Ep 1 – OCD The Dark & Light of The Human Mind
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Channel: Ali Hammuda
Series: Ali Hammuda - The Dark & Light of The Human Mind
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AI Generated Summary ©
The speakers stress the importance of removing the connection between pain and religion in the treatment of OCD, which can affect various departments of life. They emphasize the importance of understanding one's spirituality and belief in actions, faith in Islam, and being consistent with one's beliefs. The use of hesitation therapy, Prayed units, and "whighter or better" words are emphasized, and the importance of addressing anxiety through the use ofOCD therapy is emphasized.AI Generated Transcript ©
Every human being experiences
unwanted thoughts.
Some surveys suggest that around 94% of the human population will experience
disruptive, intrusive thoughts that cause people to some level or another anxiety and fear.
The difference, however, is that some people are able to manage these thoughts, and they keep them at the back of their minds. It's background noise, that's inconsequential. And they're able to move on with their lives. Other people who Allah subhanho wa Taala has tested in his absolute wisdom,
they find it a lot more difficult to manage these thoughts.
They dwell on them,
they obsess over them. And therefore compulsive behaviors develop to deal with the fear and the anxiety that surrounds these bothering intrusive thoughts.
And therefore, when it becomes a disorder, meaning these thoughts come to your mind to a level whereby you're unable to control them, which then generates a behavior that you're unable to control in response, and it's affecting your day to day life now on your psychological functioning, the clinicians they call it OCD,
or obsessive compulsive disorder.
Hundreds of years ago, our Muslim scholars have discussed a very similar concept. Has anybody heard of it before? I think it's probably in your notes, or it might not be.
Has anybody heard of a term that our Muslim physicians or scholars and jurists would refer to as the equivalent of OCD in the Arabic language? Have you heard of it? With suas? And
I'll carry Yes, and we suas which means whisperings and carry which means overwhelming whispers will carry overwhelming whispers.
Our belief is that there are two sources of whispers or whisperings or thoughts. The first of them is from the neffs the soul, Allah subhanho wa Taala he said, Well, I could call upon an insect indeed We created man. Why not l m omega to watch which will be enough suitable. And we know what his inner self his nerves whispers to him. That comes from here, it's internal.
But there is also a second Mobis with whisperer and he is shadeland Iblees and his followers. Allah subhanaw taala who said I will I will develop the nurse medica nurse Ilahi nurse Michelle really was was a nurse a lady us we Sophie So the nurse he Shavon who whispers within the hearts of people.
So this is called West wasa in the Arabic language or whisperings. It's mentioned abundantly in the Quran and Sunnah.
However, the clinical qualifier of Wiswell suka Hari, I'll read meaning overwhelming whispers they add this in order to differentiate the normal whispering the normal west so that we all experience from the clinical obsessive compulsive overwhelming type of whispering that some people cannot control. And this is and we swear assume carry the overwhelming whispers. So there is a difference between the two. Most people will experience the former, but it's a minority who suffer with the latter.
And OCD as a clinical term has subsets it's not all just one type pertaining to purification or worship or morality. And one of the subsets of OCD that deals with the religion and morality is called scrupulosity. Memorize this word we need to get through a bit of jargon and terminology before we get into the thick of our talk inshallah. The OCD of scrupulosity.
scrupulosity, what does it mean means being meticulous about something very precise to the very detailed about a matter
so when the clinicians or practitioners they say scrupulosity, they are referring to the subset or the category of OCD that deals with religion and morality.
So we will be referring to scrupulosity and you know exactly what I mean. When I use that word we're referring to the so called religious OCD. And they define that as being
becoming preoccupied with matters of worship beyond normal limits.
And others have defined it as being the fear of sin when there is none.
The fear of sin when there is no sin, this type of behavior
We call it the OCD of scrupulosity.
The question here is, tell us brother honey about the importance of this topic. It seems random,
especially in the month of Ramadan, where everyone else is speaking about the Quran and dua, fasting and spirituality. Why have we chosen for the first time in my short career as a
student of knowledge in sha Allah to speak about mental health related issues in the month of Ramadan? There is a reason for that.
First of all,
to be honest with you, I wasn't really a person who paid a huge amount of attention to the topic of OCD, when you don't suffer from a particular disorder, you tend to dismiss it, because you don't suffer from it symptoms. However, in recent times, when I saw the huge number of cases coming to us, through the Islamic Council of Europe, and so many men and women, couples, single old, young Arab, non Arab are suffering with OCD, and they are seeking help because they're captivated by it. I realized it's much more of an issue. And then I looked at the way I was responding to these brothers, these sisters, these clients, and I wasn't satisfied with myself, I realized that the
advice I was giving them was not satiating them, it was not really giving them the help that they need. Although when you are a trained imam or a student of knowledge, this is one of the modules that you started, you study and you understand, but it clearly wasn't sufficient. So I dropped a lot of my doings and preoccupations, and I focused a lot more attention and time and trying to understand this clinical term OCD and our equivalent of it, and we swear somebody overwhelming whispers and this is what I'm sharing with you this afternoon. Why is this topic so important?
When a Muslim who is practicing decide to repeat a certain act of worship over and over again, who doesn't suffer from OCD? Why is he doing that?
masking your brother's Why is he doing that?
Why would you pray again and again as a practicing Muslim?
No, you have no OCD,
normal situation.
Because you want reward. You want the the sense of nearness to Allah subhanaw taala. You want to experience the warmth of besieging him. So you Say Subhan Allah Subhana Allah Subhan Allah Subhana Allah has had to alert you, Lola she had one that you learn Allah you pray to Allah Kaltura countour account of extra Salah Why do you repeat it if you don't have OCD? Because you enjoy the experience. You want to honor Allah and glorify Him, you want to obey Him, you want the joy of being near to him. However, if you are a practicing Muslim who has obsessive compulsive disorder, why do you repeat certain actions of worship?
For a completely different reason?
to free yourself from the pain of doubt.
I don't know if my salah was deficient. I think it was incomplete. I've got to repeat it. So you pray again and again. And again because you're trying to remedy the fear, the anxiety and the discomfort. So rather than finding comfort in the worship of Allah subhanaw taala you are worshiping Allah to flee discomfort,
rather than finding ease in the worship of Allah subhanaw taala you worship him to flee hardship.
Do you see why this topic is so important especially in the month of Ramadan, when it is about worship of Allah, OCD can really interrupt the Muslims journey to Allah subhanaw taala where it strips him from joy and happiness and Eman because it's just fear, I'm going to be punished. I'm doing it wrong, I can't get it right.
And then
if this is not treated, this can continue to devolve to a level where you begin to resent a live gender generic you begin to hate his religion.
Why because in the mind of the OCD sufferer, he's created a false link between pain, anguish and religion.
