Treatment of obsessive doubts in ritual purity and prayer?
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The questioner : Honorable Shaykh, I have a problem, and it has been with me for three years until now. It is that I stay in the bathroom for more than five hours,
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The questioner : because I feel an internal sensation telling me that I have not ensured the complete passage of urine, and that I have not performed the correct cleaning after urination. Likewise, in the ablution, I perform wudu' and then feel that I have not washed my right hand or my right foot, so I go back and repeat it many times. This is even greater in the prayer, where I repeat it, and I recite al-Fatihah and repeat it, and likewise in the bowing and prostration. I feel that I should say some words or make some distortion in the verses, so I break the prayer and repeat it, and then I feel it again, which forced me to abandon the prayer,
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The questioner : specifically the obligatory prayers, for several days. I also feel that something is coming out during the prayer, so I break it again, until I became unable to pray.
The Shaykh : This is undoubtedly one of the great obsessions that afflicts many people. Many people clean themselves and wash their private parts more than seventy times, even though they have purified themselves and feel the purity of the private parts, but Satan tells them that they have not purified themselves. Likewise, they perform wudu', and then Satan tells them that they did not intend it, or that they did not wash their face, or did not rinse their mouth, or did not wash the right hand, or something similar. The cure for this is very easy. The cure is to not pay any attention to this at all, even if you doubt it, or even if you are convinced in your mind that you did not do it, and you have already left the place, then there is no consideration for that doubt.
However, if a person doubts while performing wudu', a real doubt, whether he washed this limb or not, then he washes it and whatever comes after it. But after the completion of the act, it has no effect on him at all. So let him seek refuge in Allah, let him turn away from what Satan has devised for him, and let him write and not delay.
As for the prayer, the questioner did not clarify how Satan comes to him, but it is known that among those with obsessions, Satan comes to them and says that they did not say the takbir of ihram, or he finds them saying "Allah, Allah, Allah" and repeating it four times, and repeating the takbir likewise. Then he goes back and says "Allahu Akbar" and repeats it four times, so he repeats the takbir twelve times. But the cure is that if you say the takbir once, forget the matter, turn away from it, seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan regarding it, and it will not harm you, if Allah wills.
The presenter : Yes.
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The questioner : because I feel an internal sensation telling me that I have not ensured the complete passage of urine, and that I have not performed the correct cleaning after urination. Likewise, in the ablution, I perform wudu' and then feel that I have not washed my right hand or my right foot, so I go back and repeat it many times. This is even greater in the prayer, where I repeat it, and I recite al-Fatihah and repeat it, and likewise in the bowing and prostration. I feel that I should say some words or make some distortion in the verses, so I break the prayer and repeat it, and then I feel it again, which forced me to abandon the prayer,
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.
The questioner : specifically the obligatory prayers, for several days. I also feel that something is coming out during the prayer, so I break it again, until I became unable to pray.
The Shaykh : This is undoubtedly one of the great obsessions that afflicts many people. Many people clean themselves and wash their private parts more than seventy times, even though they have purified themselves and feel the purity of the private parts, but Satan tells them that they have not purified themselves. Likewise, they perform wudu', and then Satan tells them that they did not intend it, or that they did not wash their face, or did not rinse their mouth, or did not wash the right hand, or something similar. The cure for this is very easy. The cure is to not pay any attention to this at all, even if you doubt it, or even if you are convinced in your mind that you did not do it, and you have already left the place, then there is no consideration for that doubt.
However, if a person doubts while performing wudu', a real doubt, whether he washed this limb or not, then he washes it and whatever comes after it. But after the completion of the act, it has no effect on him at all. So let him seek refuge in Allah, let him turn away from what Satan has devised for him, and let him write and not delay.
As for the prayer, the questioner did not clarify how Satan comes to him, but it is known that among those with obsessions, Satan comes to them and says that they did not say the takbir of ihram, or he finds them saying "Allah, Allah, Allah" and repeating it four times, and repeating the takbir likewise. Then he goes back and says "Allahu Akbar" and repeats it four times, so he repeats the takbir twelve times. But the cure is that if you say the takbir once, forget the matter, turn away from it, seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan regarding it, and it will not harm you, if Allah wills.
The presenter : Yes.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، لقاء[14 من 26] علاج الوساوس في الطهارة والصلاة؟!! الشيخ ابن عثيمين - مشروع كبار العلماء — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.