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General Guidance on Blasphemous Thoughts

Scrupulosity (religious OCD) can take various forms. The two most common forms are regarding one’s belief and/or one’s religious duties. The ‘personality’ of these intrusions in both the cases is same. The first one is commonly referred to as blasphemous thoughts that could include:

  • Fearing that one has actually disbelieved

  • Fearing that one has become a hypocrite

  • Continuous doubts regarding one’s beliefs

  • Rational confusions about one’s belief

Blasphemous thoughts, often lead to mental rituals, like reciting Shahadah (testimony of one’s belief) again and again, or counting one’s heart beats etc., as opposed to physical rituals in OCD related to religious duties like Salah (prayer) and Wudhu(ablution).

Everyone who is a believer suffers from these thoughts to some extent. Most people learn to ignore these thoughts. These thoughts show one’s fear of losing one’s belief and how dear he holds his/her belief. However, this very feeling is exploited by OCD (parasitic enemy) and fear is blown out of proportion. It’s rational, that only a person who has the treasure of Imaan (Faith) would fear losing it.

For this very reason when Sahaba (Companions of the Messenger) would complain of blasphemous thoughts to Prophet Muhammad he would comfort them by saying that those were the very signs of Imaan (Faith) and on one occasion he also said “Praise be to Allah (God) who reduced the treachery of Shaitaan (satan) to waswaas (intrusions)”.

This brief statement contains world of wisdom:

  1. One should acknowledge that these thoughts are not his/her own, and should re-attribute these thoughts to their actual source which is non-reliable. Hence, these thoughts need to be discredited (revalued).

  2. One should realize that this is the maximum what these negative forces could do to you. They cannot enter your heart or brain and take away your beliefs. Rather, they play a cunning trick of trapping you into seemingly positive thoughts, and disable you by blowing them out of proportion.

  3. One should strive to filter out these thoughts and discard them. However, if he/she starts dwelling them, then they start becoming a part of him. After some while, you are reconditioned to think that way. It’s almost, like Shaitaan (Satan) planted the seed of doubt (blasphemous thoughts) in your mind, and you continually watered them by dwelling in them. Have you discarded those thoughts, they would have died their own death, but as you have over-valued they have reconditioned you, and now you have become habituated to having those thoughts in your life.