What Can I Do for My Past Reckless Ignorance About Impurities?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I have been extremely reckless with impurity in the past. There was a time in my life when I would have impure hands and touch wet things around my house all the time, or my hands were impure and wet, and I would touch things carelessly. My body was essentially always impure with something, whether it was impure water, urine, semen, etc., and I almost never washed it until it came to bath day, and even then, I would use an impure towel to dry it. My mum says to ignore anything. I can’t see with my own eyes as it is OCD, but I know my hands would’ve been impure and wet when touching those areas, but there is nothing there actually to see, an imperceptible impurity, basically. I have since changed, but I feel as though everything is now impure. I don’t know what to do.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question and for showing concern in your practice of Islam, Alhamdulillah.
I would like to advise you from now on ignore and don’t worry about what has happened in the past and focus on the future.
Filth is divided into two types: 1) perceptible filth and 2) imperceptible filth.
Note that filth is perceptible if its essence, not just a quality, like the color, can be seen after drying.
Perceptible Filth
For perceptible filth to be considered pure, one must remove its essence. This can be done even with one wash, and even in a sink or bathtub, as long as after the wash, the perceptible filth is no longer there.
Imperceptible Filth
Imperceptible filth, however, is considered pure when sufficiently washed such that one is reasonably sure that the filth is gone.
The relied upon position is that there is no condition of a specific amount of times of washing. If one is reasonably sure the filth is gone after one wash, this is sufficient; some, however, did still make washing thrice a condition.
[Tahtawi, Hashiya al-Tahtawi ‘ala Maraqi al-Falah]
Knowledge
The long-term cure for these constant doubts is to seek a deeper understanding of Islamic Knowledge. With knowledge, Shaytan cannot deceive you with his whispers and plots. I would advise that you find authentic scholars in your area and study with them a basic text in Islamic Jurisprudence.
SeekersGuidance.org has classes available in Islamic Jurisprudence and many other subjects.
I would like you to go through this 2-hour long podcast. It will be highly beneficial and guide you through.
Being Balanced – Emotional and Mental Health – Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat (seekersguidance.org)
Related Answers
- (122) 30 – Devil’s Tricks – The Path of Muhammad: Birgivi’s Manual of Taqwa Explained – Sh Faraz Rabbani – YouTube
- Mental Health Workshop: An Islamic Guide to Dealing with Depression (seekersguidance.org)
- Doubts – IPD Session #3 | COJ – an ISIP Youth Chapter Initiative
- The Application of Islamic Psychotherapy for the Treatment of OCD
- Key Principles Relating to Certainty, Doubt, and Baseless Misgivings (waswasa) – SeekersGuidance
- A Reader on OCD and Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings) (seekersguidance.org)
- (1) The Application of Islamic Psychotherapy for the Treatment of OCD~Dr. Hooman Keshavarzi – YouTube
- How to Handle Constant Waswasa in Acts of Purification and Worship
- Being Balanced – Emotional and Mental Health – Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat (seekersguidance.org)
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
