better mental health helps us connect better with Allah. I'm your host this evening, Dr. Farah Islam. Sheikh Omar Suleiman actually challenged me. He said that I wouldn't be as funny of a host as he would be. So sheikh, challenge accepted. Inshallah. Actually, honestly, things are not going to go down well for me. I have no jokes, my friends. But alhamdulillah, we are very excited to be here tonight. All kidding aside, at Yaqeen, we wanted to offer some thought provoking, spiritually uplifting content for the month of May, which of course is Mental Health Awareness Month. And so we wanted to kick that off at Yaqeen in style by exploring the role of Muslim mental health and specifically the role of religiosity and faith in Muslim mental health. As Muslims, we wanted to question or explore this idea of, is our faith integral to our mental health? And so we have an illustrious panel, alhamdulillah, today from the Psychospiritual Studies Department at Yaqeen. Mashallah, we're starting off with sister Najwa Awad, who is a brilliant psychotherapist, mashallah, and mental health consultant. She's passionate about helping Muslims heal, grow and thrive after adversity, mashallah. We have Dr. Hassan Alwan, who offers professional counseling grounded in psychology and Islamic spirituality, mashallah. And then on the research and academic side, we have Dr. Uthman Omarji, who is an expert in both psychology and Islamic studies. And he brings that expertise to conduct this really brilliant, empirical research about the contemporary issues that we face as Muslims today. So assalamu alaikum and welcome, everyone. I wanted to start out with Dr. Uthman, inshallah. I know you're doing a lot of great research exactly on this topic. In fact, your paper that you wrote, mashallah, just dropped this past weekend on the role of religiosity and mental health for us as Muslims.
Could you tell us a little bit about faith and religiosity and how important it is for the mental health and well-being of us as believers? Jazakumullah khair. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. First of all, it's our paper. It's not my paper. You were the co-author on this paper and did a lot of the heavy lifting. But bismillah. So, yes, I mean, this is a topic that I mean, anytime you talk about religion and mental health, this has been debated for hundreds of years in the Western world and much longer in the Islamic world. And I want to begin this conversation by just speaking kind of about the nature of human emotions, just because so much about mental health is about emotions. And just at the get go, just to say that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala in his infinite wisdom, right, with his hikmah, he created the plethora of human emotions that exist. So when people think about sadness, joy, excitement, awe, fear, worry, like optimism, like hope, these are all different emotions that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has created for us to experience. And I wanted to begin this because sometimes people expect out of life and they hope for that they'll only experience the quote unquote good, positive emotions. And if they don't experience happiness, joy and excitement all the time, they think something is wrong with their life. And to begin by saying that, no, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has made all of these for us to experience because we become better human beings by experiencing the vast array of these human emotions. So now let's get specifically into your question, because if we have the proper expectation that we will experience different emotions. So how does religion and mental health go together in the first place? Before I can answer that question, I want to give a very simple analogy to our physical health. And everyone today speaks about physical health as well. Right. You go to any blog online, you go to anything. Everyone's talking about eat this, exercise this way, you know, do a deadlift like this, use a kettlebell. So everyone knows physical health is so important for the human being.
And so what do we do in order to get good physical health? We begin to exercise. We begin to walk. We begin to eat a certain way and eat healthy foods, all in the pursuit of becoming physically fit. And the point I want to make here is that even if one becomes incredibly physically fit, that does not mean that they will never experience physical pain or that they will never experience injury in life. Rather, it's highly likely that at some point in the journey of a physically fit person or an athlete, they will experience setbacks, both physical pain and possibly injury. And now take that analogy that the physically fit person is not the person that will be prevented from a physical injury. Now, let's talk about mental health and religiosity with that same lens that mental health and religiosity are related. In order for us to thrive as human beings, our spiritual health and our religiosity plays into our wellness and our mental health. So the more spiritually fit we become, the more religious we become, we are most likely going to see ourselves in higher levels of mental health and mental fitness. But just because you're religious and just because you are connected to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't mean you will be prevented from experiencing emotional pain and possibly even mental illness. And so the key point I want to make here is that you might say, well, why do we care then if it's not going to prevent it? Why does it matter? Well, being physically fit, it actually reduces the likelihood of injury at times, but it also makes us heal faster physically from our wounds. And being spiritually fit and being religious actually prevents some of the mental pains we might experience, not all of them, but it helps us recover from them faster. And so this big question about, well, what do we think and what does research tell us about religiosity and mental health?
That's what I want to answer very briefly today. And this is based on the study that Dr. Farah, you and I worked on for a number of years, a number of years for the last few months. It was a global study of over almost 4000 Muslims in every part of the world. And our finding was very, very clear. Muslims who practice holistic religiosity, which means they have the proper beliefs, the proper attitudes, the proper spiritual behaviors, the connection to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala are tied to their communities and who give back to the world. In this holistic sense, they experience more thriving and wellness and life satisfaction and purpose in life than other people. One of the points I want to make is about the Qur'an being central to all of this, because the Qur'an is the root of how the Muslim thinks about mental health and well-being. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala has a beautiful ayah in the beginning of Surah Taha. He says, Taha, maa anzalna AAalayka al-Qur'ana li tashkha. And this verse to me, it's a really powerful way of thinking about mental health in Islam, because Allah says to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he says, Taha, we did not reveal the Qur'an down to you to cause you distress. Again, we did not reveal the Qur'an down to you to cause you distress, which means that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala sent the Qur'an down to bring us a sense of comfort, a sense of psychological well-being. And if you look at the message of the Seerah of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and you look at how the revelation came down, you find that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala was constantly guiding the emotions of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the companions. And this is different than I think many people often think about. We often are taught the Qur'an is a book of do's and don'ts, and it's ahkam, it's laws. Allah told us, this is halal, this is haram, this is makrooh. And we kind of have a very legal lens at looking at the Qur'an as if Allah is revealing laws every few years.
And while that's true, Allah is revealing laws, He's also revealing on a daily and a weekly basis to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and his companions how we should feel. And when events occur that are inevitable, like illness, like loss of life, like loss of our loved ones, like different aspects of defeat in life, how are we supposed to respond to these things? And you find entire chapters of the Qur'an revealed for this purpose alone. When the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam is vulnerable, he's sad, he's feeling a little bit pessimistic perhaps at times. Where Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says, here's a surah to bring your well-being up. Here's a surah to bring you optimism. Here's a surah to really reshape how you think about the world. So you have surah Yusuf as an example of that, or you have surah Duhaa as an example of that. But even sometimes in little events when the Prophet didn't even verbalize anything, but he just felt it in his heart, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala will reveal an ayah or two just to bring him some emotional comfort. One of those beautiful stories I remember is when the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam was walking out of the city of Mecca to make hijrah, escaping and fleeing those who had a price on his head. And he leaves Mecca, he's on the outskirts of Mecca, he looks back at Mecca and in his heart he's longing to leave Mecca. We know he'd said things like, I would never have left Mecca if I had not been forced out. And so Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala reveals on his journey in a verse in the end of surah Al-Qasas, Innal ladhee farada AAalayka al-Qur'ana la raaduka ila maAAal. That Allah is telling the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, indeed the one who has imposed the Qur'an upon you, meaning Allah is the one who put the Qur'an upon Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He says, indeed, we will return you to this place.
Now think about that, what the Prophet might have been going through in that moment. Will I ever see Mecca again? Will I ever call this a home? Will I ever be able to go back and visit the places I grew up in? And Allah is pretty much guaranteeing him, you indeed will come back to this place. So what was that all about? It was about bringing emotional comfort to the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So my very, very last point is that religion and mental health are incredibly intertwined. Religiosity supports better mental health and well-being, right? And better mental health supports better religiosity. And that is why the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, he said in a beautiful narration, he said, ask Allah for forgiveness, which is really about the Akhirah and wellness in this world and the next life. Or if you are given wellness, if you're given forgiveness and wellness in this world, then you have indeed succeeded. So the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam tells us to turn to Allah for our emotional needs, right, for our mental health needs. And we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to provide that emotional comfort to the Muslims. And we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to make us amongst those who look at the Qur'an as a book of emotional guidance so we may achieve wellness in this life and the next. JazakAllah khair. Mashallah, beautiful. I love how you distill that down, this idea that religiosity will not prevent our pain. You gave some beautiful examples of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the depth of their tears and the pain that they experienced. And I loved how you centered that idea of the Qur'an being the root and the source of our comfort and our hope. Alhamdulillah, just beautiful. And I love too, one of the really cool takeaway messages from our paper and our research was this idea that religiosity and those psychospiritual variables for Muslims really were the best predictors of mental health for us as believers.
And I feel like that's something that we don't appreciate often or we don't see. So Hamdi, just amazing work. I want to clarify that one finding you just said, just so we're very clear on all this. The big finding from our paper was that religiosity holistically was the biggest predictor of us thriving as human beings, meaning life satisfaction, well-being, and having a purpose in life. But it was not the biggest predictor of depression and anxiety, which is really important, which meant that religious people still would experience depressive symptoms and symptoms of anxiety. And the biggest predictor of those two aspects of mental health was being intolerant of uncertainty. So it's a whole separate topic we'll speak about later. But my key point is that, yes, religiosity doesn't make problems disappear, but it reduces them and helps us overcome them faster. Hamdi, a wonderful, wonderful summary there. So Dr. Hassan, I'm going to turn it towards you, inshallah. Dr. Uthman just talked about how natural our emotions are. And how Allah, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, gave us these emotions for a purpose, alhamdulillah. Can you tell us some techniques that come from Islam that help us to regulate our emotions, to help us to protect us from becoming emotionally reactive? Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salatu wa salamu ala afdal al mursaleen Sayyidina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi al tayyibina al tahireen. Rabbi shrahli sadri, wa yassir li amri, wa ahlul aqda tamil lisani, yaqqahu qawli. Jazakumullah khair, beautiful talk by our Shaykh and Imam Uthman, mashallah, alhamdulillah. And yes, one thing that came to my mind as you were speaking, and it actually ties to what I want to say, is indeed, there is this saying that I like. Sailing with Allah does not mean we encounter no waves, but it means we are sailing in a boat that no wave can sink. So subhanallah, similarly, this concept of emotions are going like waves, they can come up, come down, sadness, anger, there is different waves that hit my boat.
But if I'm with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, it doesn't mean that the water is going to be serene, I will face no storm, but it means that the boat I'm sailing in, the company I'm with, the tie I have, the attachment I have, right, will protect me from any of those waves ending up sinking my ship. So subhanallah, yes, sometimes we face emotional challenges, and we're intended to experience them. But the question becomes, what if they're too intense? What if they're so high that I end up reacting to them, saying things, doing things that I'll regret later? Or what if they're so intense, they're physiological, in a sense? Can I do something that helps me regulate them down? And the question is yes, inshallah, and I will speak quickly, like I'll attempt in nine minutes to speak about three points, three things that we can do that will help us spiritually to regulate our emotions. Point number one, take them to Allah. What does that mean? Everything was created by Allah. Everything has a wisdom. Allah created emotions for a wisdom. Why is there emotions? Why did Allah intend that we be emotional and experience the positives and the negatives? Emotions shape our communication. Last time, have you ever attended the khutbah and the imam? You know the hadith, you know the ayah, but the passion he has, the expressions in his face, the way he says these words is so effective that the communication is so powerful. So powerful. So communication is shaped by my emotions. And they say it is not about the words that leave our mouth. It's about the heart from which the word left. So Allah created emotions because they help me do the following. They communicate something to me. When I'm afraid, the communication is, you're not prepared. They communicate to others. When I'm sad, I'm communicating to others, I'm carrying too much. I'm really carrying too much. Can you please help me? And it shows in my face and in my tone.
But more importantly, they help us communicate with Allah. Can you imagine dua with no emotions? Can you imagine a person who has no emotions praying and making, where is the khashia, where is the tears? So the first thing, whenever I feel an emotion, I remember that. The purpose of it is Allah's inviting me, worship me through that emotion. So I take it to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. I shape my dua with it. I shape my ibadah with it. And subhanallah wallahi, sometimes the best dua, the best ibadah we experience in our life is this ibadah that's within the storm of some deep emotional need. So the first thing is what we call co-regulation. I need to co-regulate my emotion. Sometimes I can do it alone, even as humans. When my son is intensely afraid, sometimes what it takes is the dad or the mom that comes and tells me, son, it's okay. That's called co-regulation. I need that attachment. And therefore, my attachment to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, this attachment that I take my, sincerely, I don't hide my feelings. Some people might feel anger and sometimes maybe resentment against a decree of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And they say, subhanallah, I don't want to feel this way. And I understand the concern, but you're feeling it. But a good Muslim should not feel this way. Notice the meta-emotions, emotions about emotions. I'm angry and now I'm angry that I'm angry. And say, no, no, take it and go to Allah. Complain, ya Rabb, I'm feeling certain things. I find some things in my heart that I don't like. Ya Rabb, please help me shape your ibadah with your emotions. So connect, take them to Allah. Number two, if the emotion is so intense that it is so excessive that it's physiological. Research showed that emotions feed on themselves. What does that mean? I feel angry. Somebody did something, said something that, you know, wasn't good. Yeah, I'm right. He said something. I really got hurt. And as a result, now I'm angry.
