Islam's Solution To OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)

There is some people with OCD, they consider everything najis. The bathroom, it is one pile of najasa. The kitchen is najis. Anything that is wet, is najis. You go to someone's home, if the carpet is a bit wet, that must be najis. The kitchen, the counters, it is all najis. If a child drank from a cup that is najis, everything becomes najis. And these people, they have an urge to want to wash everything. They wash the kitchen a couple of times a day. They wash the bathroom and the toilet, several times a day.

If the carpet is wet, they take out the carpet, they wash it, they bring it back. This is called 'OCD'. This is Obsessive-compulsive disorder. And in Arabic it has a name. In Islam, there is a terminology for it. You know what it is called? Waswas. This is called 'waswas'. In English, we call it 'OCD'. In Arabic, we call it 'waswas'. Those that think everything is najis. This is one kind of people. Another when in deal- When it comes to rituals. Their wudhu- wudhu is supposed to take two minutes or three minutes. Their wudhu takes fifteen minutes. They wash every single part of their face. They look in the mirror, they make sure that every part of their skin is wet. They obsess over it.

Their ghusl. You know how long their ghusl listen takes? Just look at their water bill. Look at their water bill and you will realize how long their listen takes. A ghusl is supposed to take no more than ten minutes. Ten minutes is a lot. Ten minutes is a lot. Ghusl is getting water to your entire body. It does not mean going swimming. It does not mean standing under a waterfall. Get water to your body and that is it. Some people their ghusl takes an hour. An hour. That is called 'waswas'. That is called 'OCD'. They want to make sure that water reaches their entire body. That is good. Let water reach your entire body, but do not obsess. Do not obsess over it.

A normal shower, a normal ghusl should take five minutes to ten minutes. If you are taking longer than that, that is OCD. That is waswas. One day, one of the Imams. I believe it was Imam al-Baqir. He came out of the shower. Previously, they did not have showers at home. They had public showers. People went to public showers and they showered. Men had their own section, women have their own section. They did not have showers at home. We are living at an age- we are blessed. We are blessed to have showers and bathrooms at home. Previously, ask your grandparents. They did not have showers at home. They would have to go to public showers.

Imam al-Baqir, alayhi as-salam, came out of the shower - it was a public shower - and he had performed ghusl and he was about to leave. Someone told him, "ya Ibna Rasulli Allah, there is a dry mark. There is a dry spot on your back. Meaning you missed a spot in your ghusl." He told them, "you did not have to tell me, that is fine. I will go. And I will-" and he did not repeat his ghusl. He grabbed some water, he wiped his back. That is it. Imagine if we were told we would have to go and repeat that ghusl three more times. He grabbed some water and he wiped it on his back and he said "that is it. And you do not need to tell me. You did not have to tell me that there was a dry mark on my back."

You see, Imams, they did not obsess, but we obsess over wudhu, over ghusl. I have seen some people, when they perform wudhu, they move the hair, they start combing to make sure that the water reaches the skull. No, it is not that bad. When it comes to Salah. When it comes to Salah, there are some people that have waswas in Salah. "Am I in the first rak'ah or the second? Am I in the second or am I in the third? Is this the third or the fourth? Is this the fourth or the fifth?" As soon as they go to salah, they begin to doubt. Which rak'ah am I in? This is waswas.

Islam tells us that waswas is not something good. OCD is not something good. Treat it, cure it. And Islam has given us the cure. For example, when it comes to obsessive thoughts, does God exist? Is there a Day of Judgment? What will happen after death? Is there a Heaven? Is there a Hell? We said that if you genuinely have questions, then you have to go do your research. But if it is not questions, it is just doubts. It is obsessive doubt than Islam says "you are safe, you are okay." Rufa'a al-ummati, Rasul Allah said in a hadith. Rufa'a al-ummati tis' " nine things have been lifted upon my nation. One of them: al-waswasatu fi 'l-khalq ma lam yantaq bi shifa. You will not be held accountable for waswas. If you doubt God's existence, if you doubt God's mercy, if you doubt the Day of Judgment, just doubts, obsessive doubts? You will not be held accountable. You are not considered a kafir. You will not go to hell. No one will be held you accountable. This is with waswas. But you have to overcome.

As for rituals, when it comes to rituals. Those that consider everything najis. Everything in the kitchen, everything on the floor, everything that is wet. You know, everyone who has wet hands, that comes and shakes hands with you. Islam has a solution. Islam says "Kullu shay'in laka tahir, hatta ta'lam", everything is pure. By default, everything is pure, everything is tahir. Unless you saw the najasa with your own eyes. If you saw the toilet, it is najis, then you can say it is najis. If you did not see with your own eyes, it is tahir. If there was something wet on the floor? It is tahir, say that is water. The kitchen, the counters, are they najis? No, they are not najis. You consider them tahir. If a child came and drank from a glass, is that glas najis? No, it is not najis. You consider that tahir. Someone shakes his hands, shakes your hands and his hand was what? Is it najis? No, it is not najis. Everything is tahir. "Kullu shay'in laka tahir, hatta ta'lam". This is one.

Two. We have another law that says "La shakka li kathyra shakk." If you doubt a lot, you do not pay attention to your doubts. If you doubt "is this the first rak'ah or the second rak'ah?" We have laws of course. If this is the first rak'ah or second rak'ah? Your sSalah void. Is this the second rak'ah or the second rak'ah? You say "this is the third" and then you have to do a rak'ah of ihtiyaad. Is this the third or the fourth? You say "this is the fourth" and then you do a rak'ah. You pray a prayer of one rak'ah as ihtiyaad. However, but if you repeatedly doubt in every Salah, in every salah you repeatedly doubt, you do not repeat any sSalah any longer. Khalas. You pray once and that is it. Your wudhu, if you repeatedly doubt, is it correct? Is it not correct? You do not do it over.

Your ghusl. Please go easy on your water bills! Just perform ghusl once and that is it. Do not keep on repeating it. Perform your ghusl and get out of the shower and that is it. Do not keep on doubting. Do not keep on obsessing that "did I do it correctly? Did I wash my entire hair?" No. You do not need to do that. "La shakka li kathira shakk."

We have another principle that says "qa i'dat il-faragh". Qa i'dat il-faragh says that in Salah, once you passed a stage and you doubt it - regarding the former stage - do not pay attention. For example, you are in sujood and you doubt whether your ruku it was correct or not. Or did you say "Subhana Rabbi al-'Adhimi wa bi hamdih" or not? Do not pay attention. You passed.

It is called 'the passing stage'. If you passed from one stage to the next and you doubt the correctness of the former stage do not pay attention. Continue with your Salah. Islam has made it so easy for us. But we make it difficult. We make things difficult for us.