So what do you do to remove the pain and the anguish you remove the source of it. So you no longer pray you longer no longer do will do?
Because doing that is causing me pain.
And so part of the treatment is to remove that connection to break that connection to show that religion is not the source of OCD. Otherwise, if a person does not do that, he or she will eventually assume the very worst assumptions about Allah subhanaw taala and about his religion. Why does it put me under all of this pain? Now to give you examples of how OCD works in which departments of life it can affect you as a practicing Muslim. Remember, we're talking about scrupulosity, religious, OCD.
Number one, it can affect you in the Department of Art either belief in Allah subhanaw taala.
And perhaps this is the most difficult in the life of someone who struggles with OCD where they constantly
feel that they may have offended a lot in legendado. For the panic when blastoma school free thought passes through their mind, I must be a disbeliever. And so they repeat their shahada again and again shadow Allah, Allah, Allah should know Muhammad Rasool Allah, yada yada disbelieved. And then if I have disbelieved, is my wife permissible for me. What about my Muslim contracts? My religious contracts that I have with people in society, are they null and void? It becomes a huge worry.
That's one department a second department religious OCD can affect people is in the field of field of worship a bad rule, you will find someone repeating his sunnah over and over again, like we said, not in search of reward, but to flee discomfort and pain and doubt the anxiety of having carried out a deficient prayer. So they do a lot of maybe 15 times 2030 times until they feel that this was the one that was correct. When I received my fat yeah correctly, did I forget to say Al hamdu, Lillahi Rabbil Alameen did I carry out four units or five units and these doubts are there in an obsessive way and you're repeating the prayer over and over again.
So it's gonna affect you in belief, it can affect you in worship as a Muslim it can also affect you in purification taharah
This is a very common one, in some of the narrations, although very weak, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is said to have said
that there is a shaytan dedicated to bothering people
when they are purifying themselves and his name is Al Han. And even from a non Muslim perspective, what affects OCD people the most is arguably the aspects of purification for Hara.
So you are doing your will do again and again and again. And members of my family suffered with this, I saw them weeping over the bathroom sink, and they are washing their arms, they saying it's it's not covering my arm it the water is not reaching my unusual weeping. These are righteous people. And it's coming from a good place. But there is faulty cognition. There is a problem here that needs to be addressed.
I remember
a case and I'm purposely missing out certain bits of detail and changing the story to some extent, because of confidentiality, a case where a brother came to us and his wife, and he was suffering from OCD of scrupulosity. And he said that my will do and my prayers five times a day, they take me around six hours a day.
You may imagine, so we'll do it should take you a minute, two minutes. So I'll actually take you five minutes, 10 minutes if you're Bashar Allah write the whole thing. Should it be more than 10 minutes, so that's 50 minutes a day, he says six hours.
About an hour 20 for each salah. By the time I've repeated my widow 100 times and repeated my prayer. God knows how many times I have no time with my wife. We can't even be intimate anymore because I'm always crying weeping. I'm doing it wrong.
We have no time for work. I have no time to spend time with the with the kids. We do nothing but we'll do on slider. It's really affecting them.
And I remember another case of a brother who constantly had fear that he had divorced his wife. The word of Talaq divorce was always passing through his mind and he was doubting therefore, whether his wife was permissible for him or not. Can you imagine how difficult that is? Not knowing if your moments with your wife are permissible, or it's Zina adultery, because you suspect that you divorce her so he can even say the word divorce when he's speaking to the Imam or the sheriff or declination. He's saying, you know, when I, I think about it, what's it you know, that word? He doesn't want to even say it just in case it made me that he has divorced his wife.
And in fact, in his case, when he is reciting Quran, he will purposely avoid the verses of the Quran that involve a Talaq, he would skip the verse, because if he recites it, you will worry that this may mean that he has now intended the divorce of his wife, and all of the anxiety that comes with that as well. So he wants to renew again, his contract of marriage again and again.
So as you see, it's a very important topic. It is debilitating, and it can interrupt the person journey to Allah subhanaw taala in a very intrusive ways.
Two quick disclaimers before we proceed.
The first disclaimer is that I am addressing this topic from purely a religious theological perspective. I will speak about some clinical studies here and there, but that's just to enrich what I'm trying to see from an Islamic perspective. So I am not a doctor, I'm not a medic, not a clinician on psychiatrist, not a psychologist. I am simply someone who is trained in the Islamic sciences, and therefore I'm speaking about it from that perspective only. I also understand it's a multi layered approach.
And that's why health care practitioners they refer to the three dimensional model of the biopsychosocial model, bio psycho social model. So they say that in order to take care of someone's health to it
As a disease, you need to understand that there is a biological aspect to psychological aspect, there's a social aspect. So the biological aspect looks like a psychiatrist who you sit with. And after hearing you out, maybe testing you for certain things, he will offer you a medication to raise the levels of a substance in your body or to lower a chemical of some sort, that type of issuing of a medication.
That's the biological approach. And then you've got the psycho approach and psychological approach, where a psychologist will sit with the patient, and he will hear him out and he will offer him words of advice about behavior or emotions or attitudes. So that's the bio cycle, then you have the social approach. Social approach is when an advisor or a clinician would speak to you about your economic status, about family, your social network, your friends.
In recent times, healthcare practitioners are saying we need to add also the spiritual approach non Muslims, they're saying you cannot hide the fact that people who are spiritual or religious, they need to understand that there is a higher conscious in them that needs to be addressed. So it's not become a four dimensional model, which is the biopsychosocial spiritual approach.
And I truly believe, even from a professional perspective, they say that proper recovery from things like OCD, it has to be
a dance or a coordination between two key players in the patient's life. First of all, a skilled clinician who knows the science.
And he is respectful of your Muslim faith, and will not offer you a treatment that will put your religion in the crosshairs of the treatment. But then the second key player is an Imam, a che, someone who is trained in the Islamic sciences who understands your frame of mind to understand your principles, and he's able to reframe unhealthy spiritual beliefs with healthy ones. So it has to be of a dance between two parties for effective recovery.
And my job here is that I'm speaking about to from a religious theological
perspective. That's disclaimer number one. Disclaimer number two very quickly. I appreciate that OCD. As is the case with other mental health related issues. People who suffer from it, they are on a spectrum.
Some people have mild symptoms, they just require a brief bits of guidance and help and guidance. And others they sit on more of the extreme side of the spectrum where they may need the prescription of medication, drugs. Some may even need operation surgery. I am speaking about OCD from the mild symptoms perspective.
With these disclaimers out of the way, we can proceed with the live data. First thing I want to send to you brothers and sisters, OCD is not a religious problem.
As I said to you earlier, it's very easy to create a link between religion Islam, Quran, Allah subhanaw taala and my problems, my pain, and therefore you begin to hate the religion. We want to establish very early on in this talk, oh C D is not a religious problem, meaning religion is not the cause of OCD. We have to remove that from our minds.
