How Should I Deal with Waswasa about My Recitation in Prayer Due to a Speech Disorder?

Question

I have recently developed a speech disorder that affects my salah and has been causing me to have much waswas and doubt.

I often have trouble pronouncing letters, taking three or four tries to pronounce them correctly. In all of my prayers, my speech becomes slurred, or I lose control of my tongue to spasms, or it becomes difficult to move my tongue and facial muscles at all!

To recite with correct tajwid usually takes me several tries and all of my attention and effort. Usually, when I do this, I forget about my Lord, to whom I’m praying, because I’m focused on my pronunciation!

Am I pardoned from correct tajweed because of this?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

Waswasa is from Shaytan. Ignore these thoughts entirely and remember that Allah is the Most Merciful.

I pray that this benefits.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.