dear scholar
salam walakam wr wb , i hope you are well at the darul ifta. my problem is that in my prayers i see visions of people in my salah ( thier faces) this affects my heart as I have this heavy feeling where my heart is and i cant feel allah in my heart when praying rather it makes me think that im worshipping this vision rather than concentrating on worshipping allah , hence my prayer is very disturbed. this problem intensifies during rhamadhan and this is also accompanied with a tightnes around my head and i cant think of anything else except concentrate on this vision and fighting saying i believe in allah and dismissing it. now from time to time i feel this tighntess lift from me and then i feel fine and i can feel khushoo in my salah and iman but sumtimes its so bad that i have to stop the prayer and start again and im worrired about comitting shirk . when i was younger in my 15 or i once or twice unrinated in bath could this have any bearing on it . could you please advise me as to how to proceed in this problem and if you know anyone by the grace of allah who is experinced in dealing with this problem
jazakallah khair
Answer
The problem you are facing in your prayer is a classic example of waswasa. (Satanatic insinuation)
The best way to address this problem, in the short term is not to think about it at all, the more you think about it the more it will escalate.
In the long term, you could try the following method to help you concentrate on your salah.
My noble teachers taught me this method. You should sit for about 10 minutes everyday, close your eyes and think that Allah (SWA) is watching you and his blessings and rahmat is descending to your heart.
Inshallah, by the will of Allah (SWA), this vision that you are seeing will go away.
This problem could have arisen from you urinating in the bath, as it is mentioned in a hadith that the Holy Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasalam has prohibited us to urinate in the bath as the illness of wasasa arises from this. (Tirmizi p.12 v.1)
However you should try and forget about what happened in the past and act upon the solutions which I have mentioned above.
Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham.
