What is the cure for doubts and obsession in beliefs?
Question
I am hereditarily suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. I have been to different specialists and psychiatrists but to no avail. I am interested in believing in God and the Prophet (S) and avoiding sins. I am making every effort to know God and to get rid of this disease which no one knows except those who suffer from it. My efforts have led to nowhere. That is the reason I have begun to face doubts and have realized that the Imam of Time (AS) or what you term as the sun behind the cloud does not exist in the concrete external world. I want to join bad friends who I have distanced myself from for the past many years; like my friends, I too would like to look at girls and women out in the street because I am now convinced that there is no truth in what has been said to me; if there was truth in them, I would have found it.
Answer
As you have stated in your message, you are suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, is a mental disorder where people feel the need to check things repeatedly, have certain thoughts repeatedly, or feel they need to perform certain routines repeatedly. There is no doubt that most of your psychological and mental problems emanate from the same mental disorder. In the first step, and in order for you to get rid of this problem, you should make efforts to treat your problem. You must know that the scrupulous feelings are the Shaitan’s plot which you should not pay heed to. In order for you to get rid of the diseases which is called obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and similar conditions, you should take action to purify yourself and purge your soul in line with self-reconstruction. You should do away with the feeling by attaching importance to fulfilling your duties on time, reciting the Quran, offering prayers in their prescribed prime time and staying away from haram things. Be sure that you will get rid of this disease.1 Everything is in your own hand to get rid of it. No one else can help you, if you yourself do not decide to do away with the problem. You should not get disappointed and you should make your mind firm to fight the temptations and obsessive feelings. The only way to get rid is to be inattentive and heedless towards the incoming thoughts.2 In addition, it is necessary to know that diseases, poverty and many worldly problems and epidemic events are somehow divine test. In reality, the world is an abode in which one is examined. You should also know that in the time of difficulty and hardship, the Shaitan can create disappointment in you and make you more impatient thus damaging your faith in God.
If one suffers from a certain diseases or his prayers are not answered or he does not get rid of his problems, that does not imply that God does not exist. He cannot deny Prophet (S) and his pure family including the last divine savior, the Awaited Imam, Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance, simply because his wishes are not granted.
There are many people who considered severe diseases and extreme difficulties as divine test and tribulation believing that they provided them with an opportunity to get closer to Allah and attain more perfection. Although there have been many people whose incurable illnesses have got cured through du’a and invocation, you must know that if a du’a has to be fulfilled, certain conditions must be met.
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[1] Adapted from question 866.
[2] Adapted from Index: 2158
Source: IslamQuest
