ABSTRACT
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common mental health condition in which a person has unwanted thoughts, ideas or sensations that urge them to repeat rituals over and over. Religion or religious beliefs have often been thought to play a part in the genesis of some cases of OCD. The obsessions include the fear of germs or contamination, aggressive thoughts towards self and others, and unwanted forbidden or taboo thoughts involving sex, religion and harm. The compulsions include excessive cleaning and/or handwashing, arranging things in a symmetrical or in a perfect order, repeatedly checking on things and compulsive counting. Both obsessional thoughts and compulsion behaviours and acts make an individual dysfunctional and significantly interfere with a person’s daily activities and social interactions. Research into the biological/neurochemical causes and effects of OCD has revealed a link between OCD and neurochemical transmitters with the involvement of serotonergic, dopaminergic and glutamatergic genes. Obsessive-compulsive disorders related to religiosity are referred as Scrupulosity. It is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder involving religious or moral obsessions where the primary anxiety is the fear of being guilty of a sin or other violation of religious or moral doctrine. One of the fundamental differences between Scrupulosity and OCD, is that in Scrupulosity the individual is overpowered by their devotion, and practice of their religion can lead to compulsive religious practices and rituals. There is great diversity in the presentation of presentations of Scrupulosity. These range from obsessional intrusive thoughts, doubts, impulses, images and behavioural rituals such as purification. From an Islamic perspective, the whispering of Satan, as an obsessive whisperer, is to prevent people from the remembrance of God. There are clinical drawbacks in the making of a diagnosis of OCD. Several medical and psychiatric disorders may feature symptoms similar to OCD and may contribute to a misdiagnosis. Many Muslims suffer from OCD and Scrupulous OCD. However, when diagnosing OCD, a pre-requisite would be to understand the patient from a cultural and religious context. This chapter examines the Islamic manifestations of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
