Case of OCD in ablution and prayer

28-4-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

I think that I have OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder). I have a hard time doing ablution and prayer. It takes me so many minutes to perform ablution. Sometimes, it takes so long to perform my prayer. I also have gas problems, which particularly happens during the prayer times, although I have it at other times too, but not like the prayer time. I am getting psychologically stressed. Recently, sometimes the stress that I go through during the day stresses me in my sleep. My question is: when I tell myself that I will do it again and tell myself to just perform my prayer, things tend to get better. Is it allowed to do this? By 'I will do it again', I mean that I will perform it again later although I have no intention to actually perform it later. Also, is it possible to not post my question on the website?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

What you say to yourself, that you will do the prayer again later, does not have any effect on the validity of your prayers; rather, your prayers in this case are valid, and you are not obliged to repeat them after that.

Therefore, we advise you to neglect and avoid these whisperings and not pay any attention to them.

You should perform your ablution normally and not repeat it, no matter how much the devil whispers to you that your ablution is not valid.

Also, do not pay any attention to these whisperings that you passed wind; rather, you should rely on the fact that you did not pass any wind.

When you pray, pray only once, and do not interrupt your prayer or repeat it after finishing it regardless of how many times the devil whispers to you that there is something wrong with your prayer.

If you act on this and follow our advice, then you will not experience these whisperings again, Allaah willing.

Allaah knows best.