And there are several evidences for this. First of all, it's only a minority of religious people around the world who suffer from OCD. Millions upon millions of people all across the world, they worship Allah subhanaw taala in an unhampered manner, without any symptoms of OCD, so it's not a religious problem.
Secondly, often when they are asked, they meaning the OCD patients who will speak about
OCD like symptoms before they even became practicing. So it's part of their history. It's part of their track record, maybe it's in the family, we have OCD. And then when I became practicing, it took the form of religion. So it's not the cause of religion. Religion is not the cause of it. And 60.8% of patients they reported a stressful life event within 12 months of OCD symptoms. So it started before they became practicing something in their life happened that triggered it.
And thirdly, we say it is not a religious problem because OCD has been reported in the followers of all of the major world religions. It's not a Muslim problem, it's not a Muslim disease.
However OCD will just take the appearance it will take the color of the principle is your life that you that you hold core, OCD will just take the garment of the things that you hold dear and you will become obsessed about doing them wrong. So for example, there is OCD and Christianity there is OCD in Judaism there is OCD in the adherence of the Muslim faith. So for example, a Protestant OCD client
with a worrier
about things that are important to him as a Protestant Christian. So he will worry about not having done the confession correctly and will repeat it over and over again in the confessions box.
A Catholic for example, or maybe that's the example of a Catholic Christian and a Protestant would we would worry about walking in a way that is not honoring to God Almighty. That would be his OCD, if he suffered from it, an ultra orthodox Jew who suffers from OCD, he's where we would be about the idea of mixing meat and milk. That would be the worry, the OCD, there are matters of purification, they hold that in high regard.
And we as Muslims, we also have our things that are important to us. And OCD takes the color of that thing. So religion is not at the core of it, what's at the core of it.
At the core of it is the OCD. And religion just takes the coloring of that thing.
This vicious cycle of OCD, how does it begin, it begins with a thought that passes through your mind,
a doubt that you have about someone or something.
And therefore to deal with the anxiety and the fear that comes with that thought, or behavior is born. So you do something in order to flee the discomfort of that thought.
So for example, you have a thought My Word or was not correct.
That then gives birth to anxiety, fear.
So what do you do that gives birth to a behavior, which is what the repeating of the widow, if that continues to happen,
then you have obsessed over the fault.
That's the O of the acronym of OCD, obsession obsessive, you're obsessing over the foot.
When you are constantly acting upon the thought to remove to the pain, this has become a
compulsive behavior. That's the C of the OCD, acronym, obsessive compulsive disorder. So now you can't even control it. It's almost out of your hand, you're constantly repeating your model, you're constantly renewing your marriage, you're constantly repeating your Shahada.
This is the compulsion here. And then when this begins to affect your day to day doings, and your psychological functionings, this becomes a disorder now. So the fact that you love symmetry doesn't mean that you've got OCD. The fact that you plan your trips to the tee doesn't mean that you've got OCD, or that you arrange your shoes in a shoe rack or a particular way, it doesn't mean you have OCD. That just means that you're a little bit meticulous, precise. When it begins to impact your day to day functioning,
then you understand it has become a disorder. And this is what they call OCD. In order to break this cycle, we need to do two things. And now we get into the thick of things. I suggest that in order to break the cycle of OCD, there has to be two broad Islamic approaches. The first is to address the mind.
And the second is to address behaviors actions. Since OCD is about a thought that becomes a compulsive behavior, we address the mind. And then we address the actions. So follow with me on your notes,
there's going to be five points under the first heading of addressing the mind.
And then there will be another four points under the heading of addressing the actions or the behaviors. So we begin by addressing the mind.
We said a lot of misunderstandings that bring about OCD. It's the product of faulty cognition,
an issue that started here,
when you mix between thoughts and beliefs, that's an issue of the mind
when you're unable to separate between your own thoughts, and the wisdoms of shape, and it's an issue of the mind
when you constantly feel guilt and regret because of a coffee, blasphemous thought, a thought that came into your head, that's an issue of cognition, the mind. Right? So it starts by addressing this, and correcting beliefs, and straightening out misunderstandings and understanding who Allah is what the religion of Islam is, and what it is not. It starts by addressing this the thoughts and that's why there was a Chinese proverb attributed to a philosopher
by the name of Lao Zhu. And he says, this is the motto of OCD therapists, they say watch your thoughts, because they will become your emotions and what your emotions because they will become your behaviors and what's your behaviors because they will become your habits and what's your habits because that will become your character and once your character that will become your destiny.
So the character formation and destiny starts with what a thought that pass through your mind Subhanallah and so it all
all starts with the mind. So we're going to address five points from an Islamic perspective how we can help someone who has OCD. We speak to his cognition from five perspectives, the first of them
to realize that eliminating whisperings completely from your life is impossible.
This is therapeutic and this is the lifting of abandon.
The difference between someone who has OCD and someone who does not, is not the presence of whisperings, we all have whisperings. The difference between them is just one thing.
The one who does not have OCD, when these whisperings they come, they ignore them, they don't obsess over them. They're not scared of them. They don't fear them. They separate them from their thoughts from shape on and they continue their life as normal.
Whereas a person who was suffering with OCD, they don't do these things. They do the opposite. They obsess over the thought. They can't help it. They dwell over the thought. They can't separate thoughts and imagination from beliefs. They fear the thoughts and they dwell over them until they produce an action to remove the thought.
However, in principle, we are to understand that thoughts cannot be eliminated. So the one who is suffering from OCD, he he realizes Alhamdulillah I'm not a freak of nature. I'm not a weirdo. I'm not a terrible I'm not a bad Muslim, because these horrible thoughts came to my mind we see Do you know Habibi, rest assured we all have these thoughts I do you do? We all have them. The only difference is how we react. That's the only difference.
So thoughts cannot be eliminated.
And that's why when Allah spoke about the whisperings that come from here, the nafs he said in the Neff Salah Amara to be su the inner self is always prompting you to do evil. It comes from here we all have that.
And the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said in the Hadith, numerous Odin aerates.
And so he Muslim. He tells us, I either prophet that every one of us has a shape and connected to his life Nermeen Camino or had an inner worker do killaby He called him whom in Elgin new ocarina who minallah Every one of you, he said, every one of you has a Shavon a devil, from the jinn and an angel appointed as his companion all throughout his life.
They said to him, What yada yada Rasulullah and even you are messenger of Allah. He said, What Yeah, Illa and Allah, Allah, Allah, He Firstly, in fact, I would only love you. Even I do as well. I have a shaytan, who has been appointed to be my companion all throughout my life.
But Alhamdulillah Allah Almighty helped me, he said, and he became a Muslim. And so he only instructed me to do that which is good, Han Allah. So he's next to you all over the time. It's part of your journey as a Muslim.
