Treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

A man was afflicted with OCD.

What should he do? Your advice? Allah preserve you.

It is one of Satan's ways.

Waswas, at root, is a sign of a righteous servant and a sound heart.

For when Satan...

sees a righteous servant

and that he can't mislead him by actions. He starts whispering to him.

So when that was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ, he said.

"Praise be to Allah, who turned back."

his plot to mere whispers. He had no power over us.

So he came with whispers. And he said of that, "That is pure faith."

This is the basis of whispering. Meaning: if it occurs, that proves it.

But this does not mean we praise those with waswas.

For yielding to misgivings is an evil that must be avoided.

Whoever has waswas is of two types.

The first type is when intrusive whispers usually do not overwhelm him.

Waswas does not dominate him. Rather, it comes and goes.

And this is treated through frequent seeking refuge in Allah from it.

Spit to his left.

And read the Quran.

And read the hadiths.

And the second type is when it becomes frequent for a person until it prevails.

This cannot be treated by actions.

Because the more he does, the more the waswas increases.

Even if he recites the Quran, waswas worsens. How is it treated?

The jurists say its treatment is total disregard.

What is total disregard?

Do not act on it or heed it. Even if it comes to you.

Think of it as a madman talking behind you.

while you are certain that he cannot harm you.

And do not do anything because of it. And do not leave anything because of it.

Some people, when misgivings come to them.

He opens the Quran to read it.

Then Iblis targets him and whispers in his recitation.

He stands to pray, and whispers come in prayer.

And do not leave anything because of it.

If you are reciting the Quran and Satan keeps whispering to you.

Don't stop reading. Continue.

Stop if you want to stop reading. But not because of waswas.

If you do this and are patient, know that this takes patience.

Because Iblis comes to the obsessed as a sincere, caring adviser in prayer.

It's prayer.

Prayer links the servant to his Lord. If your prayer is invalid, what's left?

Pay attention. Get out. Go. Make wudu.

So as to ruin his prayer for him He is no sincere adviser; he is Iblis.

So patience is needed Be patient with wudu.

Whispers come to you. Do wudu and move on.

Iblis: "Something left." Say, "Nothing left."

Ignore it. Go pray. By Allah, it won't harm you.

By Allah, it won't harm you.

Reading Quran.

Iblis whispers. Go on. Ignore him.

Go on. Read. By Allah, it won't harm you.

Rather, you will be rewarded for striving against Iblis.

Then Iblis will give up on you leave this avenue and seek another.

Now, brothers, a brother like this.

Who is said to have OCD, meaning that the waswas.

Has become dominant over him. His only treatment is complete disregard.

And complete disregard means knowing for sure it will not harm him.

And that Allah is Merciful.

He would not punish His servants with this. This isn't religion.

Allah ﷻ says, "He put no hardship on you in religion."

How can someone perform wudu seventy times as part of the religion?

So know this, be certain of it, and that's it.

Do what people do and ignore it. And keep doing what you're doing.

Don't stop for whispers.

And do not do anything because of the whispers.

By Allah, by His leave, he'll recover. We tried it.

By Allah, brothers, a man came to me.

Satan whispers to him about his wife: "You divorced her."

And when he took her to her family and said, "Go to your family."

Iblis: "You divorced her."

He'd sometimes call me at two or three a.m., saying, "Shaykh, now...".

She is beside me on the bed. She is my wife. I didn't divorce her.

At first, we told him: remember Allah until you turn away from this matter.

He began remembering Allah, and Iblis came.

If he said, "Subhan Allah," Iblis: "You mean divorce."

If he said, "Allahu Akbar," Iblis: "You mean divorce." A symptom.

When we saw it was severe for him.

We advised him to ignore it. He would ignore it awhile, then return.

So sometimes he'd come to my house, and I'd throw him out.

Because as long as he knows there's someone to relieve him, it will persist.

But after a while, we gave him the rule.

All praise and favor belong to Allah ﷻ. His life straightened out.

And it went away from him completely because he held to this principle.

And I know many people, some of whom had waswas for over 20 years.

He came to us, we guided him, and were patient with him a while.

Then Allah ﷻ cured him through this method.

So my advice to the brother is, do as I mentioned. Allah ﷻ knows best.