I think about it. I start to, you know, do mental rehearsal. Next time I'm going to do this. Why did he do that? I become angrier. Then I think about it more. I become angrier. The more there is a feedback, you see. I'm afraid. I start to think about it. Plan a way out. I can't find a way out. I'm more afraid. I try to think more. The more I think, the more I'm afraid. And sometimes I go into this loop on and on and on. Sometimes it carries. And that is how sadness, which is a mood, turns into depression. Depression is nothing more than a sad mood that continues, continues and doesn't subside. Anxiety is fear that doesn't leave me. It's OK to be afraid for a little bit. But when I keep thinking about it and there is a loop, it turns into anxiety. How do I break this loop? Research showed focusing on two physical senses. The brain cannot retain a thought if you focus on two physical senses. So in psychology, they tell you focus on your breath, which is good. Focus on the room, which is excellent. But here is exercise number two. If I deeply have intense emotions and I want to regulate them, notice what I said. Focus on two senses. How about reciting Quran, which is what the Prophet, peace be upon him, asked for in a beautiful dua. But brother, I recite Quran and it doesn't help. No, no, no. I didn't say read Quran. Recite out loud. Alhaqa malhaqa. Why? Notice my breath and focus on the Tajweed. Focus on the recitation. You cannot recite Quran out loud while, even if I don't understand it, while focus on the rules of Tajweed with the breath and retain any thought in your head. And that I call is a dropping an anchor. Sometimes my boat is in the midst of a strong storm. I can't make the storm go away, but if the waves come, they might push my boat and it will hit a rock and will sink. What do ships do in this point? They drop an anchor.
So an anchor anchors the ship. Notice the storm is still there, but I'm anchored. This is dropping an anchor. The third one, which is the most important, is spiritual and, subhanallah, psychological. The best way, if I have an emotion that I know this emotion does not fit the fact, or this emotion is causing me to do something that I do not like, and I want to regulate it down, the concept of opposite action. What does that mean? Every emotion has a negative connotation. Every emotion has an urge with it. Fear tells me to run. Sadness tells me to stay in bed. Anger tells me to retaliate. I'll take one of them. Let's say I'm sad. So I woke up in the morning. I don't feel like it. I'm so sad. The emotion urge will be what? Stay in bed. What happens if I stay in bed? I'll be more sad. Don't call anybody. What happens if I don't call anybody? Sadness will increase. Research and spirituality both agree at this point. If I want to regulate down sadness, what is sadness telling me to do? Stay in bed. Do the opposite. The opposite action. Do the opposite of the urge. So stand up, make your bed. Go and talk to people. And this is the concept even in psychology of exposure. If I'm afraid of something, I'm afraid of spiders, and I go to a therapist and tell him, can you help me get rid of this phobia? Well, one of the very well-established techniques is what you want to get rid of this? You want to be able to regulate your emotion and deal with spiders? Yes. I have to expose you to spiders. And we have to learn how to do the opposite. Don't run, right? Subhanallah. So the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, said this in a very beautiful way. Al-kayis man dana nafsahu wa amila lima ba'd al-mawt. Wal-aijis man adda nafsaha wa'aha thumma tamanna ala Allah. A prudent, wise person is a person who can go against himself. And a person who is completely helpless, completely powerless, is one that follows whatever he wants.
I want to speak, I speak. I want to eat, I eat. And that's where spirituality helps emotional regulation. We are trained by Allah, if you notice. But in many cases, we have an urges, and Allah trains us not to. For example, Ramadan. That was training. I want to eat. It's halal to eat, yes, but you're not going to eat. Why? It's teaching me, not every time I want to eat, I eat. Not every time I want to sleep, I sleep. Not every time I feel something, I express it. Not every time I think something, I follow it. The ability to pause and do the opposite. A spiritual person who learned this concept of nujahada and going against the nafs, is more able when a wave of anger comes and it tells him, anger's urges, retaliate. I want to regulate it down. What should I do? Leave. This is what the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, do the opposite. When sadness happen, I'm still going to go to the masjid, but I don't want to go to the masjid. That's why I'm going to go to the masjid. And when I have this ability, which spirituality gives us, of doing the opposite, it makes a believer who's spiritually connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, able to regulate his state. In a way that all those emotions, I react to them in a way that takes them to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So the three points. Point number one, take it to Allah. Shape your ibadah with it. Point number two, drop an anchor. If it is intense, recite Quran out loud. Do dhikr out loud, because that physiologically changes my state. Three, I train myself in the times of ease, that I'm able to go against my urges. So when I need to regulate something, I have the muscles to do so. I hope, inshallah, that that's good enough for those 10 minutes. Jazakumullah khair. Jazakumullah khair, and Dr. Hassan, that was beautiful, mashaAllah. I love that point you made, that Allah is inviting us to worship him through our emotions, and just the depth of our ibadah,
when we do, so when we connect, when we reach out to our Rabb, through that storm. Alhamdulillah, that was just beautiful, mashaAllah. And Sister Netra, this marries very beautifully with what you're gonna talk about as well, mashaAllah. Dr. Hassan talked very wonderfully about our emotions, and I think oftentimes, when we talk about mental health, we kind of focus on the negative aspects, when we talk about stress, or adversity, and mental illness. But then there are also these positive aspects of mental health and well-being, that Dr. Uthman was also mentioning, that idea of thriving, of resilience. And so I wanted to ask you a little bit, Sister Netra, what does that role, what does the role of prevention have in maintaining our mental health, and how does that intersect with our spiritual health and well-being? Yeah, prevention is actually one of my favorite topics in mental health. And I think that's because many times when people come to my office, it's because they are already depressed, they're already anxious, they're already on the force. And so being able to talk about the importance of prevention. Now, Dr. Uthman made a very good point, that we cannot 100% prevent adversity or things happening to us. That's the inherent way of life. Life is inherently stressful. However, it doesn't mean we throw up our hands and we say, okay, well, I can't control things from coming my way, so I'm just not gonna try at all. But certainly, prevention can help. And I think with Mental Health Awareness Month, the idea of that mental health is not a destination. It's an ongoing process. It's something that we have to continuously maintain. Just the way we maintain our homes, otherwise they become inhabitable, they break down. Just the way we maintain our cars, the same thing. If you don't get your oil change, if you don't maintain your car, it's not going to run. And it's the exact same way with us as human beings. You don't just do a few coping skills
and then magically your mental health is good. But in a similar note, we also don't just one day wake up depressed. And so prevention really does have, is really important, especially when we look at the cost. The cost of us not taking care of things around us is big, but when we look at the cost of suffering, when we look at the cost of how this impacts our relationships, or one of the biggest costs of suicide, it's just too big of a cost for us to overlook. And so with Mental Health Awareness Month, I think the idea is that we don't just bookmark this webinar and say, okay, this is something I'm going to come back to. Or, you know, Alhamdulillah, now I have these great tools. When I get upset, I'm going to use them. No, I think everybody on this panel would agree that we hope that you will start using them now, that you'll exit this webinar, this training, and say, okay, what are some things that I can look at so I can maintain my mental health around the year? And I loved how Dr. Osman was talking about the connection between spiritual health and mental health. You know, of course they're intertwined, but I think a really important concept for us to look at is that if you don't practice things in good mental health, it's much harder for you to practice them when your mental health is deteriorating. If you don't practice gratitude and mindfulness and mutual adulation when things are good, it's going to be harder for you to do it later. You know, and so for our listeners, you know, how hard is it to pray when you're depressed? And how hard is it to do anything when you're depressed? How hard is it for you to show up and be your best self when you're anxious? And so, you know, they are very closely intertwined. You can have really high amen, but if you're bogged down by these things, it makes it harder for you to do your acts of worship.
You know, imagine a runner, like the best runner, but, you know, when you put weights, when he puts weights on his shoulder and he puts weights on his legs, is he going to run as fast? He might not get to his destination. If he gets to his destination, he's gonna feel really, really crummy. And it's the same thing with our amen. We can have good amen. And when we have depression, they're not, those things are not exclusive. If you have good amen and you have good spiritual health, but, you know, for whatever reason, life hits you, adversity hits, and you're experiencing depression and anxiety, is your ibadah going to be as strong? Is it going to be as easy to get up and do those acts of worship? So I say all of this in that, if you have the right intention, if you make the intention, you can make mental health an act of worship. Now, your spiritual health, your ibadah is for Allah. We don't do it just for our mental health, right? We do it because we worship Allah and we wanna be strong Muslims and we wanna get to Jannah. But it's certainly a by-product for our mental health. So when you are thinking about the concept of mental health, think about it in that, how can I do this so I can be a strong Muslim? Allah helped me in doing this so I can show up and do my ibadah in the best way. Allah, you have entrusted this heart to me, my family to me, my mind to me. How can I take care of it in the best way so I can, again, show up and be the strongest Muslim that I can be? And if you have people who depend on you, if you have children, if you are a caregiver, your mental health is not yours alone. People are depending on you. People's, their own mental health is going to be affected by your mental health. And if we take it out even further than that, if we are suffering, then it's gonna be harder for us to show up in our communities.