So this is the therapeutic to accept the fact that you have these thoughts.
And in the world of psycho psychology, there is a modern intervention they call AC T SubhanAllah. It's very similar to this first point that I'm mentioning with you accepting that you have whisperings they call it AC T. AC T stands for acceptance, Commitment Therapy.
And it's been proven to reduce the symptoms of anxiety in people who suffer from OCD and what is ACTA about the idea is to accept the fact that you have these whisperings it's simply that
to show the OCD patient that it's part of the normal human process to have thoughts that you can control so rather than putting all of your energy in trying to control these thoughts, put your energy in something else like enriching your life doing something positive
acceptance, and here the wise Muslim clinician or the Imam will say to the OCD patient, by the way, I am not saying to accept the blasphemous thought.
I'm not saying to you, believe it or be happy with it even. I'm just saying to accept the fact that you're having the thought
and then allow it to pass safely from your mind and into the source. Without dwelling over it. Acceptance, this is point number one in addressing the mind which is what whispers cannot be eliminated.
So we are the same in that respect.
The second thing
in addressing the mind of someone who is suffering from OCD is most whisperings are harmless whisperings are harmless.
Why fear them? Why allow it to chastise you and terrorize you. whisperings what's worse is harmless.
What can harm you is the result of Nia to do something that is wrong. But whispering is a pass in and out of your mind. You shouldn't fear that and therefore that should not produce about anxiety.
And that's why our scholars have mentioned that there are five stages to behavioral change before you decide to do something you have to go through five stages in
Your mind and in your heart. The first of them is called a hajus hajus. It means a passing thought,
an image of something or someone that passes through your mind, and then it disappears.
If that image stays, it's now called a harder, meaning a residing thought, a thought that stays in your mind and image that stays there.
Then you go to the third level in behavioral change, which is how do you throw nefs Hadith to nefs? An internal debate? should I should I not? Should I consume Should I not? Should I link up Should I not Hadith napsw internal debate.
And then you move on to the fourth stage, if you don't stop it, or it isn't stopped, which is an her move. And hum, it means a desire, but there's no resolve.
So you're now inclined towards it. This is now called her home, a desire, but there's no resolve, then you get to the fifth stage. And this is called alHazmi. Meaning determination with resolve or another word for it is what brothers
say it again. Commitment Junga Ne. Ne intention, when you are committed to something by way of intention.
And what is amazing, and this is very therapeutical. To know for the OCD patient, none of these stages matter. There's no good deeds or sins associated with any of these stages, except the last one, number five, when it becomes resolved with the determination to do something. And most of the thoughts that pass through our mind are not of this category.
Give you an example, an image of an alcohol bottle appears in your mind.
And then it disappears. That's what hajus passing thought, if the bottle of the alcohol stays in the mind, this is a harder residing thought. If then you begin to discuss whether I should drink it, should I not drink it, this becomes Hattiesburg laughs an internal debate. If then you incline towards the idea of drinking it, it becomes what I'll have a desire, but no resolve. If then you make the intention to drink it. I'm gonna go out and buy it now and you're searching for it. This is what
allows mo which is a determination with a result any year. None of these stages matter except number five.
So this is therapeutic. This is the lifting of abandon. You have to separate between imagination, and commitment, belief and commitment. And that's why the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam when people came to him saying we're having bad thoughts about Allah, this is what he is sending to them. These whisperings they don't matter. In fact, it's a sign of your Eman. The hadith, which I Buddha wouldn't rate Subhanallah and
once I have you he came to our Prophet alayhi salatu salam and he said to him, er rasool Allah He in a hijama Yeji Doofy Nuptse he you are ready to be Che E only Hakuna, whom are hobbling him in and yet I can never be He, O Messenger of Allah. Some of us are having certain thoughts in our minds, which we would prefer to be incinerated into ash burn down to ash than to ever express it or talking about it. So it must be something huge about Allah who doubts or something like that. We'd rather die and be burnt to burnt to ashes and then talk about it. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam What did he say? You need to repeat your shahada again and again. Your doubt your religion is in
question. You should be ashamed of yourself for thinking this. He said the opposite. He said Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar Al Hamdulillah. In that era decade who it was, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar. Praise be to Allah Who reduced the plotting of Chopin to whisperings.
So he's praising them. He's saying mashallah, you should be happy with yourself that all Shaytan was able to do to interrupt your journey as a Muslim is give you insignificant whisperings don't worry about it, it means nothing. And the fact that you are concerned shows you that you are a moment let it pass. In another narration.
Which Muslim narrates the Companions they said, Yeah rasool Allah He in their energy Dolphy and fusina, nya, there are other more AHA dunya and yet I can never be a messenger of Allah, we experienced thoughts that we deemed way too grave to ever talk about. He said, What was yet to move? Who have you experienced that? They said, Yes, messenger of Allah. He said, The kasari Emang that is manifest faith.
That is a demonstration of clear image that you have these thoughts.
So rather than saying to them, you should repeat your shahada doubt your religion you should be afraid. He said this is a sign that your Eman is peak
because your hearts are busy with a man so shaytaan he's only able to give you whisperings from afar but he's unable to put any belief that will settle in your heart because it's busy with clay
Elan, that is a sign of manifest faith. You see how our prophets I send them flipped the concept upside down. So rather than it should be anxiety and fear, it should be a cause of celebration and Schuco to Allah subhana wa Tada gratitude Subhanallah what religion does this other than ours?
So this hierarchy that I've showed you, of Hodges and Carter, Hadith, Neff, Salman hasn't that shows you that there is a difference between imagination and confirmation? There is a difference between a thought which you don't have to worry about and a belief, which is different. But we're not talking about that. So we said number one, which springs cannot be eliminated. Number two from your list is what we springs don't matter. They are harmless. Number three, a very important principle. It says
a yucky no lie azubi shack, memorize it, and Islamic Maxim. Which means your keen certainty cannot be raised through doubt.
And I found the usage of this principle to be very helpful in the lives of people who suffer with OCD.
Islam assumes that your religion as a Muslim, your shahada, that's the default status, it is certain your purity after you do your will do that certain, the salah that you've just completed now with us, that certain your marriage with your wife, husband that certain and we do not change what is certain, by way of a doubt.
What is doubtful cannot remove a certainty only certainty can remove certainty.
So
the moment you say things like I think,
I doubt, I reckon, perhaps, maybe realize that everything that comes after that sentence is null and void doesn't matter, because it's doubt.
So, you're going to ask me, you've just told me what that looked like. What does certainty look like? Certainty looks like something whereby you're able to take an oath in the name of Allah that it is such if you say what law he I swear it is such that's what certainty is. So let's apply the principle now and demonstrate how it works. You've just carried out your solder. Is it certain that we've kind of been carried out our Salah it's certain that we've carried out our salah, because you can say well, Allah, He I swear by Allah that I just prayed a little boy.
