How Can I Overcome Waswasa Regarding Wudu and Salah?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I suffer from waswas, doubting whether I recited Surah Fatiha fully or performed ruku.

I see brown marks on the tissue when wiping the genitals, but can’t tell if they’re blood or dust. I might be madhur due to a dry vaginal opening.

I haven’t followed istihada rules; I prayed dhuhr and asr with the same wudu, so that some qada salah may be invalid. Can I check and wash when relieving myself? Wudu five times daily stresses me.

I have an anal fissure that bleeds; how should I approach wudu and salah? I can’t feel it; I only know by wiping. Can I dab it until it stops? Do I need to check constantly? All this affects my mental health.

Answer

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

I hope you are in good health and faith. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. What you’re describing are a few issues.

Doubt About Fatiha and Ruku

As you will be performing the prayer while standing, assume you have recited the fatiha and performed ruku too, as you will have performed prostration and all the other postures.

The basis is that doubts are ignored, and we act on whatever our reasonable surety entails.

Doubt Regarding Seeing Blood

As long as you are not in your monthly cycle, you should not check, as you are not required to check unless you are certain that impurity has exited. Constant checking is often a major driver of waswasa.

In the Hanafi school, one becomes a ma’dhur when the excuse lasts the entire prayer time, leaving no time to pray or perform wudu. This status continues until a full prayer time passes without the excuse. [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Fissure Bleeding

You don’t need to check constantly unless you are sure of bleeding. It would be best to place a cotton pad in that area and remove it when you have to during a visit to the toilet or before wudu.

Then place one each time. This is an easy way to put yourself at ease and create a barrier.

Wudu and Prayer

If you do not have wudu during prayer time, you must perform wudu. View it as a way to draw closer, and ignore the doubts and pressure. You are performing an act of worship, which is a great step toward closeness and acts as a barrier to satanic whisperings.

Our legal responsibility (taklif) is within the limits of reason: Allah Most High has informed us, “Allah does not burden souls with more than they can manage.” [Quran, 2:286]

Principles Related to Certainty & Doubt

Once you have taken the reasonable means, the default assumption is that you are now free of error. Then, we return to the important fiqh principle:

“Certainty is not lifted by a doubt.” [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa’l Nadha’ir; Majallat al-Ahkam al-‘Adiliyya]

This means that if one is certain about something, such as the validity of our worship, which is the basic assumption for all human actions, then we will keep assuming it is valid until we are certain it is not.

Mere possibilities and even likelihoods do not change this.

Avoid and Completely Ignore

The sunna is to avoid paying attention to baseless misgivings and distractions, and to follow the above instructions.

And Allah knows best.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Related Answers

•  Key Principles Relating to Certainty, Doubt, and Baseless Misgivings (Waswasa): The doubt maxims and an anti-waswas method for worship.

Mawlana Ilyas Patel has received traditional education in various countries. He started his schooling in the UK and completed his hifz of the Quran in India. After that, he joined an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied secular and Aalimiyya sciences. Later, he traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and other Middle Eastern countries to further his education. Mawlana has served as an Imam in the Republic of Ireland for several years and taught the Quran and other Islamic sciences to both children and adults. He also worked as a teacher and librarian at a local Islamic seminary in the UK for 12 years. Presently, he lives in the UK with his wife and is interested in books and gardening.