in a course which lasts four weeks or five weeks.
This shows that many patients with obsessive compulsive disorder only need to know the basic principles. If they understand the basic principles, along with continuous follow up for four or five weeks, then by the permission of Allah this will be sufficient for them.
The Principle Of Cognitive Confusion
Now we move to other important therapeutic principles in treating obsessive compulsive disorder.
Among them is a principle called the principle of cognitive confusion, and it is an important principle.
It states that the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder is not able to distinguish between what is natural and what is obsessive. He is not able to distinguish between caution and obsession. He is not able to distinguish between doubt and certainty.
Matters become confused for him and mixed together. Therefore, based on this principle, we say to the patient:
“Do not depend on your feeling. Do not depend on your inner sensation. Do not build your actions upon the feeling that you must be sure,” as we will see shortly.
Thus the patient finds it extremely difficult to make decisions based upon his own inner sense.
For this reason we put forward another principle which we call the principle of spontaneous application, or application without overthinking.
The Principle Of Spontaneous Application
The meaning of this principle is that you carry out what is required of you without thinking, without complicated analysis of the matter. You simply perform the act without exaggerated analysis.
For example, regarding ablution, we say that the duration of passing urine is two minutes only. The duration of passing stool is a few minutes only. Ablution takes two minutes. A four unit prayer takes at most eight minutes. You must commit yourself to this. You commit yourself to time.
You fix the duration of passing urine as two minutes. You have a clock in the bathroom. When two minutes have passed, you stop immediately. Whether you feel clean or not, whether you think something has come out or not, whether you believe something remains or not, you stand and you leave.
First, you fix the time.
Second, you stop extra behaviours. You stop the extra behaviours which the obsession demands from you entirely. When the obsession says, “Check again. Repeat a third time. Wash a fifth time,” you do not obey.
So, the principle is that you perform the required act in a spontaneous, simple manner, within a fixed time, and you do not add anything beyond that.
The Principle Of Not Checking The Truth Of The Obsession
The next principle is that the obsession is not some news report that deserves checking to see whether it is true or false.
If someone comes and says to you, “There is a fire in the house,” this is important news, because there may really be a fire in the house, so you go and check whether the news is true or not.
Obsession is not from this type. Obsession is not from the type of news that deserves to be believed or checked. Obsession is like information which has no value, meaningless speech with no meaning and no weight. It is not permissible for you to believe it or build any action upon it.
Therefore, based upon this, treating obsessive compulsive disorder is not by fatwas.
Among the therapeutic principles is that increased reading and looking into rulings does not solve the problem. Rather it is itself part of the problem. The patient with obsessive compulsive disorder does not suffer from ignorance of the legal ruling. Rather his ignorance is of another kind. He is ignorant of the correct way to deal with the obsession.
For example, the obligation to wash the elbows in ablution. We know that the elbows must be washed, the bony part at the end of the arm. You do not stop before it. You wash it.
A normal Muslim knows this ruling. He knows that he must wash. Once he knows this information, it is enough. He washes and finishes.
As for the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder, even when he knows the ruling, he continues to fall into obsession. Even after knowing the ruling he remains in obsession. Why? Because his problem is not lack of information.
Therefore, one of the most important principles is that you do not treat your obsession by constant reading and looking into fatwas and legal rulings and by asking numerous scholars. This makes the matter more complicated.
Your problem is not lack of information. Your problem is that you are wrong in the way you deal with the information.
How many times in the clinic has a patient with obsession brought me a fatwa, saying, “This is a fatwa of such and such a scholar, such and such a scholar.” We read the fatwa, and you see that he has understood it in an obsessive way. He reads it with an obsessive eye. He reads many fatwas, and the more fatwas he reads, the more he increases his confusion.
Therefore we have a condition in the clinic: once you enter the clinic, you stop reading fatwas. If some matter truly confuses us, we agree together on which scholar we will ask and how we will ask, and then we read the fatwa together and agree on it and commit to it. This is if there is truly a real lack of information. In most cases patients with obsessive compulsive disorder do not have a real lack of information. Yet we speak about this assuming there may be such a lack in some cases.
The Principle That The Problem Is Not The Obsession But What Comes After It
Another principle is that the problem is not the obsession itself, but what comes after it.
We have spoken about this and will repeat it. Therefore we ask patients to apply the principle of acting without thinking. We say, “Caution drops from you. You perform what is required without hesitation. You do as normal people do.
You perform the act in a spontaneous natural way like normal people. Ablution is performed in a spontaneous natural way. You pronounce the takbir in a spontaneous natural way. You tie the headscarf or wrap in a spontaneous natural way. There is no need to complicate a simple clear action.”
All acts of worship in Islam are clear and simple. Any person can understand them, even the illiterate person who cannot read or write. He can still understand them.
The Principle That The Feeling Of The Person With Obsessions Is Not Correct
Another therapeutic principle is that the feeling of the person with obsessions and his inner sensation are not accurate.
No matter what the patient feels in prayer, this does not break his prayer. Even if he says, “I felt such and such,” he does not cut off his prayer.
Therefore the feeling of the patient with obsession is not taken into account. We do not use his inner sense as a standard.
We make time or performance the standard, not inner conviction and perfection.
The criterion for the correctness of an action is that you performed it. The criterion for the correctness of ablution is that you performed ablution, not that you reached some inner state of absolute satisfaction.
If you place extra standards, including your inner feeling or inner sense, you complicate the matter. You already have a problem with your inner sense. The feeling of the person with obsessive compulsive disorder is not taken as a standard during the illness. In the time of illness his feeling is not relied upon.
The Best Way To Treat The Obsession
What is the best way to treat the obsession?
The best way to deal with the obsession is not to discuss it.
Do not discuss it. Do not give it attention, in everyday language. Do not deal with it. Let it say whatever it wants and whisper whatever it wants. Do not discuss it. Do not respond to it. Do not sit to argue with it and prove to it that you are correct and it is wrong. Do not bring proofs. Do not bring evidences. Do not read books trying to convince it.
This pleases the obsession.
What then should you do?
You do nothing. You do not respond to it. You do not discuss it. You do not bring it any proof. You leave it to babble and chatter, and you do not give it any value.
From the very important therapeutic principles is that you do not respond to the demands of the obsession. Rather, you oppose everything it asks from you.
Do Not Respond To The Demands Of The Obsession
Do not respond to the demands of the obsession.
The principle is non response. You do not respond with behaviours of response or behaviours of safety. You stop all obsessive behaviours. You do not perform any obsessive behaviour, whatever the excuse.
On the contrary, we say, oppose everything the obsession asks from you.
The person with obsession usually, or in most cases, leans toward the obsessive possibility. If the obsession suggests something, he carries it out out of caution, saying, “Perhaps this, perhaps that.”
We say the exact opposite. If two possibilities gather in front of you, one obsessive and one not obsessive, then without thinking you apply the non obsessive possibility.
The Principle Of Certainty
Another principle is the principle of certainty, standards, and definitive measures.
The obsession makes you imagine that there is a way to be certain, that there are clear standards, but you have been careless. It always says to you, “There is still something left. The matter is not finished. You are not yet certain.” It keeps telling you, “Be certain, be certain,” based on standards that cannot truly be proved or disproved.
For example, intention. It says, “The intention must come.” How can the intention come? The intention is not something that we bring from outside. The intention is an inner matter that does not require an external sign.
The takbir, it says, “You must wait until the letters are pronounced correctly.” The letters of the takbir come out naturally. In the clinic the patient says, “Allahu akbar.” I say to him, “You pronounced it properly.” He replies, “I do not know. In the prayer, my tongue becomes stuck.”
No, his tongue does not become stuck. What happens is that he becomes frightened, anxious, and believes the obsession. He believes the issue of certainty.
So what should he do?
In the prayer he should say the takbir and not return to it, whatever the thought says. “Perhaps it was wrong. Perhaps it was wrong. Perhaps it was wrong.” All of life is built on probabilities. In reality, almost always, his takbir is correct, while he imagines it is wrong.