You may doubt it thereafter. And you say, I maybe I didn't do it correctly. I say to you hold on a minute. Can you take an oath that it was deficient? You say no. Also, what is it? It's a doubt we say okay. So your prayer is a certainty. And your doubt is a doubt. And the rule says certainty cannot be removed by doubt. So your prayer is certain. And your thought was just a doubt and you throw that away.
apply that principle to your behavior or your will do apply it to your status as a Muslim, apply it to your marriage, marital contract, or anything else you may be experiencing with OCD as a religious Muslim certainty does not, cannot be erased by DAPT. Rama from Allah subhanaw taala. The fourth point before we take a short break,
is
gender is not access through perfection.
A lot of the times someone who suffers from OCD, that repetitive behavior of voodoo or salah or something, it's coming from a good place. It's coming from the desire to glorify Allah, and to not offer him something deficient. You want to offer him something perfect. But is it possible to offer Allah something perfect?
Is gender access to through perfection? Is it possible to be a perfect human being? And the answer is no.
And that is also the lifting of a burden. You don't enter gender through perfect deeds. You enter gender through the Rama the Mercy of Allah subhanaw taala and him accepting your deficient deeds.
And that is why al Bukhari and Muslim narrated on the authority Babu Herrera, the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, lie ahead Hello, I hadn't Allah you to kill you I had an absolute agenda that none of you enters Paradise by way of his deeds.
You don't enter paradise through your good deeds.
They said Not even you are messenger of Allah. He said Lao Allah Allah, Allah and Yatta Madani Allahu rahmati men who are fathered, not even my deeds will take me to paradise. My only hope is that Allah will envelop me in his mercy and bounty.
So what takes people into Jannah? Perfect to do perfect aqidah perfect shahada perfect salah. No, of course not. Allah who recognizes that at times you will sometimes utter and say something called free, you will state a blasphemous expression, but it was accidental so it doesn't matter.
And Allah knows that sometimes you will miss
limbs in your world or it will be deficient it will be wrong technically invalid, but it was an accident. So your will do is valid in the eyes of Allah.
Allah knows that at times, you will divorce your wife you will utter words of divorce but it was an accident you didn't mean it.
Your marriage is intact. It was an accident you have nothing to worry about. Perfection is purely the attribute of Allah agenda, Julian who he has not requested of you, nor is expected of you.
This is number one for perfection
is not how we entered then. Number five, before we break
we address the mind of someone who is experiencing OCD by saying to him or her, what is your thoughts about Allah?
Who is Allah to you?
Many times, the fears that people have in being practicing Muslims, and the constant anxiety of being rejected and doing things wrong. It comes from a fundamentally flawed perception and understanding of who allies who is Allah to you? Is Allah to you the Lord, you worship one who is waiting for your mistake and downfall
is the Lord we worship one who is waiting to see you make a mistake such that he may seize you and punish you from your first mistake is that the Lord you think we worship? Who is Allah? Let us correct our understanding of who Allah is, which will then correct our approach to Islam and it will correct our approach to worship. Who is Allah?
Allah subhanho wa Taala is one who introduced every Surah of the Quran with his name's al Rahman al Rahim, the most merciful, that's Allah.
Rama mercy is the first words that demand Adam Alayhis Salam ever heard from Allah Almighty after his body as Clay began to solidify and he sneezed. And he said, Alhamdulillah Allah Almighty said to him your hammock Allah Allah has mercy upon you. Those were the first words to ever fall upon the ear of man. Allah has mercy upon you.
Allah subhanaw taala is the one who forgave the sins of a prostitute because she gave a thirsty dog some water in her leather sock. And he forgave the sins of a man who removed a thorny tree from the pathway of people. Allah Almighty is the one who told Musa to go to the Pharaoh and give him soft speech to Pharaoh is the one who claimed to be God. And He said to him, give him gentle speech, perhaps he may remember and Allah knows in His foreknowledge, the Pharaoh would not be guided, but that just demonstrates to you who Allah subhanaw Dinah's Allah Almighty, the one whom you worship is the one who was willing to drop a lifetime's worth of sins that you may have accrued, in exchange
for a single moment of honest apology to Allah at your ledger level, that's the Lord you worship I think went over him.
And that is why Sophia, no authority, one of our predecessors, he said Subhana Allah.
He said, Well, Lahemaa or hibel, and the he Serbia joining the you know, leading rugby Hyoni meanwhile today,
I would never wish that my mum and dad could hold me accountable and carry out my reckoning for me on the day of judgment. Even my mum and dad he says I wouldn't want them in place of my Lord Allah because Allah is more merciful towards me than even my mom and dad.
They look at how Allah spoke about Islam. Is it a religion of difficulty? Allah said, you read Allah who become looser Allah intense ease for you. When are you ready to become an officer? He does not intend difficulty for you.
Allah said well, oh SHA, Allah, who there are another group if Allah willed, He would have put you under hardship.
He said, Magi Allah highly confident him inherit his place, no hardship upon you in the religion.
And the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said about Islam.
In Edina you saw this religion of ours is ease.
Well, I you shared that Dena had an Illa Allah and anyone who tries to take this religion to extremes the religion will overcome him for set do So be consistent. Waqar Eboo and do your best will have shoes and be happy Subhanallah be happy. Look at the rulings of our religion. The undertone of all of them is ease the removal of hardship. Begin with your Shahada. If you make a mistake with your shahada, and you utter a blasphemous statement, but it is a mistake, Allah Almighty forgives it like the man who said from happiness, Allahu Allah and dab Do you another book, My Lord, You are my slave, and I am your Lord. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said he made
the mistake because he was just very happy. No problem. It's a mistake. In Salah Subhanallah he loves him. You're traveling no problem you can show to the prayer from for make it to and in some occasions you can combine as well do it make things easy for yourself. This is the religion of Allah
subhanho wa Taala a woman who is menstruating or she has postnatal bleeding the Sharia understands that she is physically vulnerable no problem. The obligation of Salah is suspended for you and you don't need to make it up either no problem you rest if you are traveling
and you are fasting or you are ill no problem for either to meet a young man or her make up your fats on other days Allah says no problem if you're traveling or you are ill
and then you look at Subhanallah if you eat something or you drink something when you are fasting unintentionally What do you do do you do you panic and you renew your fast are you fast another day no continue your fasting why in nama Tirana hula who was because he was ALLAH who fed you and gave you drink, carry on your fast no problems Han Allah nothing
and then Hajj SubhanAllah. Hajj is an obligation, but only upon those who have the money and the physical health for it. You don't have them. Four Pillars of Islam only apply to Hajj drops until your situation changes. And then Allah Almighty is sympathetic for your need to buy and sell when you are in hajj and to make some money to Prophet Allah knows that you have the desire to do that. So Allah says, Mesa Alikum do not Han and tiptoe Fabula Mira become there's no hardship there's no harm. If you would like to trade and to seek the bounty of Allah when you are in the middle of Hajj worshiping Allah do it make some money if you want. And then when the Pilgrims came to the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa send them saying we fear that we've made mistakes in our Hajj we we did this before that and we did that before this on each occasion he said to those questioning, he said if I wonder how to do it, there is no harm do it no problem do it there is no harm inshallah. This is our religion.
alcohol consumed swine is haram but if you really need to, because for example, you are dying Allah said family Torah blog in Malahide in Fela if Maliki if you really need to, without desiring it and without going into accesses then there is no sent upon you eat and drink to keep you alive.