And then if we zoom out even further, it's gonna be harder for us as an ummah to be able to do the things that we need to do to better ourselves and to reach our full potential. So you might be like, okay, I get it. I understand that there's a good connection between spiritual health and mental health. So what do I do? How do I help mitigate mental health? How do I mitigate distress I already have? Or how can I prevent it? How can I prevent it from unnecessary things from happening? And so a good place to start is to evaluate. Usually developing insight is the first step towards any kind of change. So think about how is my mental health in this moment? Are there things that have been flying out the radar? Are there things that I have been maybe neglecting? Or are there things that I could be working on? So reflecting on that. Another really powerful question that might be a good place to start is, if someone was going to move into your headspace tomorrow, what is the first thing that they would change? If someone was going to move into your headspace tomorrow, what is the first thing that they would change? And this is kind of like, you know, when you're moving into a new environment, like you're looking for an apartment or a home. And usually people are unanimously agreed on these things. Oh, the carpet has to go. The walls have to be painted. So we're not looking at a particular person, but this can be a really good question to ask yourself at a good place to start. Because sometimes we have these blind spots. You know, we're in our heads so much that we overlook these things. So if the average person was going to come in, what would be, would they change the relationship with your spouse? Would they maybe consider going and talking to somebody because you're really struggling? Would it be maybe not scrolling so much on social media and opening up the Quran?
So that could be a really good question to start with. But if that doesn't work for you, looking at the different parts of yourself. And there are many, many parts, but just, you know, for simplicity, you know, let's look at our physical health and our spiritual health and our mental health. What is one or two things that you can do to better those aspects to help, again, either mitigate or prevent things from happening? In terms of spiritual health, you know, sometimes it just, the everyday busyness of life, we only go to Allah when we need something, when we're in desperate need for something. But how powerful would it be for your connection with Allah and your relationship with Allah if you didn't wait till those times? If you spent time with him every single day, whether it's reading Quran or reflecting on his names, how powerful would that be for your spiritual health? And of course, that's going to affect your mental health. Because when you have a strong relationship with Allah, then it helps mitigate the stress. It helps when bad things happen to us. When we have purpose and we have context for things, it makes things easier. Another thing that's, I think, completely overlooked is protection du'a, afqar. You know, making the afqar in the morning and in the afternoon. You know, there's so much that, Allah knows so much and we know so little. There's so much that's hidden. And when we make these afqar, when we make du'a, this is a preventative thing. We are asking Allah for protection from hasad, from evil things coming our way. How much, what kind of profound effect, what kind of blessings, what kind of protection are we getting from this very simple preventative measure? Physically, again, you know, the physical part of ourselves is so undervalued when we talk about the conversation of mental health and spiritual health. Drinking enough water.
I know when I don't drink enough water, I feel anxious. Getting enough sleep. I can't tell you how many people, their depression is so worsened, or their bipolar disorder is so much more worsened by lack of sleep. Sleep is very important. Exercise. Also, there's a big connection between exercise and mental health. If you're feeling lethargic, if you're feeling not well, it's gonna be harder for you to get up and pray. It's gonna be harder for you to go to the masjid and be active in your community. So reflecting on what are some physical things I can do? And then, of course, mental things. What are some mental things that I could do? You know, in terms of my relationships, am I, am I practicing hasanathan? Am I always assuming good of others? This is a very preventative thing. When we assume ill of others or situations, we cause all these kinds of problems for ourselves. So not only is it, again, good for your spiritual health, for sisterhood, for brotherhood, but it's good for your mental health, that you're not being reactive and you're not showing up in a way that's