The Necessity of Avoiding Obsessions and Turning Away from Them
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When a person performs wudu', an obsession comes to him and tells him: You did not wash your fingernails, or the backs of your feet, or your feet. Is it permissible for him to ignore this thought and leave it alone?
Some people have many doubts,Whenever he performs wudu' he has a doubt: Did I complete washing the limb or not? Such doubts should not be heeded; because if a person were to consider these doubts—and they are numerous—he would be exhausted. However, if we assume that the doubt is a genuine one, and not excessive, then this doubt is to be considered, and certainty removes this doubt.
The questioner: And if he does not know how many times?The Shaykh: That means he has an obsession; so he remains in doubt.
The questioner: And some verses he might recite more than once,And the tashahhud as well! The Shaykh: Never; this is a person with obsessions.
And what I see is that he should leave this obsession; because if he opens the door of obsession to himself, he will be exhausted, and Satan will come to make him doubt in the prayer, and make him doubt even in Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and perhaps his condition will reach the point of doubting in Allah,And perhaps he will make him doubt about his wife: Did he divorce or not? Or something similar to that. So a person should leave this.
The questioner: How is this?The Shaykh: He turns away from it,I mean: If he has a doubt, he does not pay attention to this doubt.
The questioner: Is it permissible for him to repeat the verse and read it a second time?The Shaykh: He should never read it again; if he reads it once, that is sufficient. If he doubts the recitation, he turns away from this.
Some people have many doubts,Whenever he performs wudu' he has a doubt: Did I complete washing the limb or not? Such doubts should not be heeded; because if a person were to consider these doubts—and they are numerous—he would be exhausted. However, if we assume that the doubt is a genuine one, and not excessive, then this doubt is to be considered, and certainty removes this doubt.
The questioner: And if he does not know how many times?The Shaykh: That means he has an obsession; so he remains in doubt.
The questioner: And some verses he might recite more than once,And the tashahhud as well! The Shaykh: Never; this is a person with obsessions.
And what I see is that he should leave this obsession; because if he opens the door of obsession to himself, he will be exhausted, and Satan will come to make him doubt in the prayer, and make him doubt even in Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and perhaps his condition will reach the point of doubting in Allah,And perhaps he will make him doubt about his wife: Did he divorce or not? Or something similar to that. So a person should leave this.
The questioner: How is this?The Shaykh: He turns away from it,I mean: If he has a doubt, he does not pay attention to this doubt.
The questioner: Is it permissible for him to repeat the verse and read it a second time?The Shaykh: He should never read it again; if he reads it once, that is sufficient. If he doubts the recitation, he turns away from this.