OCD and waswasa

Aug 24, 2021 | Taharah (Purity)

Question

Selamun aleykum,

I have Problems with waswasa in many regards, I would be ver thankful if you could tackle 3 scenarios which happen to me daily:

1. Washing Hands after washing body in Ghusl:

In Ghusl we should wash our body 3 times (sunnah). Before that we shall remove any najasa. I do that, but when washing off the najasa, water splashes back on my body. I normaly wash my hands after every of the 3 body washings thereafter. But When washing my hands water splashes back on my body. When washibg the seccond time I will again touch this water which splashed back and even if I then wash my hands again, water will splash again which I will then touch again and after the 3 washings I therfore always doubt the purity of my hands and body. So my question is, are my hands concidered clean after washing my body once even when touching splashes of impure water, or am I right with suspecting them to be dirty thereafter? Then how to ebd this endless cicle of water splashing?

2. Istinja is very difficult for me because I can’t do it on my toilet because the toilet water will always spash up on me. So I do Istinja in the shower. But now, after washing any filth from the 2 parts away, the water whish washes away the najasa rubs down my legs and splashes on me and I have to then also wash my legs and feet. When doing this at the end, I have to step on the water again which collects on the floor because the drain is at the end of the Bathtub and the water doesn’t flow away directly but needs some time. This leads to my feet getting dirty again. I don’t see traces of najasa but K know that this water on the floor is from washkbg away filth so there has to be najasa in it. Also when washing my legs and feet, again water spladhes from the leg I wash to the other abd when I then wash this leg water splashes to the other again. This seems like an endless cicle. Please help me with this

3. Opening Takbir:

When saying my opening takbir I often mispronounce and have to try many times until I can start Salah. I know one should ignore such waswasa, but when I try to convince myself after saying it, that it was correct, I still mostly have some doubt wether to break or keep on. Now the problem: Doubting wether to keep on Salah or break it, breaks Salah in on itself. So even If I convince myself that It was pronunced alright after mentally arguing with myself, I will still have to start anew because I was not firm in my intention to end Salah and had doubt wether I will keep on or break and start anew. But Sheytan will always try to give me these doubts. How should I tackle this, if this on itself breaks the Salah. Also even worse: This has led to me never vekng sure, when saying my Opebing Takbir, If I will be able to pronounce it correctly and start my prayer which means my intention is not firm and even if then I pronounce it correctly, it will be like a suprise for me that I got it on the first try which means I was never firm in my intention to start Salah when saying it.

Please give me some advise in these matters. I know this can’t be right and you have helped me in the past so I hope you can now too.

Jazkallahlu Khairan


Answer

You do not need to think so deeply about these matters. In scenario one, after you have washed your body three times you can consider yourself clean. You do not need to worry about any of the splashes. In scenario two after washing your feet you can consider yourself clean and do not need to worry about the splashes. In scenario three say takbir once and continue with your salat. Insha Allah your salat will be valid no matter how it was pronounced. These doubts are all from Shaytan and spending too much time thinking about them will take your focus away from the actual objective, which is the worship.

You should also seek professional support to help you overcome OCD.

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel