Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Islam Vs Depression


One of the most common problem in today's society is that people lives in tension and constant depression due to work strain and personal affairs. Major depression significantly affects a person's family and personal relationships, work or school life, sleeping and eating habits, and general health etc. To overcome this situation and mental trauma Islam has provided us the basic outlines that how a person should live his life and have given cure for this disease 1400 years ago without the use of any kind of tablets and pills.

Islam provides us principles on which a person should spend his life. In Koran it's said that a person should live a life thanking God which is the most important principle of them all and the best way to cure depression. When a person truly starts to admire the blessings of God, he starts to thank Him in every situation. A person see's that he is better than others and therefore thank God for that, he grasps the spiritual message from his surroundings and ponders over things as a result of which he feels satisfaction from the inside and says "الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِين" with pure understanding of nature and God. And hence have no problem with anyone, no consult with material things and is not depressed at all.

It is reported that Ali (May God Be Pleased with Him) said "Whatever happened, happened for good". One may consider this as a frequently used statement to console a person but when he gets hold of the true message hidden in this statement, it no longer remains a common saying to him. A person then makes this statement a principle of leading life. He considers everything which have happened to him whether good or not as a sentence of God and considers it full of Hikmah of God. He tries to figure out the positive points in the situation and highlights the lesson learned from that situation. In short he considers that everything going on around him is for his own good and thus he surrenders himself completely to the will of Al-mighty.

In Koran 94th chapter Alam-Nashrah it's written that "فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً - إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْراً" i.e. "So verily, along with every hardship is relief, Verily, along with every hardship is relief”. This verse shows the importance of positive thinking in Islam. It is a promise from the Lord of Throne that with every difficulty there will also be a relief for a person, but the thing is he just needs to figure out that relief in the present situation and struggle hard for his better future keeping in mind the promise of God. He should device a strategy, realize his mistakes done in the past and should always look forward.

Last principle given in this prospect to lead a life in Islam is given in 4th chapter An-Nisa , it is stated that only disbelievers looses hope from the blessings of God. This indeed should be the most prominent characteristic of a believer’s life that he should never lose hope from the Divine blessing. He should be patient in his approach and should have full confidence on his Savior. To lose hope is defined as a quality of a disbeliever in Koran due to which one can assume that losing hope from the Al-mighty and being depressed for a long time not only destroys his personal and material life but is also a great danger for his spiritual life and spiritual journey.

From the above verses and their descriptions one can say that realistic approach to things and then being hopeful is the thinking in accordance with the teachings of Islam and Koran while depression and being sad all over is correspondent to stand against these basic teachings and principles of Islam. “I end all of this by saying that All the Praise Is For God the Most Beneficial The Most Merciful.”

5 comments:

  1. Good! Keep it up dear! Another Waheedudin khan in the making!

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Muneeb did u register this blog through google adsense?

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  4. nah , though blogger on Google account :)

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  5. @aslam mir

    Nah sir, i am nothing compared to him : )

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