As-Salaamu Alaykum. As you may know from my previous questions, I am a person heavily affected by severe waswasah. Alhamdulillaah, over the years I have gradually been overcoming this problem but one aspect has remained and intensified so much that thoughts of abandoning this blessed ibaadah have often occured and that is salaah. No doubt the shaytaan wants me to abandon this because of its great position in Islam but In Shaa Allaah I will never give in to this. The two main problems I am facing are calmness i.e. tumaneenah and the tashahhud. You previously stated that calmness is when the limbs are still. I want to know if calmness is still achievable even if you feel pain or tenseness in the back but the limbs are still not moving? As for the tashahhud, is tumaneenah a condition in it? And does the back have to be straight? Whnenever I try to straighten my back during tashahhud I dont feel at ease because of rigidity in my back. Would the salaah be valid even if one made tashahhud with this rigidity in the back?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

You should ignore this satanic whispering and not yield to it or preoccupy yourself with thinking about it. Beware of Satan’s evil schemes and tricks. Be cautious not to let him drive you away from performing this great act of worship (performing prayer). You should know that the back pain you feel (during the prayer) does not affect the validity of your prayer and does not undermine the calmness required in the prayer as long as your limbs are still long enough for you to recite the required Thikr (remembrance of Allaah). Slightly bending over during Tashahhud does not harm or affect the validity of the prayer. Therefore, you should pay absolutely no attention to such satanic whispering and totally ignore it. We implore Allaah to safeguard you from its danger.

For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 180233.

Allaah Knows best.