For the last three months or so a friend of mine who is a 19 year old male muslim has been experiencing an extremely difficult problem that is having a terrible effect on his life and state of mind. He has been experiencing an obsessive compulsion with washing his hands and his body because he fears that there may be traces of urine or secretion on his hands, and he feels dirty. The process can be so time-consuming that sometimes he will spend 3 hours in the shower washing various parts of his body again and again,and when he is finally done, he feels frustrated and confused because he does not understand why he does this. He says that when he is washing himself, evil thoughts enter his mind (he will not elaborate on what sort of evil thoughts they are) and this distracts him from washing, so he ends up doing the entire process again and again. He usually feels the need to perform this washing process after going to the bathroom, or when he experiences tension in his groin area. This problem is having a serious effect on my friend. Just the other day he called me crying, wondering if maybe he is ‘cursed’ because he does not know what to do or how to deal with this problem. I know that this behavior is not normal…please give me advice on what he should do…
Your friend seems to be experiencing a problem by being doubtful about
things he just did. This is in reality whispters from Shaytaan.
Shaytaan can never see a person value time. Therefore, he looks for
different ways to distract a person and to make him waste time. This is one
such way and attempt by Shaytaan. The solution to this problem is that your
friend needs to build up confidence in himself and gain conviction, reality
and awareness of what he is doing. Nabi (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam)
advised with regards to similar situation that one should make the following
Du’aa, ‘O Allah! I seek protection in you from Walahaan’. Walahan is the
agent of Shaytaan, one who creates doubt in the minds of people. Together
with your friend constantly reading this Du’aa, you should speak to him
about ways to build up confidence and awareness in himself.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai