Does the Qur’an Mention OCD or Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings) Being Caused by Jinn?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz A. Khan

Question: Are there any verses in the Quran that allude or suggest that ocd is caused by jinn, by ocd i mean the type of ocd where people keep washing their hands or they keep thinking they havent locked the front door etc?

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I pray this finds you in the best of health and states.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a serious mental illness, for which a person should seek appropriate psychiatric counseling and medical treatment. Allah knows best if the cause could be related to jinn.

If what you mean by OCD is not the actual medical disorder, but instead a person’s bad habit or tendency to be fidgety or twitch, or repeatedly check things unnecessarily, then it is possible that such a tendency is related to waswasa, which the Qur’an does affirm as coming from evil jinn, as in the well-known verses of Sura al-Nas.

Having said that, we also know that a person’s own nafs incites him, as Allah Most High informs us:

“Surely it was We Who created man, and We know what suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.” [50:16]

Regardless of its origin, a person should force himself to fight such a tendency, lest it get out of hand and perhaps even turn into the real medical illness of OCD.

Restlessness is a vice, while the mark of the strong believer is dignity and tranquility. [Nahlawi, al-Durar al-Mubaha]

And Allah knows best.
wassalam
Faraz

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani