Dealing with intrusive thoughts about secretions

We ask Allah to heal you and grant you peace of mind.

I.

When someone is suffering from intrusive thoughts, the remedy is to ignore everything that crosses his mind (doubts or thoughts that he should repeat his acts of worship), {[Allah] has not imposed any hardship on you in religion} [al-Hajj 22:78]. So if the Shaytan tells you: You did not purify yourself properly, or you did not do wudu, or you did not pray, then you should tell him in your mind: You are lying; rather I did purify myself properly, and I did do wudu’, and I did pray.

Abu `Isa at-Tirmidhi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his Jami`, 1/127:

`Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said: If a person is not sure whether he invalidated his wudu’ or not, he does not have to do wudu’ until he becomes certain about that to the extent that he could swear an oath to that effect. End quote.

See also the answer to question no. 148426.

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Dar’u Ta`arud al-`Aql wan-Naql, 3/318:

All that a person can do in this case, if the Shaytan tells him: You did not wash your face, is to say: Yes I did wash my face. And if it crosses his mind that he did not form the intention (niyyah) and did not say takbir, he should say to himself: Yes I did form the intention and say takbir. He should adhere to the facts and ward off any thoughts to the contrary. Then the Shaytan will see that he is strong and is committed in the facts, and will give up on him.

Otherwise, once the Shaytan sees that he is susceptible to doubts and confusion, and responsive to whispers and intrusive thoughts, he will give him whispers and thoughts that he will not be able to ward off, and his heart will become receptive to all that the devils of humankind and the jinn can instil in his heart of elegant words of deception, and he will then move on to other issues, until the Shaytan drives him to his doom. End quote.

Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about the disease of intrusive thoughts (waswasah): is there any remedy?

He replied: There is an efficacious remedy for that, which is to ignore it completely, no matter how uncertain the individual feels. For when he pays no attention to it, it will not take hold; rather it will desist after a short while, as some good people have experienced.

But if he listens to it and acts upon it, it will keep increasing until it drives him crazy and worse than that, as we have seen in the case of many who suffered from that and paid attention to it and listened to the devils who instil such ideas...

There are reports in As-Sahihayn (al-Bukhari and Muslim) which support this idea, which is that whoever suffers from intrusive thoughts, let him seek refuge with Allah and desist.

End quote from Al-Fatawa al-Fiqhiyyah al-Kubra, 1/149.

The jurists stated that what is required of the one who suffers from that is to pay no attention to the intrusive thoughts. It says in Matalib Uli an-Nuha, 1/507: It is not prescribed to do the prostration of forgetfulness if the doubts persist to the point that they become intrusive thoughts. In that case, he should pay no attention to them.

Similarly, if there is a great deal of doubt about wudu’, ghusl, removal of physical impurities and tayammum, he should ignore those doubts, because they may lead to a kind of stubbornness that could result in him adding something to the prayer even when he is certain that he has done it properly. So he must ignore it and pay no heed to it. End quote.

Shaykh Ibn Baz (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Fatawa Nur `ala ad-Darb, 7/351:

Those who are affected by intrusive thoughts must guard against the enemy of Allah, seek refuge with Allah from the Shaytan, and not repeat wudu’ or prayer; rather they should do these actions once only, and not give in to the Shaytan when he says: You did not do such and such, you did not do such and such. He must disbelieve that in his heart and subdue the Shaytan, seeking refuge with Allah from his evil and not complying with his whispers. This is what is required of every Muslim man and woman. End quote.

So if you are not sure whether something is pure, the principle is that it is pure and you cannot deem it to be impure unless you reach such a level of certainty that you could swear a oath that impurity has indeed reached you.

Do not look at your garment and do not check whether anything came out or not.

This is the guideline: doubt after finishing an act of worship, including after purifying oneself, is to be ignored and no attention is to be paid to it.

Rather the one who suffers from intrusive thoughts, if he develops doubts, should not pay any attention to them, even whilst doing an act of worship. There is no remedy for intrusive thoughts except ignoring them.

Shaykh Ibn `Uthaymin (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Manzumat al-Qawa`id:

Doubt or uncertainty after finishing an action does not affect anything… the same applies if there are a lot of doubts.

II.

What appears to be the case is that what you mentioned is not wadiy, because wadiy appears after urinating or carrying something heavy. Moreover, wadiy is opaque and has no smell, and it comes out as only one or two drops and the like.

Rather what appears to be the case is that these secretions are vaginal moisture, which is pure (tahir), as is the view of Abu Hanifah; it is also the more correct view according to the Shafa`is and the most well-known view in the Hanbali madhhab.

See: Ad-Durr al-Mukhtar, 1/349; Rawdat at-Talibin, 1/18; Kashshaf al-Qina`, 1/195; Mawsu`at Ahkam at-Taharah, 13/264.

In the answer to question no. 99507, we explained that vaginal moisture is pure and there is no need to wash it or wash the garment that it got on to.

For more information, see the answer to question no. 12317. For the difference between maniy and madhiy, see the answer to question no. 10540.

Assuming that what comes out is impure, if you prayed with physical impurity on you because you were unaware of it or you forgot that it was there, then your prayer is valid.

See the answers to questions no. 114800 and 150107.

III.

If these secretions (vaginal moisture) are ongoing and continuous, they do not invalidate wudu’.

Dr. Sa`d al-Khathlan said : If a woman experiences continuous vaginal secretions, she comes under the ruling on one who constantly and uncontrollably invalidates his wudu’; it is recommended for her to do wudu’ when the time for each prayer begins, but it is not obligatory for her to do that, unless her wudu’ is invalidated in some other way. These secretions are pure (tahir) in themselves and are not impure according to the most correct scholarly view.

End quote from the website of Dr. Sa`d al-Khathlan.

IV.

If you are uncertain as to whether what comes out of the vagina is pure or not, and whether it invalidates wudu’ or not, the basic principle is that you remain in a state of purity. See the answer to question no. 154118.

The Shafa`i jurists stated that if a person is uncertain as to whether what came out of him is maniy or wadiy, or is just secretions, he should choose one of them and follow the ruling that applies to it.

See the answer to question no. 257369.

This has to do with the individual who has no issue of intrusive thoughts. As for the one who suffers from intrusive thoughts or keeps checking on himself in an extreme manner (OCD), as appears to be the case from the question, in this case we tell him to take the easiest option, because intrusive thoughts cause a person to act in an extremely strict and cannot be balanced out except in this manner.

Finally, always protect yourself by reciting ruqya as prescribed in Islamic teachings and the adhkar that are appropriate to different situations and times, and read Surat al-Baqarah a great deal.

After reading what you described about your situation, we advise you to consult a doctor who is trustworthy in terms of knowledge and experience and who has knowledge of this disease, because compulsive intrusive thoughts are a disease like any other disease, and there are well known treatments and remedies that can at least reduce it.

We ask Allah to grant you healing that leaves no trace of sickness.

Conclusion:

Your prayer is valid and the secretions are pure (tahir), and what you have seen is neither maniy nor wadiy; rather it is pure moisture, because it does not have the characteristics of those two things.

You do not have to wipe or purify anything, neither the place nor the mobile phone nor the drawers, and you do not have to wash yourself or repeat the five prayers, because your prayers are valid.

And Allah knows best.