So our religions, our scholars of the religion have looked at all of these texts and they've deduced some Maxim's some principles.
One principal says Alma Chaka to tattly bootay. See, hardship brings about ease. Hardship brings about ease in the ruling, meaning what, whenever you are going through a difficult circumstance,
the rulings are relaxed.
Another one of those Maxim's says
I'm Louisa Tasha. When situations become tight, the ruling becomes loose.
When a situation becomes tight, meaning difficult, you're limited with options, the rulings they become loose, there's a lot more leeway for you now. The fluidity and the flexibility of the Sharia, of Allah Subhana Allah as the law you worship. Another Maxim says about aura to to behold Mahabharat necessities permit the prohibited matters,
necessities prohibit or permit the prohibitions.
So if you are going through a genuine necessity that of course is assessed by a scholar, then what is usually permitted or prohibited can sometimes become highlighted.
Allahu Akbar, this is the Lord we worship. And this is the Sharia we follow as if you don't call him he says about our Sharia. I show you how to add new and cool our Sharia is justice in its entirety. Ramadan kulula mercy in its entirety. Masala who knew her benefits in its entirety Hekmat on kulula wisdom in its entirety. So many times the one who was suffering from OCD his fear is not necessarily of the religion and Allah Almighty His fear is from his perception his false perception of who Allah is and what Islam is of course what it is not.
These are how many points five what is less than or left now is to address what
the actions so let us take maybe a three minute break if you don't mind you shall loudhailer and this section will be a lot shorter evening left 15 minutes and we will be finished inshallah. So take a three minute break stretch your feet if you need to, and then we will resume inshallah. So we've mentioned the first intervention from an Islamic perspective for one who was struggling with OCD is to address the mind and we did that under five headings. And we said that whisperings cannot be eliminated, number two whisperings are harmless number three, certainty cannot be erased with doubt. Number four, perfection is not what is required to enter paradise and number five, Who is
Allah subhanaw taala to you change the perception of who Allah Almighty is.
Next comes the addressing of the behaviors.
Because as we have established, it all starts with a thought.
And then eventually, that thought becomes a fear the fear becomes a behavior. And then when the behavior happens again and again, one is habituated upon that behavior.
And therefore we need to do something to break that pattern.
And we need a practical intervention as well. Because it's not just a mind exercise. The same way that overcoming a fear of a rollercoaster ride is not just by talking about it. It's by confronting your fear, jumping on the ride and getting over it. So I'm going to suggest four quick interventions Inshallah, to address the behaviors now.
The first of them is Islamic exposure therapy. What does that mean? Exposure therapy, as the medics here would know, is the gold standard treatment in the world of health care for people who suffer from OCD and other mental health related issues. Exposure therapy, simply put is about exposing one who has a fear of something to the fear stimuli in a controlled and safe environment, and slowly allowing him to confront the fear and confront her fear, and then getting over it bit by bit.
Because when people are afraid of something from an OCD perspective, they will run away from it. So to break that pattern of avoidance, they are encouraged to confront it.
So we speak here of what the what the what we can call as we can call this Islamic exposure therapy. And there is some overlap and some Islamic interventions to expose one who is struggling from the OCD or religiosity, to the things that he or she fears, one way of doing that is by creating a log, an inventory log.
And this could work between a therapist and a client or husband and wife, siblings, friends, roommates, if one of them, for example, is struggling with Moodle, and they're repeating it over and over again, he is told to make wudu in front of the friend or your wife or your husband or the clinician, and you carry with you the log. And you take note of how long it takes to do it on today on a Monday, for example, and you wrote 15 minutes, 20 minutes. And the intention is that by next week, inshallah weekday on Monday, we're going to make the model 10 minutes. And then the week after five minutes, until you bring it back to a normal duration. That's one practical way of exposure
therapy.
Another way could be to strip below withdrawal from all of the extra Sunon
all of the extras of a dog, so washing every limb that is needed. And three times no, we don't do that. We suspend that for a moment. And we encourage him to do little ones, without repeating it without any of the extracts
to confront the fear of doing it wrong. And to accept that you have a fear that it's deficient. And you're only going to do we'll do it once and once on each limb not three times. And then when this is overcome, then we slowly reintroduce the other extra Sunan of that's a second exposure type of therapy as an example.
A third very effective one is the idea of splashing some water on the private parts and the underwear after doing Moodle for those who fear that after every time they do will do there is urine that is coming out of their body. So they think to themselves I have to renew my model.
Our scholars have mentioned this hundreds of years ago and I came to him and Muhammad Rahim Allah this is in a
millennial webinar Padana he said to him that every time I do my model I feel that something has come out of my private parts and I have to renew my model again.
So he gave him the following advice he said to him hold either to
purify yourself and do your will do similar healthcare fun mean that you follow shahada logic then take a bit of water sprinkle it on your private parts
from Allah tell defeat bamboo then don't look back after this fight. No Yeah, how about insha Allah because Allah will take it away inshallah. So the idea here is that you apply some water or slash are sprinkled on the private parts or the underwear after doing will do and purifying yourself, such that if you feel any moisture or dampness you say to yourself, oh, this is from the the water that I had splashed. It's not from urine incontinence or something like that. And this is very effective.
So this is one example of Islamic exposure therapy. I just want to mention a quick caveat here. Whenever we import Western treatments into Islam, we have to be careful that there will be limitations. It's not going to be 100% overlap and symmetry. For example, this idea of exposure therapy can sometimes go too far in our religion and takes it to levels that are not allowed. For example, a Muslim clinician cannot say to someone who's experiencing OCD, go to the most half Quran and rip it apart because you fear less than his thoughts. So confront your fears and pteropod the most. We can do that. Or to encourage a brother who has an irrational fear of contamination. We say
look, confront your fear and take feces or urine or an impurity blood and put it on your body and pray confront your fear. You can't do that because the prayer will definitely be invalid. So there are
limitations and that's why I always say there has to be a clinician who understands your faith and a Muslim imam who helps with that process. So this is number what?
Number What? Number one of addressing which part?