Therefore he should say the takbir in any way it comes, without seeking to check it, without seeking certainty, and without making his inner feeling the standard. He should not respond to that inner feeling.
The Illusion Of Perfection And Caution
Another therapeutic principle is that the obsession deceives you with the importance of perfection, excessive caution, and exaggerated piety. It makes you drown in self blame and plays with you in this area.
It makes you think about sin, the need to clear your responsibility, the soundness of your prayer, and that you are not truly a believer, that you are a disbeliever.
If you feel this state, the feeling of perfectionism, extreme caution, excessive piety, and overactive conscience, then know that all of these concepts contain an obsessive side and a healthy side.
The correct way is in the middle.
You are now fearful of becoming like the negligent people, so you have gone to the opposite extreme of those who go beyond bounds.
What is the solution?
The solution is that you pay attention to this trait in yourself, or this conviction or psychological trait of perfectionism, excess caution, and overactive conscience.
What is the solution with this painful self blame?
Many patients say to me, “I respond to the obsession in order to get relief from its nagging. I respond so that I feel some rest. Then afterwards I blame myself.”
What is the solution?
You must know that obsessive self blame has no value. You are not rewarded for it. You do not gain any reward for it, because it is not regret that comes from a real mistake. Rather it is regret that comes from an obsessive feeling which has no real value.
How To Deal With The Pressure Of Obsessions
Another very important matter is how to deal with the disturbing pressure of the obsession, that fear and anxiety.
This is a fundamental issue. For this reason we have built a therapeutic method for removing importance and removing fear, and for learning calmness.
How do you learn calmness? How do you remove fear from these obsessions that attack you?
The main problem is fear of the obsession. As in the saying, when the jinn sees that you fear him, he increases his attack. Fear is the weapon of Shaitan and the weapon of the obsession. It frightens you with many things, including fear of sin, merely from the arrival of the obsessive thought. So you say, “ يا رب، باسم الله، ثم يصيبك القلق — Yā Rabb, bismi llāh, thumma yuṣībuka al-qalaq — O Lord, in the name of Allah, and then becomes anxious.
and become anxious.
So you must learn the skill of calmness while the obsession is attacking you.
Is it possible that a person can learn the skill of calmness while the obsession is attacking him?
Yes, this is what we will explain shortly.
We will mention some practical and brief proposals. They are details of some of the principles we mentioned.
The Need For A Treatment Programme
Why are we speaking about these practical proposals?
We have already mentioned the principles. They are clear, but the problem lies in applying them. This is what we mentioned earlier in the therapeutic principle that the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder is not usually able to treat himself. There must be follow up. There must be a treatment programme.
Why a treatment programme?
Because the matters we have spoken about may be easy and natural for normal people. Ninety seven percent of people practise them in their lives naturally and spontaneously.
For the patient with obsessive compulsive disorder this simple natural way is very difficult. Therefore there must be a programme. There must be follow up.
I will mention some of the practical proposals which we give to patients in our follow up programmes. I repeat once more: this session does not replace entry into a treatment programme. It does not replace it at all.
Calmness In Dealing With Obsessions
We will speak first about calmness and tranquillity in front of the obsession. The question always comes:
“How can I be calm and tranquil when the obsession is pressing upon me? The obsession tells me, ‘You have disbelieved, you have done wrong,’ and I am supposed to stay still and calm?”
This is built upon several concepts.
What is the concept of fear and tranquillity? Can a person be calm at times of fear or not?
Of course he can.
We will therefore give some examples which help patients to be convinced that it really is possible for a person to adopt calmness and tranquillity, even at times of fear.
The Example Of The Glass Of Tea
For example, the glass of hot tea, in a paper cup or glass. If the tea is hot and you hold it, moving it from the table to another place while it is hot, there is a difference between you holding this glass while you are agitated, shouting and afraid, and you holding it while you are calm. The tea is hot either way. It hurts your hand, but you are calm.
There is a difference between you holding the glass calmly and you holding it in an agitated and panicked state.
What happens with patients with obsessive compulsive disorder is that the thought comes to them and they deal with it in fear, as if they are holding the hot glass while panicking.
There is no need. There is no need for this.
You can hold the glass calmly while it is still hot.
The Example Of The Queue
The second example is the long queue. Two people are in the same queue, waiting in a long line for some service, and the machine has broken. People are standing in the heat. These two people are in the same queue. One is calm and normal. He waits and says to himself, when the machine is fixed he will get his turn. The other is restless, complaining, “Why has it been delayed? What is going on? When will we finish?”
It is the same situation and the same event. One of them has been able to remain calm. The other is agitated, anxious, and tense.
It is the same with the obsessive thought. The obsessive thought comes to you. You are agitated and tense. Instead you must calm yourself down.
The Example Of Calming An Angry Person
Another example which shows that a person can also be calm at times of anger:
Two of your colleagues argue and fight in front of you. You see that it is possible to say to one of them, “Sit down, sit down. Calm down. Let us talk.” He may be very angry, but he sits in the chair for a while and calms down.
What happened?
He calmed down. He was able to adopt calmness and tranquillity. He sat and adopted this trait.
There are many examples which show that a person can, at times of fear, acquire the trait of calmness and tranquillity by direct instruction. This is what we want from you.
We want you, in times of pressure, to tell yourself, “Calm down. Calm down.” How do you learn this? Through training and application, once, twice, three times, four times. Certainly it will not succeed the first time, but with repetition, by the permission of Allah, it will succeed.
The Method Of Patience In Waiting
The second method which I apply very often is patience in waiting. We apply this method in many matters, among them obsessions.
Patience in waiting here means that while the obsession is active and pressing, and you are afraid, you do not do anything. You only wait for the obsession to decrease on its own. You wait for it to come down by itself.
It will not decrease on the first time, nor on the second, nor on the third. In some people it does actually come down from the first time, but in others it does not decrease except after repetition. According to the strength of the obsession you will need more repetition, but it will definitely come down, by the permission of Allah, if you remain firm.
For this reason we prefer not to use the word “ignoring” very much. We use the word “steadfastness”.
Remain firm in front of the obsession. It babbles and presses upon you, and you act as if it is saying nothing.
From this comes something very important, namely that you must stop behaviours of safety and emotional reactions. You must stop shouting, panic, seeking reassurances, or any behaviour whose purpose is to quickly lower the tension.
If you search for a quick reduction of tension through behaviours of safety, then this reduction is false. It does not benefit you later.
It is like patients in therapeutic courses when we tell them, “Do not let the obsession go down quickly through behaviours of safety. Let it come down naturally because of your patience, waiting, and steadfastness, not because you did some behaviour of safety.”
Distinguishing Between Important Thoughts And Obsessive Thoughts
Another important proposal is that you must distinguish between removing importance from obsessive thoughts and giving importance to useful information that deserves attention.
The example of the kitchen fire is that you are sitting in the living room, and one of the children or family members says, “There is a fire in the kitchen. There is a fire in the kitchen.”
The sentence “There is a fire in the kitchen” is information. It is news. It may be true, and it may be false, but there is a strong possibility that it is true. For this reason the members of the household stand up immediately and go to the kitchen to check whether there is indeed a fire.
Now you have heard information that there may be a fire. You have treated this information as something that deserves attention and verification, and you have gone and checked.
However, suppose that the person who informed you is someone you know to be a joker and liar. He shouts, “Hurry, hurry, there is a fire in the kitchen.” Now the family are sitting in the living room, looking at each other, saying, “Do you think he is telling the truth?” Some of them say, “He is a joker and liar.”
Notice that the information is the same, but our stance towards the information is different.
This is what we say about the obsession.
The obsession is like false information said by a liar. It has no meaning and no value. It is like news that comes from a source that is not to be trusted. The obsession says to you, “You have disbelieved. You are not a believer. Your ablution is invalid. Your prayer is invalid. You did not say the takbir. Some drops of impurity splashed on your thigh or your leg. You must wash. You must perform a full bath.” All of these are obsessive thoughts, information with no meaning and no value. You know that their source is not to be trusted and not to be relied upon or accepted.
The Example Of The Torn Cloak
Another example is the example of the torn cloak or garment.
You are walking in the market wearing an outer cloak or long garment. Someone comes and says to you, “Brother, your cloak is torn at the back.”
The first time you will check. You will look and see if there is really a tear or not. You look and confirm that there is nothing. You are completely sure. You looked and saw that there is no tear. You leave him and walk on.
A short while later, the same person stands in front of you again and says, “Brother, your cloak is torn at the back.” The second time you say, “Let me see.” You look again and you see that there is no tear.
If this person comes to you a third time and says, “Your cloak is torn,” will you believe him? Will you pay attention to this information at all? Will you act by checking your garment again?
No, of course not. The third time you do not believe him.
The problem with the obsession is that you believe it a million times. Every time it comes and says to you, “Your ablution is invalid, the water did not reach, you did not say the takbir properly, you did not pronounce Ar Rahman correctly, you did not intend properly,” you believe it.
We want you to deal with these obsessive statements in the same way that you deal with the story of the torn cloak.
The Example Of The Excavator
We return to another example which shows that it is possible to remain firm in front of the pressure of obsessive thoughts. This is the example of the excavator.
The excavator is the large machine used by companies and town authorities to dig in the ground. It is a hammer that strikes and drills. Its sound is very loud and disturbing.
Imagine that you are out in a resting place or gathering area. At the door there is a powerful excavator with a loud sound. You are sitting and have been disturbed by this excavator. Some of you say to the others, “Go and see what is going on and try to get them to stop.” Some of you go out. They find that it is a municipal excavator. The workers are present and say, “We must dig. There is an emergency in the water supply and we must dig now.”
You come back to your friends and say, “This is the situation. We must bear the sound.”
What happens?
Those who are sitting there, after a while, forget the excavator. They forget this loud disturbing sound, because they have engaged themselves in what they are doing. Before that, however, they did something very important: they considered this sound to have no meaning and no value. They said, “It is like the wind,” and they focused on what they were doing.
There may be another person sitting among them who says, “No, this excavator is disturbing us. It is ruining our gathering.” This person will be the one who suffers while the others remain engaged in their talk and activities. They only notice the excavator when it stops and the sound suddenly disappears. They say, “It stopped.”
I promise you that you can deal with the pressure of obsessive thoughts in the same way that you deal with the pressure of this disturbing sound, the sound of the excavator.
The Example Of The Faulty Alarm
Another example is the example of the faulty alarm.
If you are in a room and there is an alarm device whose job is to ring if there is smoke or fire. It rings to alert people to fire.
Suppose your colleague says to you, “The alarm will ring, but this is only a test. There is no fire. It is a test.”
If the alarm rings, will you be afraid of it? Will you act upon it and tell people to run outside, shouting, “There is a fire”?
No, because you know that this sound has no meaning. It has no value.
Do the same with the sound of the obsession.
Another form of this example is if the alarm is faulty. The alarm rings. You are frightened and go out. You find that it is faulty. You return while the sound is still on, but you are no longer afraid, because you know that it is a meaningless sound.
Do the same with the sound of the obsession.
There are many other examples.
Among them is the example regarding concentration in prayer. Sometimes you pray behind the imam, and he recites the Qur’an.
When you leave the mosque someone asks you, “What did the imam recite?” You say, “I do not know.” Yet the recitation reached you. The sound reached you. Why did you forget? Because you were not focused. You were not paying attention.
We want you to treat the obsessive thought in the same way. You do not pay attention. You do not focus. Is it possible to acquire this? Yes, it is possible, because you already do it in your ordinary daily life. You only need to train yourself to do it with obsessive thoughts.
Stopping Obsessive Behaviours
From the very important practical proposals is the question of stopping obsessive behaviours.
We have many charts in our treatment programmes for obsessive compulsive disorder.
Among them is a chart for recording time and counting the days and duration of obsessions, because we want to measure improvement accurately and know exactly what has improved, by minutes and by number of times.
We have a chart for behaviours and a chart for convictions.
In the chart of behaviours, for example, I ask the patient to write all the behaviours that he performs or avoids. For example, in the case of ablution, there are many examples.
There are preparations before ablution, such as hesitation and waiting at the beginning, waiting for intention to come, waiting before starting water, repeating the basmalah, pressing hard on the limbs while washing, focusing intensely and saying, “I must be fully focused during ablution,” cutting ablution and repeating it if he doubts anything, or if he doubts that something has come out of him and broken his ablution.
All these behaviours are written down one by one in detail. This is one example from ablution alone, and there are many examples in prayer and other acts of worship.
These are behaviours of response.
There are also behaviours of safety. For example, he changes his routine. He says, “I will not go out after Isha,” because between Maghrib and Isha there are prayers, so he does not go out.
He gives himself self instructions, saying to himself, “Do this now. Move from ablution to what comes before it and after it.” Or he keeps a notebook, a record of what he has done. He writes, “I washed the hand, I washed the face,” and puts a mark for every action.
He may set up a video with his phone in order to make sure later that he really did perform ablution. All of this is very dangerous. It is dangerous, because this is the wrong reaction. It is the wrong way of dealing with obsessions.
He may exaggerate in using supplications from the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ which are legislated for repelling Shaitan, such as spitting lightly to his left side when a whisper comes. This has a religious value, but if it turns into a behaviour of safety it loses its value and becomes part of the problem.
He may continually seek reassurances. Someone must always be at the door, one of his children or brothers or his mother, to reassure him again and again.
He may use methods of distraction, closing his eyes, hitting his head, pressing his teeth, and so on.
All these behaviours of safety are wrong ways of dealing with the obsession.
What is correct?
What we mentioned earlier: calmness and tranquillity. You sit and let the obsession speak. You learn the skill of patience, steadfastness, not responding to the obsession, not paying attention to it, and not giving it any value, as we mentioned in the previous examples.
Behaviours In Obsessions Of Belief
As for obsessions of belief, there are many examples.
Among behaviours of safety is that he avoids gatherings of people. He avoids reading the Qur’an. He renews his Islam again and again, saying the testimony of faith repeatedly. He reads a lot about doubts. He asks scholars again and again.
He uses strange methods while the obsessive thought comes, such as shaking his head so that he does not hear, or hitting the table with his fingers, or trying to cut the word, and so on. All of these are behaviours whose aim is to prevent the thought.
All of that is wrong.
Discussing Deep Psychological Traits
From the important practical proposals is discussing some of the deep psychological traits which you have, such as excessive caution, excessive fear of sin, excessive fear of punishment, exaggerated perfectionism, and very high standards.
If you have these deep traits, you must work on them. We also devote a separate part to this in the treatment programmes.
Dealing With Relapse
The last point is the matter of dealing with relapse.
You may say, “Will I relapse? Will the obsession come back? Will I remain like this for the rest of my life? You do not feel what we feel.”
Who told you that we do not feel what you feel? On the contrary, everything I have mentioned shows that I know the details of obsessive compulsive disorder maybe more than the patient himself.
Among the questions is: will I relapse? Will the obsession come back?
The clear answer is as follows.
If you learn the correct methods of dealing with the obsession which you receive in the treatment programme, and you apply them properly, and you succeed the first time, then by the permission of Allah the chance of relapse will be very low.
If the obsession returns, this is not a disaster. You will be accustomed, prepared, and armed. You will know how to deal with it this time. It will not harm you much.
It is like, for example, someone from your family or neighbours who has an offensive tongue. Every time you go out and walk he insults and abuses you. You speak to the neighbours and agree together on how to deal with him. You learn a method and you apply it.
The second time he tries to insult you again. If he sees that you are now armed and know how to deal with him, it becomes much lighter. The third time it becomes even lighter. Afterwards the incidents become more and more spaced out. Perhaps they only occur once every year or two, and even then they are weak, and you deal with them and move on, by the permission of Allah.
