Suffering from anxiety and fear when leading people in prayer: what should he do to get rid of it?
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Question:
May Allah reward you. He says: I am forty years old, and I work as a teacher and a principal, praise be to Allah, and I am consistent with my prayer and religious affairs. I memorize as much of the verses of the Noble Qur'an as I can. But my problem, which spoils my life, is that when the worshippers in the mosque ask me to be their imam in prayer, because at that time I am the most knowledgeable among those present and have the most memorization of the Qur'an. The problem is that when I stand as imam and begin the recitation, I am overcome with anxiety, rapid and intense heartbeats, and other changes in my condition when I stand as imam. I ask you, your eminence, to kindly advise me if there is a cure for this problem, and whether I should refrain from standing as imam in prayer under any circumstances?
Answer:
You must try to drive out this, this obsession or this affectation, because it is from Satan. So you must seek refuge in Allah from Satan and try to drive this worry away from you. And you must resolve to pray with the Muslims when there is a need, because this is a righteous deed and leading in prayer. So you must try to drive out this worry and this obsession, and it will be lifted from you, by the permission of Allah. And with practice and with becoming accustomed to it, this will disappear from you. Then you must also recite the short surahs and reduce the amount of recitation so that you do not have anxiety, and this occurrence will disappear from you little by little, by the permission of Allah. Yes.
May Allah reward you. He says: I am forty years old, and I work as a teacher and a principal, praise be to Allah, and I am consistent with my prayer and religious affairs. I memorize as much of the verses of the Noble Qur'an as I can. But my problem, which spoils my life, is that when the worshippers in the mosque ask me to be their imam in prayer, because at that time I am the most knowledgeable among those present and have the most memorization of the Qur'an. The problem is that when I stand as imam and begin the recitation, I am overcome with anxiety, rapid and intense heartbeats, and other changes in my condition when I stand as imam. I ask you, your eminence, to kindly advise me if there is a cure for this problem, and whether I should refrain from standing as imam in prayer under any circumstances?
Answer:
You must try to drive out this, this obsession or this affectation, because it is from Satan. So you must seek refuge in Allah from Satan and try to drive this worry away from you. And you must resolve to pray with the Muslims when there is a need, because this is a righteous deed and leading in prayer. So you must try to drive out this worry and this obsession, and it will be lifted from you, by the permission of Allah. And with practice and with becoming accustomed to it, this will disappear from you. Then you must also recite the short surahs and reduce the amount of recitation so that you do not have anxiety, and this occurrence will disappear from you little by little, by the permission of Allah. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 5564- يصاب باضطراب ورهبة عندما يصلي إماما بالناس فماذا يفعل حتى يزول ما به؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