Behaviors
addressing the behaviors, Islamic exposure therapy. Number two Islamic objective measures. What does that mean?
Our religion, masha Allah Wa Al Hamdulillah has given us objective measures to assess whether something is right or wrong, deficient or complete.
Doesn't have to be subjective or based upon your feeling. There are objective measures meaning something that you can measure something that you can quantify something that you can count and use that I'll give you an example. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said either Chaka Khan or either Elijah how to configure about me he che and ash gala Ali I heard you I mean holy holy Allah follow your collagen middlemiss gd Pattaya smell salted oh yeah God.
If any of you senses a disturbance in his abdomen
and then he begins to doubt whether he has released a gas or not, then you are not to leave the masjid until you hear something or you smell something. That's it? An objective measure that can be quantified, counted measured.
Don't leave it to your imagination I think and perhaps and I perceive and I assume clear you don't leave the masjid don't leave your Salah. Your window is intact unless you are able to hear something or smell something and what the certainty look like we mentioned earlier
what the certainty look like yeah, Shabaab
saying
you can swear in the name of Allah Almighty that it is such
another Hadith level do I am insulting God? There is no model to be done except by way of a sound or a smell. Clear? Objective.
What about when you doubt your Salah did I pray three did I pray for?
There is an objective measure here. You don't have to worry about it or leave it to assumption. The hadith says
either Shaka Hallo confy sala de la MiraDry come salah. If one of you doubts in his prayer and you forget how many you prayed Salah send our man three or four
phyla for Yatra his check he should cast aside the doubt when he Evany Allah mistaken and build upon what you are searching
for my yes do do such detainee habla Salam, then pray to prostrations of forgetfulness before you give the salam. He says for incana cazzola accumsan Shafaq Allahu wa salatu. If you'd actually prayed five units where they should be for it's okay, those two prostrations will fix it. We're in Karnataka, tsala Arbonne canadream, Alicia Tang and if your prayer was complete, and you'd made a mistake in thinking that you made a mistake, then those two frustrations of forgetfulness will just be there to disgrace the shame one win win situation.
So he said what build upon what is certain. So if you are praying God and you doubt did I do four or three, what certain
what certain? Three, so you build upon three. If you are doing tawaf around the Kaaba, and you think to yourself, did I do five or six? What do you build upon? Five because five is certain. Right? This is how it works. So he says, build up on what he said, then you do two Saturdays in the end. The two prostrations of forgetfulness if you prayed wrong, they fix it inshallah. And if you prayed correctly, don't worry those two prostrations can our territory militia they will just humiliation
even will know he said This means that it will disgrace and embarrass the Shavonne in that he was unable to achieve his objective in disturbing your worship.
objective measure that you can measure whether something is right or wrong. That's point number what
two, point number three this is perhaps one of the most important points in addressing behavior.
It is life changing if you understand this one point. Separating between Neff Sani whisperings and shape it was springs
to separate between the whisperings that comes from the NAPS the inner self then of Sandy ones, from those rare springs that come externally the shape bony ones from shape.
Our belief is that with springs, they come from both of these sources, there's an internal one, and there's an external one. And our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam would seek refuge in Allah from both of them at once.
He would say Allah humma Adi Mala, your shahada, O Allah knower of the seen and the unseen, Fonterra SEMO it will go
Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Rumba coalition in WA Malika You are the Lord of all things and their master a shadow and that you enter into and testify that none has the right to be worshipped. But you listen, I want to become the shattering of see, I seek refuge in You from the evil of myself, what means shall reshape, and he wishes, okay, and I seek refuge in You from Shavon and his calls to disbelief. So he identifies that the sources of whisperings are both shaytaan and an internal one, which is called the neffs. And here we're going to say to the OCD client, you are to separate between the whispering that comes from yourself, and the whispering that comes from Shavon, you will have to realize the difference
between them. And we'll show you how.
Our belief as Muslims is that there is a metaphysically distinct creature brought into existence by Allah subhanaw taala, in his perfect wisdom, who is an open enemy to man and his nickname is J bot, and his name is abuse.
And he flows through the body of human beings like the flowing of blood.
That is different to the neffs. That's an external whisperer. And this is where the danger
resides. The danger here is that we have a tendency to conflate between the external and the internal whisperer.
We're unable to differentiate between our thoughts and the external ones that are not our thoughts. Much of what we assumed were our thoughts were in fact somebody else's thoughts put into us, but shaytaan he's able to hide very cleverly behind the veil of I.
Me, when you say I, who are you talking about?
Who are you referring to?
Most of the thoughts that you thought were your own. They come from an external source, they're not yours. And if those thoughts are not yours, then there is no need to fear them and there's no need to believe them. They don't have to be true if they are not your thoughts.
You see, shaytan has been part of our journey as human beings in the life of this world for so long since the day you were born. Sapin prodded you and I and that's why we wept as if to say my, my battle with you begins now. And he stays by your side till the day you pass away. So Shavon has been next to us for so long. And he's been whispering for so long that we are now unable to differentiate between his whisperings and our inner whisperings. We don't know the difference anymore. But there is a difference.
When you realize a difference, this is very empowering. Why? Because it enables decoupling.
What does decoupling mean to separate between things?
So rather than saying, I have disbelieved.
I've thought of a blasphemous statement. I have disbelieved. you decouple it, you say? No, you have disbelieved. Oh, Shavon. And you tried to convince me that I have as well, and I haven't.
This is not my voice, somebody else's voice.
shaytaan says to you,
you say my will do is incomplete. My prayer is deficient. You say no, this is Shavon who is saying to me My prayer is incomplete. My Moodle is deficient, I would have been no human shape either.
This
realisation
that the source of your darkest thoughts have come from a different source is very liberating. It's very therapeutic. It's the lifting of a burden immensely, and instantly gives relief in the heart of someone who is suffering with these thoughts, in that the source of these thoughts are from someone else, and therefore they don't have to be true. Don't have to believe them.
Satan does not come to you and say you are worthless, you are worthless. You say I am worthless. I'm a bad person. And he's able to hide behind that eye. To make it think that it is you who is thinking these thoughts, but it's not yours.
It's like when you're walking through the street. You're walking on city road somewhere coming to them as you then someone says to you, oh, a terrorist or a terrorist? Is that a bomb under your jacket?
As your question when you hear that, do you start doubting your status? Whether you're a terrorist or not?
You don't. You don't? Why? Because you recognize it's the voice of an external hater. It's the voice of an external hater. So it doesn't have to be true. Similarly, when you have these blasphemous thoughts that I am a disbeliever my salah is deficient. I have divorced my wife, you don't have to believe it doesn't have to be true because you recognize is not yours. It's somebody else's fault.
But it's
understanding this concept releases you from the tyranny of maybe and I think perhaps
it brings you to certainty. So you need to see the difference between the two.
Question. What is the question here? Somebody has to ask you.
Any questions? On this particular point?
It's very difficult to discern. Yeah, this is the one. Yeah. How do you discern between a whispering that's come from the south, and one that has gone from Chopin.
And I found a beautiful explanation given by shareholders and unbeknownst to me, and here's an admiring fatawa he says that one of the scholars by the name of Apple has him he said Mariah Carey had to naps to clean up sicker for him enough sick.
Mercury had who needs to clean up sick for whom in a shape and if a towel was Binda human who won a habit who loves to clean up cecafa Who am enough Sega fan haha I know. He says those whisperings
that your inner self hates, for itself, they are from shaytan. So seek refuge in Allah from them. And those whisperings that your self loves for itself, than they are from the self. So prohibit the self from acting upon them. You understand that?
Those were springs he says
that you hate. You don't like for yourself. That's a sign that usually it is from shape on.
For example, you have a whispering I've divorced my wife, but you're on good terms with your wife, you love your wife. You hate the idea that you are divorced from your wife. You understand this from Shaytaan. So he said say I live in LA in Minnesota and I seek refuge in Allah from Russia.
I just carried out my salah, I think I need to repeat it, I'm sure it was wrong. Or I think it is wrong. This is from Shavon.
My widow is deficient most likely is from shapen. I had a blast, have a thought about Allah subhanho wa taala. This is from Satan, because you don't like these thoughts. However, if you have a affolter Whispering that your soul likes for itself,
for example, one of the carnal desires out there, whether it's for women, whether it's for maybe alcohol, or whether it's to go clubbing people have an inclination to these things, but you you want to prohibit yourself from doing that. That's a sign that it's from the self is from here, right. And there is of course interplay between both of them.
Yeah. So Shavon will work on your vulnerabilities shaytaan will look at the things that you have an inclination towards, say fear or paranoia or catastrophizing, something and he will play on that and he will exacerbate it. So it begins with a whispering and then eventually it becomes a habituated
reaction in the neffs. And this is the secret why sometimes when you say Abu Dhabi law, he made a shift on the regime, we seek refuge in Allah from shaper, which is supposed to eliminate the thoughts, the thought is not eliminated.
Why have we been told a lie? No. We've been told that the source of whispering is from two places not just from one shape, and it's either from Shaytaan, externally, if not him, you have something called enough stone, so it spreads.
And what eventually happens is that Shavon he whispers, a suggestion. And instead of casting it the sound like most of us do, you take that whispering, and you act upon it, until the neffs has habituated a particular response. So it's no longer shaytaan it's transferred from his whispering into yourself, it's become part of who you are, because you've done it over and over and over and over again.
And that's why sometimes you need a long period of therapy. And it's a drawn out process to recover, not simply to say, out of the window, human issue, but I got it that takes care of of His external whisperings, but what has become a habituated response in the nafs that requires a bit more of a therapy process to break out of that habituated status. Does it make sense? Clear?
Time,
this is point number what?
Three, separating knifes Any thoughts from Shibani ones.
The last point we will conclude within just a few minutes now, which is
addressing behaviors is to shift anxiety from the first act of worship to the repeated acts of worship. What does that mean?
You've carried out a particular prayer if you're suffering with OCD, and then when you finish it you have anxiety. Is my prayer complete or is it incomplete? Your anxiety affects the first act of worship. So to remove that anxiety you repeat
The solid again and again and again until the anxiety goes. We are saying here that as a Muslim therapist or Imam, you want to shift the anxiety from the first act of worship, on to the repeated acts of worship that we don't want in order to this disincentivize you from doing that clear?
How do we do that? How do we shift the anxiety from the first signer that you shouldn't doubt, to the repeated prayers that we don't want? Well, a conversation can take place where the Muslim therapist or the Imam or the clinician will say, you know, the first one that you carried out, he says, Yeah, you say, who was it for? Why did you do it? He says, Because Allah subhanaw taala instructed me to carry out salah. Okay, great. The second prayer that you carried out, and the third and the fourth, the ones that you repeated, why did you do that? He said, I doubted the first prayer. We say to him, what did that doubt come from? He says, Shavon. So we say to him, the first
prayer you carried out was in obedience to Allah. So who was the second, third and fourth prayer in obedience to ah, so now what you've done, you shifted the anxiety from the first prayer shouldn't worry about, and you put it onto the repeated Salah to disincentivizing from repeating it again and again. Yes,
this is what I wanted to share with you. We covered an introduction to the importance of the topic of OCD, I shared with you a few case studies of people who suffer with it, I've shared with you
three departments of life that it can affect
in the life of a practicing Muslim. And then we said that we break the cycle of OCD by covering addressing the mind. And we do that under the five headings I shared with you. And then we do that by addressing the actions, the behaviors, and that's my, the four points that I shared with you. This is simply a suggestion or contribution to this discussion, I understand that it requires sometimes a multidisciplinary approach to help people who to recover from this type of illness
was one of the Proverbs says that you are unable to prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you are able to prevent them from nesting within your head.
Meaning in the case of someone who is struggling with OCD, we say that you're going to struggle to remove the thoughts completely from your life. But what you can do is prevent those thoughts from nesting in your head and controlling your life. Your objective here, brothers and sisters is to conquer that anxiety. Anxiety is a name of Allah, it's a blessing that he has given us anxiety, it's not created in vain. Anxiety gives you a fight or flight response. It keeps you alert. When you are walking in the street and you fear an animal or you fear a thief or something that effect you feel anxiety and your heart begins to palpitate and your palms begin to sweat and your muscles are now
tense blood goes to your muscles. Why? Because you need to fight or you might you may need to run. So anxiety is an AMA. I know here when I'm giving you a I'm teaching you this content, don't think that I am free from anxiety. I have a certain level of nervousness here is it going to go okay am I going to remember what I need to share with them that anxiety is very healthy, because it perks up your mind. It brings blood to where you need to be in your body. And you give a coherent message. It's a blessing from Allah. But sometimes it goes overboard
because of some form of faulty cognition. And that's where this intervention comes into play. You may not be able to prevent the birds of doubts from flying over your head, but you we can prevent them from nesting in our heads such that we conquer these thoughts and we control these thoughts and even not control this.
We ask Allah subhanaw taala to give shout out to all of those who are suffering with this particular illness. And all of those who are suffering with other illnesses We ask Allah subhanaw taala to allow this particular talk to be a source of recovery. For people who are suffering, may Allah subhanaw taala also make it a means of hedaya guidance for non Muslims for them to realize the holistic nature of our religion and how perfect it is in addressing all of the problems and the needs and the aspirations of man. We hope to see you in sha Allah next week, where we will be speaking about the concept of depression Inshallah, or Sutherland Amina Muhammad. We'll have you
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