Golden 15

In his book "Tibb an Nabawi" (trans. Medicine of The Prophet by Jalal Abual Rub, Darussalam publishers) Ibn Qayyim rahimullah says the following at the end of the chapter

"The Prophet's Guidance on Treating Sadness, Grief and Depression."

"These cures that we mention are of 15 types. If they are not sufficient to remove sadness, depression and grief, then the sickness has become chronic and needs to be completely removed and dissipated.

1 - Affirming Allaah's Oneness in His Lordship

2 - Affirming Allaah's Oneness in His Worship

3 - The belief in the creed of Tawheed

4 - Praising Allaah for not dealing with His slave with injustice and for not punishing him without a reason

5 - The slave's affirming that it is he who has committed the injustice

6 - Pleading to Allaah by the most beloved methods to Him, by His Names, Attributes such as al-'Hay (The Ever Living), Al Qayyum (Who Sustains everything and everyone)

7 - Depending and relying on Allaah Alone for everything

8 - The slave affirms that his hope is only in Allaah

9 - Acquiring true dependence on Allaah and relating all matters to Him, while admitting that the slave's forelock is in His Hands Alone and that He does with it whatever He will. Also admitting that Allaah's decision on the slave will certainly come to pass and that His judgement is certainly just.

10 - The slave's heart should enjoy the gardens of the Qur'an and should make the Qur'an just like the spring of pure water to the animals. Also the slave should use the light of the Qur'an to shatter the darkness of desires and lusts. The Qur'an should be one's companion when no one else is present; the comfort that relieves every type of calamity and the cure that discards every illness that attacks the slave's heart. In short, the Qur'an should be the remover of sadness and the end of depression and grief.

11 - Turning to istighfaar, seeking forgiveness from Allaah

12 - Repenting to Allaah

13 - Performing jihad in Allaah's Cause

14 - Performing prayer

15 - Relating all power and strength to He Who grasps them in His Hands."

Course ~ Islamic Counselling

Assalamu alaykum there is a Islamic Counselling course which looks very interesting for those who wish to broden their carer oppotunities or who wish to further their understanding in this field. Inshallah I plan to go, looks very useful.

Dear Brother/Sister,

Asalaam alaikum waRahmatullahi waBarakatahu,

Islam is both a religion and a culture that influences the life of its followers. It is necessary to emphasise the spiritual needs of clients as part of effective, whole person care. Research has shown that people from ethnic minority groups can experience difficulty accessing services (e.g. poor religious and cultural understanding by service staff). The Muslim community has become increasingly aware of the importance of mental health issues, the need for effective communication in family networks, relationships within the ummah and relationships with non-Muslims.

In response to the above, MIHE has developed the Certificate in Islamic Counselling as a follow on from the Introduction to Islamic Counselling short courses. The certificate course provides students with an opportunity to acquire both the practical experience and the theoretical understanding required to use Islamic Counselling skills competently in an Islamic work-related context or a voluntary helping capacity as well as those whose work includes a specific counselling type role.

MIHE are working towards accreditation by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy.

MIHE have successfully ran other short courses such as Training of Muslim Chaplains, Diploma in Islamic Jurisprudence, Diploma in Islamic Finance and Introduction to Islamic Counselling.

If you are interested in attending the course then please complete an application form which can be downloaded from our website http://www.mihe.org.uk/ and send it to the MIHE address as soon as possible.
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Jazakalakhayrun for your help and please do remember us in your dua’s.

Yours sincerely,


Ghazala Sadiq
Short Course Administrator

Treating Distress and Grief

Assalamu alaykum

Subhanallah, Glory be to Allah, we have been blessed to be in the folds of a deen, a religion that has come with a cure for everything. If we only try to seek the answers in the words of Allah we will not be disapointed. Depression is one of those hot topics which I have been asked alot about and its something that I havent got all the asnwers to myself, hence we look into the gift of Islam for our answers o those life long questions. How to deal with life!

The following is the basic steps we should all be trying to strive for, to keep us going in days of trials and for distress and grief. Know that what we go through in this life is nothing to those trials and tribulations of those before us. However Allah test our pios predesessors in a different way to how He tests us. Saying that we all have the same remedy which can be found if only we open our eyes to see and open our hearts to feel.

Wassalam

Writings of Immam Ibn al-Qayyim on Treating Distress and Grief:

Following this discussion of cures, we will pause to look briefly at the list written by Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) in which he lists fifteen kinds of remedies through which Allaah may alleviate distress and grief:

1. Tawheed al-Ruboobiyyah (Unity of Divine Lordship)

2. Tawheed al-Uloohiyyah (Unity of Divinity)

3. Unity of belief, i.e. Tawheed al-Asmaa’ wa’l-Siffaat (Unity of the Divine Names and Attributes).

4. To declare that Allaah is far above mistreating His slave or punishing him without any cause on the part of the slave himself.

5. Admission on the part of the slave that he is the wrongdoer.

6. Beseeching Allaah by the best of things, which are His Names and Attributes. Among the most comprehensive in meaning of His Names and Attributes are the Names al-Hayyu (the Ever-Living), al-Qayoom (the Eternal).

7. Seeking the help of Allaah Alone.

8. Putting one’s hope in Allaah.

9. Putting one’s trust in Allaah and handing over all one’s affairs to Him, recognizing that one’s forelock is in His hand, that Allaah runs all one’s affairs as He wills, that His command is ever executed and that His decree is just.

10. Reading Qur’aan and pondering its meaning, seeking consolation in it for all disasters, and seeking a cure in it for all diseases of the heart (i.e., spiritual or psychological diseases) for it washes away grief and heals his distress and anxiety.

11. Seeking the forgiveness of Allaah.

12. Repentance

13. Jihaad (striving for the sake of Allaah).

14. Salaat (prayer)

15. Admitting that one has no power or strength at all, and attributing them to the One Who holds them in His hand.

Can Muslims be affected by psychological problems?

Question:
Is it possible for a Muslim to be afflicted with psychological problems? (Because some people say that a Muslim cannot be affected by psychological problems).

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

Undoubtedly man may be afflicted with psychological problems such as worries about the future and grief over the past. Psychological problems affect the body more than physical problems do. We should know that the worries and distress that affect a person are among the things that expiate his sins and reduce the burden of sin; if he is patient and seeks reward with Allaah, he will be rewarded for that.

Treating these problems in the ways prescribed in Islam is more effective than treating them with physical medicine, as is well known.

One of the treatments prescribed in Islam is to recite the du’aa’s narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to relieve worries and distress, for example, the saheeh hadeeth narrated from Ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him):

“There is no-one who is afflicted by distress and grief, and says:
‘Allaahumma inni ‘abduka ibn ‘abdika ibn amatija naasyati bi yadika, maada fiyya hukmuka, ‘adlun fiyya qadaa’uka. As’aluka bi kulli ismin huwa laka sammayta bihi nafsaka aw anzaltahu fi kitaabika aw ‘allamtahu ahadan min khalqika aw ista’tharta bihi fi ‘ilm il-ghayb ‘indaka an taj’al al-Qur’aana al-‘Azeema rabee’ qalbi wa noor sadri wa jalaa’ huzni wa dhihaab hammi
(O Allaah, I am Your slave, son of Your slave, son of Your maidservant; my forelock is in Your hand, Your command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just. I ask You by every name belonging to You which You have named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the Unseen with You, that You make the Holy Qur’aan the life of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety),’ but Allaah will take away his distress and grief.” This is one of the remedies prescribed in sharee’ah. One may also say: “Laa ilaaha illa anta, subhaanaka inni kuntu min al-zaalimeen (There is no god but You, glorified (and exalted) are You, truly I have been of the wrongdoers).” [cf. al-Anbiya’ 21:87]

Another form of treatment is ruqya with which a person may treat himself – which is better. The Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to do ruqyah for himself by reciting al-Mi’wadhatayn (the last two soorahs of the Qur’aan) when he went to sleep, then he would wipe his face and whatever he could of his body. Or a person may go to someone whose religious commitment he trusts to do ruqyah for him.

If he wants to know more, he can refer to what the scholars have written about du’aa’ such as al-Waabil al-Sayyib by Ibn al-Qayyim, al-Kalim al-Tayyib by Shaykh al-Islam, al-Adhkaar by al-Nawawi, and Zaad al-Ma’aad by Ibn al-Qayyim.

From the fatwas of al-Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, Kitaab Fataawa Islamiyyah, vol. 4, p. 465-467.

Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

Maudsley Debate

Maudsley Debate

12th Dec. 6.00-7.30pm,

Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Institute of Psychiatry

Motion: This house believes that charges of institutional racism against psychiatry damage patient care

For: Swaran, Robin Murray

Against: Kwame McKenzie, Lee Jasper

Open to the public. Should be interesting.

VeenaDr Veena S Raleigh, FFPH
Lead, Methods and Research, Informatics
Healthcare Commission
Finsbury Tower
103-105 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8TG
Tel: 020 7448 1775 (int ext 3825)
Mobile: 07977 157329

Coming Soon

Assalamu alaykum

I've been working on some articles, well I have been gathering a lot of thoughts!

Inshallah I am planing to do an article specifically on the psychology of depression and the Islamic prespective, its cures and prevention. I would really appriciate it if anyone has any stories, question, problems or anything you can contribute to the article, can you please contact me or e-mail me with your contribution, you will remain anonymous so no need to get shy! Your information, what ever you care to share, will remain confidential and anything you do wish to share I will try my upmost to shine some light on the matter.

Jazak allah khair

wassalam

Self Image Psychology

assalamu alaykum,

a good talk by Yassir Fazaga regarding covering a wide scope of Islamic perspective of psychology, including self esteem, anxiety and more...

Self Image Psychology - Part 01
Self Image Psychology - Part 02
Self Image Psychology - Part 03
Self Image Psychology - Part 04
Self Image Psychology - Part 05
Self Image Psychology - Part 06
Self Image Psychology - Part 07
Self Image Psychology - Part 08
Self Image Psychology - Part 09
Self Image Psychology - Part 10
Self Image Psychology - Part 11
Self Image Psychology - Part 12
Self Image Psychology - Part 13
Self Image Psychology - Part 14
Self Image Psychology - Part 15

Self Image Psychology expounds on some of the harmful messages promoted by the western media. The speaker points out how these common messages damage the Muslims’ self-image psychology. Among the many things discussed in this presentation are examples of proper self-respect and self-reverence from the lives of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (s). In addition, the speaker mentions common acts that entail lack of self esteem, such as the changing of Muslim names to non Muslim ones and the changing of the Islamic identity in general. The mere nature of this discussion reveals how Muslims today really view themselves.

http://www.ilmquest.org/
http://www.audioislam.com/?subcategory=Taqwa