not going to be good for you. In terms of, you know, keeping good company. You know, keeping good company, it's good for our spiritual health, but it's also good for our mental health. If you're around people who are backbiting, who are engaging in sinful behavior, you're going to be more likely to participate in those things. It's going to be harder for you to engage in acts of worship. This is a preventative thing, surrounding yourself with the right kinds of people. So, you know, it's going to be different from person to person. What's going to work for me is maybe not going to work for you. But as we, as you, you know, leave this webinar, reflect on what are one or two things that I can do in each category to help, you know, strengthen my mental health. So it's not like, you know,
I'm going to show up for mental health awareness month in May, and then afterwards, I'm going to forget about the rest of the year. I'm not going to pay attention. What are one or two small things that you can do in each category that work for you? And how can you be consistent in them? How can you practice them regularly? So may Allah make it easy for us to practice preserving our mental health and may He give us strength so our mental health is intact and we can show up in believers in the best of ways. Ameen. Ameen, Ameen. Mashallah, Sister Najwa, that's a beautiful dua and beautiful points. I loved how you said, you know, you can make your mental health an act of worship, an act of Ibadah, mashallah. If we work on doing these small, consistent things that we're trying to do to improve our mental fitness, inshallah, we can be the strongest Muslims we can possibly be. Please do share, you know, what are the small, consistent deeds or acts you want to try to incorporate into your daily routine, inshallah, we can benefit from each other. That's wonderful, alhamdulillah. And just to close off our wonderful panel for tonight, inshallah, just wanted to ask everybody some of your takeaway messages for the audience tonight, anything you want them to leave home, try to implement on their own or anything that you personally do to nurture your spiritual and mental health and wellbeing, inshallah. So, Dr. Hassan, inshallah, we'll start with you, inshallah. Yeah, bismillah. Very beautiful points and, you know, a quote from Ibn al-Qayyim came to my head. Laysa al-ajab min qalb sahih waqif al-khidma walakin al-ajab, kol al-ajab min qalbi saqeem ta'tawuruhu al-ajghal wa huwa waqif al-khidma. I'm not amazed about the heart. You know, things are good and life is good and he's worshiping Allah in this heart. But really, what is really amazing is a heart that's afflicted by wounds and tribulations yet it is trying to worship. So those mental health storms that come, a small deed done in the midst of the storm
might be the best deed in my life, might be the deed that makes me go to Jannah because it is valued as such. Big difference between somebody, and we don't see it, who's depressed and comes to the masjid, prays two rak'ahs and leaves, and a person who life is good, alhamdulillah for both, and he's worshiping. They're not the same. So my biggest take-home is what Sister Najwa said and ties with what I said. Ta'arraf ila Allahi fir-rakhaa, ya'arif kat-ishim. Make sure to get to know Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la when times are easy. Those things that we need in the times of difficulty, we need to train ourself to get them in the time of ease. So make sure you worship, you make your du'a, you know all your adhkar, so that in the times of hardship, they're ready for you. And the concept of a seatbelt. Have you ever seen a person who says, you know, seatbelts are good? No, no, no, I'm not going to put on the seatbelt in the car. When an accident is going to happen, I'm just going to try to put it on. You have to put it on every single day, so that it's, and that's the problem. Am I practicing Quran, dhikr? And I would leave with one thing. Please practice dhikr a very practical way. Go in nature. Go out, walk in nature, in trees and the sky, and just have 10 minutes. Turn off your phone, walk in nature, everything around you is in dhikr, and practice doing some dhikr out loud, that you hear yourself. That would be my take home, inshallah. If we do that regularly, it empowers our home. JazakAllah. Oh, mashallah, beautiful. Dr. Hassan, you touched on one of my favorite things to do, alhamdulillah, connecting with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when we're out appreciating, subhanAllah, His beautiful creation. Dr. Uthman, I know you talked a lot about that too, immense synthesis and all kinds of wonderful ideas. Dr. Uthman, please do share some brilliant points of yours, inshallah. Bismillah, jazakAllah khair. Yeah, I'll double down on Hassan's statement, right?
Absolutely, this aspect of being in nature, it is, you know, we live in such a tech-dominated world, right, all of us are sitting, even subhanAllah, what I've noticed is, I took my class, you know, I teach in the university, and I took my students out into the beautiful forest that we have on the campus. And so many of the students, they had come, and the activity was literally just to do, like, mindfulness in the middle of the forest, looking at the trees, listening to the birds. And so many students told me, they said, you know, we've walked through this park many, many times, but we never noticed anything, because even though we were walking through the nature, our headphones are on, right, we're scrolling through our phones. So it's not just the act of being somewhere, right, it's actually being mindful of what you're supposed to do there. So when. فقط تذهب إلى الغابة وتضع كل شيء فيها وتجعل نفسك تتعذب في رضا الله فلنسمع إلى الأشياء الصغيرة، فلنسمع إلى الطيور، فلنرى الثلاجات التي تتحرك، فلنرى الزجاجات التي تتحرك وفرق الهواء الذي يطلق على الأشجار فهذه الأشياء الصغيرة التي تحفظ القلب، فهي أشياء تتحرك فيها وإذا كان لديك أحدث جيد، حتى لو كان لديك مجلس في عينك، فهذا سيأخذك من تلك التجربة هذا هو أمر أدبي أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه وهو أنك تأخذ أحساسك إلى الله ويقوله هذا يعني الكثير للمنافسين لأني أحد الأشياء التي تعنيها هي أنها مجزمة من ما يعنيها أن تكون مجزمة من الوصفات ومدينة ومدينة التي أعطى الله لأرساله عندما كان النبي محمد في مصر في مصر الله أخبره أن تفعل أشياء جيدة لأشخاص آخرين هذا أمر أدبي أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه وهذا أمر أدبي أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه وهذا أمر أدبي أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه وهذا أمر أدبي أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه وهذا أمر أدبي أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه
ومساءً أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه ومساءً أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه ومساءً أريد أن أقوله الثاني هو ما تحدثه حسن عنه here is that do something for people when you're in desperate need of something from Allah and He will come and give you that much faster, inshaAllah. So my real life parallel to this story. So I was teaching this tafsir of the surah to my halaqa over about a year and we went camping a few months ago and we ended up taking a very rigorous hike that we probably shouldn't have done without food and without water and the 30-minute hike became one hour and then two hours and it was very hot and there was a tree that we found that was like you know quite a ways away, the only tree in the middle of where we were and the brothers sat down underneath the tree, the two brothers that were there was three of us total and this verse came straight to their mind. They said
we feel like Musa alayhi salam, tired, exhausted. They said oh Allah we're in desperate need of any good that you have and I kid you not within five minutes of walking we found the path and some people had water and they offered water to us. So like you know worship Allah in times of goodness, study the Quran right and you'll find the gems coming out right when you're in desperate need. So we ask Allah to give us all of that, to give us wellness right in this life and the next. JazakAllah khairan Dr. Ahmed, that's a beautiful story alhamdulillah and I love that too you know in dark times when we are able to reach out and help someone else in need of course alhamdulillah the deeds that you know Allah subhana wa ta'ala, the ajar and the thawab that he would give us in that in that moment is so amazing but for us too it changes our self-concept or reminds us of the good that we are capable of as well you know in those dark times oftentimes we pull ourselves down with that negative self-talk and so when we do some good when we do reach out to someone else alleviate someone else's suffering it reminds us of the good that we are capable of alhamdulillah and that's so powerful and life-changing alhamdulillah but I love that sister Najwa will you close us out with some some wonderful wisdom inshallah sure I think my favorite thing for myself is you know I talked about having hasan adhan of other people but it's probably hasan adhan of Allah I think when we are going through really difficult times it's easy to say okay this is this is a punishment this is I don't know because Allah has he doesn't he doesn't like me but when we when we assume good about Allah it's a cognitive reframing tool from those of you who are familiar with cognitive behavior therapy it's a way to look at your cognitions and reframe it so that it's healthier and so saying that Allah I don't know why this is happening but I'm going to assume good maybe you are preventing something bad from happening
maybe this is an expiation not not that you hate me but maybe this is an expiation maybe Allah is testing me and he has something much much better coming my way you know so I think for me that's that's a big a big tool and I think it's useful for other people especially with depression with depression you know you develop a lot of negative thinking and like she hasn't said he you know we've had these loopholes you know everything is so bad everything is so negative and we get stuck in these cycles but when we when we lift those those thoughts and we say no I know Allah wants the best for the believer I am a believer inshallah you know this is going to be this is going to be lifted inshallah there's something better for me coming I feel like it's it's a very profound thing for myself and for my clients beautiful mashallah just like a malo here into everyone here that those were amazing insights so much to take away and so much to implement for us practically inshallah as we as we move forward and hum dee dee da just closed off with that with a beautiful joy of no me a little bit that I know allow us to connect with him in times of good in those times of light so we can connect with him inshallah in those times of darkness just a cool oh here and again I hope inshallah everyone was able to benefit from our program tonight we have you know some great papers and some some great content coming out to you from your feet inshallah during this month of May in commemoration of mental health awareness month and please do keep keep you know keep keep tuning in and keep reading our papers inshallah and keep sending us your feedback on what programming you'd like to see and it was wonderful to have all of you here does that come along later and again As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh