OCD hampering my ibadah

[Muezzin]

Re: advice please

Have you seen a psychiatrist about your OCD? It seems to be a variation of the compulsive hand-washing disorder thingy. I'm not sure how to cure it, but a psychiatrist would be.

Of course, also make dua to help you overcome this condition.

 

[anonymous]

Re: advice please

brothers and sisters.
jazakallahu khair for your replies.
You see, the odd thing is, even up to now, i think that i do acts of kufr/shirk. but the odd thing is, i still get other wiswaas, like the ones about allah, and evil thoughts like that in geneal, for example thoughts like worshiping others, eg doing rokoo for other than allah. so i ask myself how it is possible to go have these thoughts and at the same time not be muslim. I don't get it?? this is one of the things, by the will of Allah that is stopping me from starting the OCD again.
please note that the evil thoughts about allah, occur and are at their stongest when im in prayer.

To what extend do you have control over such actions?

well brother steve, i have good and bad days. sometimes it reaches an extent where it may become an unconcious habit, that is, i don't feel like its me anymore, i know that sounds weird. Like sometimes i get OCD during wodoo, i keep on reapting my wodoo to the extent, i can't even exaplin exactly how it feels, but the closest thing i can think of is that i'm not concious that there is a me personaly. like basicallly i'm just moving and doing something in general.I hope that makes sense.

than, alhamduliah, i have good days, where i get so confused, and it gets to me that i jsut place my affairs in allahs hands. like whatever happens happens. and it is in allahs hands.

im worried that because of this OCD, my aqedah (not iman) itself will change. because the thing is, you begin to make up in your head these really weird things, such as possile reasons why this and that may be allowed, etc which as far as i know, have no basis in islam
. this is the reason why i need to kow the correct aqeedah, and want to find out about islam, but like i said before, the OCD regarding ghusl is what im afarid of.

and another thing is, even if i do do a ghusl, or if domeone provides me with an answer that im not guilty with what i think i maybe gulty with, im still gonna think of all these reasons as to why i need to do a ghusl. for example i'll give a similar situation. during prayer, sometimes i think that i have moved, and therefore not facing the qiblah, so i say to myself, okay just turn around and face it again (please DO NOT FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE, i may be WRONG). but then if/when i do that, i say to myself, ohh, but you started with facing it, but then you moved, so you have to satrt the prayer again.
so, thats what i do, i start the prayer again.
my point is, is that it happens in footsteps. and thats wht im worried about. opening doors that i will find it hard to close
jazakallahu khair for all your replies.

 

[Dhulqarnaeen]

Re: advice please

brothers and sisters.
jazakallahu khair for your replies.
You see, the odd thing is, even up to now, i think that i do acts of kufr/shirk. but the odd thing is, i still get other wiswaas, like the ones about allah, and evil thoughts like that in geneal, for example thoughts like worshiping others, eg doing rokoo for other than allah. so i ask myself how it is possible to go have these thoughts and at the same time not be muslim. I don't get it?? this is one of the things, by the will of Allah that is stopping me from starting the OCD again.
please note that the evil thoughts about allah, occur and are at their stongest when im in prayer.

To what extend do you have control over such actions?

well brother steve, i have good and bad days. sometimes it reaches an extent where it may become an unconcious habit, that is, i don't feel like its me anymore, i know that sounds weird. Like sometimes i get OCD during wodoo, i keep on reapting my wodoo to the extent, i can't even exaplin exactly how it feels, but the closest thing i can think of is that i'm not concious that there is a me personaly. like basicallly i'm just moving and doing something in general.I hope that makes sense.

than, alhamduliah, i have good days, where i get so confused, and it gets to me that i jsut place my affairs in allahs hands. like whatever happens happens. and it is in allahs hands.

im worried that because of this OCD, my aqedah (not iman) itself will change. because the thing is, you begin to make up in your head these really weird things, such as possile reasons why this and that may be allowed, etc which as far as i know, have no basis in islam
. this is the reason why i need to kow the correct aqeedah, and want to find out about islam, but like i said before, the OCD regarding ghusl is what im afarid of.

and another thing is, even if i do do a ghusl, or if domeone provides me with an answer that im not guilty with what i think i maybe gulty with, im still gonna think of all these reasons as to why i need to do a ghusl. for example i'll give a similar situation. during prayer, sometimes i think that i have moved, and therefore not facing the qiblah, so i say to myself, okay just turn around and face it again (please DO NOT FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE, i may be WRONG). but then if/when i do that, i say to myself, ohh, but you started with facing it, but then you moved, so you have to satrt the prayer again.
so, thats what i do, i start the prayer again.
my point is, is that it happens in footsteps. and thats wht im worried about. opening doors that i will find it hard to close
jazakallahu khair for all your replies.

Do more dhikr to Allah. And say bismillah in whatever you wanna do.
Just forget about all those weird actions you feel. Try to start study about aqidah, and read more fatawa from ulama. INsha Allah pice by piese your bad habits will be decreased. And pray to Allah azza wa jalla.
Study aqidah is wajib for eveyr muslim, and if you find something confucing you, then first have a good thought about it and then ask someone who expert.

