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What are the rulings regarding purification, prayer, humility (khushu'), and congregational prayer due to health problems, which include: difficulty completing istinja' (washing after defecation or urination), extension of the penis during urination, obsessive doubts (waswas) in ablution (wudu') and wiping the head, obsessive doubts of ostentation (riya') in intention, difficulty pronouncing words during prayer, moving the feet during prostration, passing gas during recitation, and chronic headaches?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The treatment for obsessive doubts (waswas) is to ignore and disregard them. A Muslim must strive to ignore them and pay no attention to them. When relieving oneself, promptly perform istinja' (washing after defecation/urination) and do not pay attention to doubts about something exiting unless there is absolute certainty. In ablution (wudu'), perform it normally without over-elaboration, wipe your head once, and do not pay attention to doubts about water not reaching. It is permissible to follow the opinion of those who do not require wiping the entire head, just as it is permissible to take advantage of scholarly concessions to overcome obsessive doubts. Similarly, in prayer (salat), ignore the obsessive doubts and do not concern yourself with them; do not pay attention to doubts of showing off (riya'). Pronounce letters and words naturally without over-elaboration. The mentioned movement of the foot does not invalidate the prayer. Some scholars permit combining prayers for illness, and the "apparent" combination (al-jam' al-suri) is permissible and carries no sin.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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