 

[Snowflake]

Re: advice please

anonymous.. is it possible u can PM me? Or would that reveal ur identity?

 

[- Qatada -]

Re: advice please

:salamext:


Remember anonymous, that of the strongest weapons against waswasa is constant dhikr of Allaah (i.e. reciting subhan Allah, alhamdulillah, Laa illaaha illAllaah, aoodhu billaahi min-ashaytaan ir-rajeem etc.)


Another important thing to remember is to ignore it, even if you get them thoughts - continue in that ibaadah insha'Allaah. Ibn ul Qayyim (Ra) said that 'aoodhu billaahi min-ashaytaan ir-rajeem' [i seek refuge in Allah from shaytaan, the accursed] is like a sword, even if it is the best of swords, you can't handle it well unless you have a strong forearm. The sword is this dhikr, and the forearm is your faith and remembrance of Allaah insha'Allaah.



Even though you may be afraid to learn about aqeedah, i think one of the best things you can actually do is to learn about it so you see the difference between what is right and wrong, because if you don't do this, you're going to be in continuous doubt, even in situations which may not involve shirk etc. I know you're afraid that if you learn, you may feel that you've got more limitations upon you and feel more blameworthy, but this waswasa is trying to use this against you so you should oppose it and actually learn the difference between right and wrong so you can fight against that waswasa instead of be controlled by it insha'Allaah.

1) Constant Dhikr & Seek refuge in Allah azawajal.

2) Ignore it.

3) Learn Aqeedah so you can actually fight back instead of be in a constant feeling of doubt.​

 

[anonymous]

Re: advice please

brothers and sisters.
jazakallahu khair for all your replies.
I htink i'm gonna take your advice brothers Fi Sabililah, and DhulQarnaeen. I, myself thought of ignoring it,and just seeking knowledge, becuase as mentioned, it my actually clear up alot of doubts, and maybe i'll find out that i maybe am taking things to the extreme. I don't want to die with the wrong aqeedah.
jazakallahu khair.

 

[Abdul Fattah]

Re: advice please

brothers and sisters.
jazakallahu khair for your replies.
You see, the odd thing is, even up to now, i think that i do acts of kufr/shirk. but the odd thing is, i still get other wiswaas, like the ones about allah, and evil thoughts like that in geneal, for example thoughts like worshiping others, eg doing rokoo for other than allah. so i ask myself how it is possible to go have these thoughts and at the same time not be muslim. I don't get it?? this is one of the things, by the will of Allah that is stopping me from starting the OCD again. please note that the evil thoughts about allah, occur and are at their stongest when im in prayer.

If the thoughts aren't your own but suggestions of Shaytan then they are perfectly normal. The hard part is realising when they are whispers and when they are our own thoughts. We've heard those whispers since we were born it's very common for people to think they're part of our own mind. Personally I noticed that indeed these "suggestions" of thoughts are most active during prayer, it is then that shaytan gets more desperate. The best way to fight that is to do even more rakaath or dikr then you would normally do every time you get this. Eventually shaytan might leave you alone out of fear that you'll get extra reward from Allah subhana wa ta'ala in the end trough his temptations. Trying to counter these thoughts is hopeless. First of all there's no point, second of all he had thousand years of training, he's got all the right answers and questions to confuse us.

To what extend do you have control over such actions?

well brother steve, i have good and bad days. sometimes it reaches an extent where it may become an unconcious habit, that is, i don't feel like its me anymore, i know that sounds weird. Like sometimes i get OCD during wodoo, i keep on reapting my wodoo to the extent, i can't even exaplin exactly how it feels, but the closest thing i can think of is that i'm not concious that there is a me personaly. like basicallly i'm just moving and doing something in general.I hope that makes sense.

Yeah I think I got what you mean. Well in this case (doing wudu) at least your doing nothing wrong, as for the shirk stuff, look at control like this: If you can't control it you're not responsible and if you can control it then you can beat this. So either way you should have a positive prospect. Here's a hadeeth that might be relevant:
The Imam ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (rahimahullaah) said:
"Repel the (evil) thought, for if you don't it becomes an idea. So repel the idea, for if you don't it will become a desire. So fight against the desire, for if you don't it will become a determination and a passion. If you don't repel that, it will become an action. If you don't replace it with the opposite of this action, it will become a constant habit, and at that point it will be difficult to change."
See sometimes we think we don't have control but we actually still do and it's more a matter of realizing how to take control. I'm no expert on OCB though, so I can't really say that this is the case here.

im worried that because of this OCD, my aqedah (not iman) itself will change. because the thing is, you begin to make up in your head these really weird things, such as possile reasons why this and that may be allowed, etc which as far as i know, have no basis in islam

Yeah this all sounds familiar, it's also one of shaytans tactics. Saying stuff like: "oh a rule is only meant for this, so since that doesn't apply to this case it shouldn't be that important." Just remember there's no innovation in religion and in the end there might be other reasons that we fail to understand. Remember that we should be slaves to Allah subhana wa ta'ala and just follow the rules as an act of worship, those thoughts should be enough to stop this.

. this is the reason why i need to kow the correct aqeedah, and want to find out about islam, but like i said before, the OCD regarding ghusl is what im afarid of.

Well you shouldn't let fear inhibit your search for truth. Look at it this way: Shaytan is blackmailing you and telling you not to look stuff up because you'll start the ghusl thing again. This is because he knows what kind of reward you might eventually get from looking stuff up (and bringing the information to practice). So I think you need to be brave and ignore the ghusl thing and look that stuff up anyway. Who knows, maybe you'll be just fine? And if it does restart, deal with it then in the best way possible.

and another thing is, even if i do do a ghusl, or if domeone provides me with an answer that im not guilty with what i think i maybe gulty with, im still gonna think of all these reasons as to why i need to do a ghusl.

Also keep in mind, the ghusl thing, although it is very bothersome, strictly speaking you're not doing anything wrong by taking an unnecessary bath. But not looking up stuff even though you need to is kind of a bad thing.

for example i'll give a similar situation. during prayer, sometimes i think that i have moved, and therefore not facing the qiblah, so i say to myself, okay just turn around and face it again (please DO NOT FOLLOW MY EXAMPLE, i may be WRONG). but then if/when i do that, i say to myself, ohh, but you started with facing it, but then you moved, so you have to satrt the prayer again. so, thats what i do, i start the prayer again.

Yeah, we're dealing with shaytan here again, you know I heared of people actually committing suicide because of this kind of shaytanic harassment. I know sometimes I felt like banging my head into the wall because I felt I couldn't take it. So be carefull with his whispers. They are dangerous and you need to arm yourself with knowledge against them. For example in prayer, if you think you missed something but aren't certain or are not certain about the number of rakaath you did there's the forgetfulness prostation. There's a whole bunch of rules on when you can do this or not, so at first it seems like it's even more complicating, but in the end this is meant to make it easier. and once you know it, it does make prayer easier. Here's a link:
http://www.al-sunnah.com/pdf/sahw.pdf

my point is, is that it happens in footsteps. and thats wht im worried about. opening doors that i will find it hard to close
jazakallahu khair for all your replies.

I understand what you mean it can be intimidating at some times. Remember Allah subhana wa ta'ala does not strain us harder then we can endure, so you have to got faith that you will be able to deal with it. And don't let shaytan intimidate you, the truth is, the more you'll learn about these rulings, the easier things become.

May Allah subhana wa ta'ala protect you from this and make things easier for you

 

[anonymous]

Re: advice please

brothers and sisters
jazakallhu khair for all your replies.
Yeah I think I got what you mean. Well in this case (doing wudu) at least your doing nothing wrong, as for the shirk stuff, look at control like this: If you can't control it you're not responsible and if you can control it then you can beat this. So either way you should have a positive prospect.

this indeed is an interesting way of looking at it. i never even thought about it.

Yeah, we're dealing with shaytan here again, you know I heared of people actually committing suicide because of this kind of shaytanic harassment. I know sometimes I felt like banging my head into the wall because I felt I couldn't take it. So be carefull with his whispers. They are dangerous and you need to arm yourself with knowledge against them.

I also have heard of people commiting suicde, and even becoming apostates. it's abit scary. and whats even scarier is that you actually feel like you are doing something wrong, and when you follow what you think you are doing wrong, it gets even harder.
I have also gone through the pahse of wanting to whack my head really hard, but then the thoght of heads being whacked against a wall, really hurt,alhamdulilah, so i thought better against it.

anyways, jazakallahu khair.

 

[- Qatada -]

Re: advice please

:wasalamex


Masha'Allaah, may Allaah make it easy for you and all the muslims in this world and the hereafter, ameen.


Like you said, the best thing is to ignore it. The people who fall into suicide etc. are usually people who may actually follow that waswasa, even though i know that it is deeper than that. It may even happen to non muslims, and shaytaan keeps them in that state of confusion all the time till death overtakes them, the difference is that we have islaam and we have the Qur'an and Sunnah to explain to us shaytaans techniques so we can overcome them insha'Allaah and have a more blessed life in this world and the hereafter insha'Allaah. ameen.



:salamext:

 

[anonymous]

Re: advice please

brothers and sisters.
jazakallahu khair for all your replies. may allah reward you.

Like you said, the best thing is to ignore it. The people who fall into suicide etc. are usually people who may actually follow that waswasa, even though i know that it is deeper than that.

yes, it is deeper than that, because you feel so trapped somtimes. like, yes i want to ignore this because I know that if i do, than inshallah, it will become easier, and shaytaan will have been defeated. than theres the I want my prayer to be accepted, but it really feels that i have done something.
anyways, jazakallahu khair once again.