The Islamic Cure for Depression - Dr. Bilal Phillips

By Bilal Philips | 2026-01-15T16:45:35.18691+00:00 | Topic: Trials

The Islamic Cure for Depression

The Islamic Cure for Depression

Dr. Bilal Phillips

Opening

(السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ - assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh)

(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)

Introduction: Understanding Depression

First and foremost, it is important for us to recognize how serious the illness known as depression is. Because sometimes we take it for granted, and actually we mix it up with sadness. And there is a difference, a quantitative difference between sadness and depression. Depression involves sadness, but it is sadness to an extreme level.

According to the clinical definitions of depression, it involves particular symptoms which are identifiable. They have been listed. And before saying "I'm in a state of depression," one should really look at this list and confirm whether what they're talking about is actually depression or not.

It is the fourth leading cause of death in the US through suicides. Seventy-five percent of suicides are a result of depression. The country with the highest rate of suicide is New Zealand. One would think, why? These people are just among sheep, where is all this depression coming from? But they have the highest rate in the world.

And it affects more people than cancer in the US, and you can extend that to the rest of the world. More than heart disease—the various diseases of the heart causing heart attacks—there are about 17 million people in America who suffer from heart disease. Those who are suffering from depression are more.

So we're dealing with something that can affect people on a level which is, to us, to the normal person, incomprehensible, difficult to understand. Whether it is a child coming to school, like in the Columbine massacres—a young boy coming to school because he got dumped by his girlfriend, brings his father's gun collection with him to school, and starts mowing down his classmates, his teachers, principal. Or we have the case of Adolf Merkel, not related to the current president, who was the 94th richest person in the world in 2009. He had a fortune of $8.5 billion. The depression or recession which took place at that period of time caused him to lose, in his investments in Volkswagen, $400 million in the space of a very short period of time, a month or so. He built his own industrial empire by himself from zero, worth $8.5 billion. What he did after realizing that, he went one morning to the train tracks, laid down on the train tracks and waited for the train to run over him. Killed him. Suicide. This is a man who still had $8.1 billion.

What happened here? Eight point one billion dollars—if a person lived until the age of 80, he would have to spend $280,000 every day of his life from the time he was born until he hit 80 and died. Imagine that. And this man killed himself. He was 74 years old at the time. So he wasn't a young person. He was still mentally, his faculties were all there. But when falling into this state of depression, then everything around him lost its value. He became unable to see good in anything. That's what takes people to the point where they feel life is not worth living anymore.

There is no clear treatment medically for depression. The psychologists who specialize in this area don't even know the cause. Some say it's hereditary. They say they have identified two chemicals, serotonin and dopamine, as two chemicals that if a person is in a state of depression, the quantity goes down. When the quantity comes up, they are in a better state. Actually, what causes the quantity to come up is seen in various treatments that they give. But Islam has provided for Muslims a means to deal with depression as a part and parcel of life. And this is not to say that where people are in states that can't be treated normally, we deny them access to trained psychologists who perhaps can help them. But Islam provides a theoretical basis as well as a practical basis for the treatment of depression.

Understanding the Reality of Life's Struggles

First and foremost, where people have set the goal in life as what is considered to be a good life—a stress-free life—we need to understand that this is not possible. A stress-free life is no life. When you're dead, stress is gone in this life. As to the barzakh, that's a whole other story. But the point is that we are constantly encouraged through the motivational speakers and writers to chase that carrot hanging on a stick that we run after—the stress-free life. "Be happy. This is about it. No stress, naturally you're gonna be happy."

However, reality is that Allah told us:

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الْإِنسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ
(Quran 90:4)

"I have created human beings in difficulty."

Struggle, stress. That's how He created us. And it's natural in our lives to have struggle. From the time we're born, if you observe a child coming into the world from the safety of the womb into this world, it's a massive struggle. Children die in the process. Mothers die in the process. Struggle. And then what the child goes through—growing, drinking milk, crying for food and milk, starting to walk. You see the children, the struggle that they have to go through to finally stand up and then take their first steps and they fall down. That is natural. Every child goes through that. And this is how Allah has created us. So human nature is basically one which is stressful. There's stress in it. There's stress in our lives.

So the real challenge is not to live a stress-free life, but to know how to handle stress in life. This is the challenge. Not to find a stress-free life, find an island somewhere in the Pacific, a coconut tree, and you just lie

there in the sand—tsunami is coming to wipe you out. No, this is not real life. This is what is sold to us in the media. If you have enough money, you can do that. And what you have to do to get that money is so stressful, most of us never make it.

So the challenge for us is to manage stress in such a way that it doesn't lead to depression. We can't escape it, but we have principles in Islam which teach us how to manage it.

Islamic Principles for Managing Stress

The Principle of Gratitude and Patience

First and foremost, we have an outlook on life. Life, which we said is stressful, has its ups and its downs. Times when you're happy, times when you're sad. Times when good things are coming, times when bad things are coming. That's just how life is. So the Prophet (peace be upon him) gave us a basic principle on how to deal with the ups and the downs of life.

He told us that the affair of the believer is amazing, and it's only in the case of the believer. Whenever good comes to him or her, he or she is grateful to Allah, and Allah rewards them for it. And whenever bad comes, they're patient, and Allah rewards them for it. So we have the principle of gratitude and patience.

That if we are able to handle the ups and downs of life with those two principles, then we're not going to be overwhelmed by stress. Because our lives are either up—we're successful, we got a raise, our business made its first million, whatever—or the business failed, customers left, partner broke the contract, ran away with all the money. All these things are happening. It's one or the other. So if you're able to deal with it by understanding these principles, then a great portion of stress will be managed in your life.

It doesn't mean you don't get sad. Sure you'll be sad when things didn't go right, didn't go the way you expected them to go, or you wanted them to go. But you won't be overwhelmed by that sadness. And when things go well, you're successful, then you are grateful to Allah. You don't allow that success to go to your head. When it goes to your head, people think, "I did it." When people are successful, you see them just jumping and screaming success. But in that state, they forget Allah. So it became "I, I did it. I'm the best. I'm the one." Remember Muhammad Ali used to say what? "I'm the greatest."

When I met him in Riyadh, Alzheimer's had already set in, and he had difficulty speaking, but slowly he could speak. He said to me, you know, the best thing that ever happened to me was Alzheimer's. If that hadn't happened to me, I would have gone to my grave thinking I was the greatest, which is shirk. Allah humbled me. I was not the greatest. He humbled me.

So at that time, he told me that he used to do the dawah by preparing brochures on Islam the night before any events that he was invited to. Of course, these events are usually filled with non-Muslims. So he would spend the night before or two days before just signing these brochures, which were explaining what is Islam, what is

but it is possible. If they use that same principle, that when they feel that they're going to explode, they hold themselves back. Inside, they're exploding, but externally, if he keeps or she keeps doing that, eventually, they will overcome anger. It's possible.

Because Allah is not going to give you a characteristic that you cannot overcome and then punish you for that characteristic. That doesn't make sense. That's unfair. So, all of those higher noble characteristics, which as Muslims, we should invite others to and we should ourselves practice—all of these characteristics are attainable. We don't have to say, "No, it's only the Prophets, only the saintly people, special people." No, even the most common of people, it's possible.

You know, in the time of the Prophet, there was one companion who nobody knew as a notable person. There's even doubt about exactly what his name was. But, on one occasion when the Prophet was sitting in a circle with his companions and he walked in the masjid, just before he walked in, the Prophet said to all of the companions there, "The next person who walks into the masjid will be from the people of paradise."

So they all looked to see who was coming in. And in walked this companion. In the narration his name is not even mentioned. He walked in, carrying his shoes in his hand, sandals. Water was dripping from his beard. He prayed two rakah and sat down with the Prophet. Everybody looked at him. Masha Allah.

The next day, in the halaqah, in the circle with the Prophet, a time came and he said the same thing. "The next man who comes inside of the masjid will be from the people of paradise." They're looking again. In walks the same sahabi, puts his sandals down, prays and comes and sits with the Prophet. They all look. It's not Abu Bakr. It's not Omar, Uthman, Ali.

Third time he came. Prophet (peace be upon him) said the same thing. He walked again.

One of the companions, Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, said, "I decided to find out what it is about this man. What was so special about him that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would designate him among the people of paradise?" Only a few people—who in his time, in his lifetime he said, these people will be of the people of paradise الْمُبَشَرِينَ بِالْجَنَّةِ )those given glad tidings of Paradise(.

So he went to the man after the circle. He was leaving. He came to the man and said, "Listen. I got into an argument with my father. And so I need to leave the house. So can I spend a couple of days with you? Night? Sleep over your place?" He said, "Sure." He brought him. So night time, time to sleep, came. He's waiting to see, is this guy going to get up for tahajjud? He waits. Middle of the night. Fajr. He said, no tahajjud. Maybe he's going to make suhoor. No suhoor. He prayed his fajr in the masjid. Second day, same thing. Third day, same thing.

He's frustrated. "What is this? There's nothing special about this guy. Why in the world should he be among the people, designated to be among the people of paradise?" So he told him, he said, "Listen, actually I didn't have any argument with my father. I just wanted to see what it was."

He said, "What you saw is what it is. I do what you saw me do. I sleep, night, get up in the morning, fajr, suhoor, nothing. Not necessarily tahajjud. Sometimes. Fast sometimes."

He said, "Why is that?"

He said, "Well, there's only one thing I could say. Before I go to bed at night, I make sure that there's no rancor in my heart for anyone."

Abdullah said, "Ah, that's it. That's the one that's so difficult for everybody." That quality, nobody, quote unquote, so to speak, from among the sahaba—that quality distinguished him from everybody else.

So it is attainable by everyone. The deen, the peak, the pinnacles, is attainable by everyone. It only requires us to practice Islam.

2. Acknowledge Our Mistakes

The second lesson from the story of Yunus is to acknowledge our mistakes to Allah and to those around us. If we don't acknowledge our mistakes, we can't correct them. We can't change them.

3. Repentance Immediately

The third is repentance immediately. That's what he did.

4. Glorify Allah Throughout Our Day

And the fourth is to glorify Allah throughout our day. To glorify Allah. Not just as a ritual, "Subhanallah," we repeat it culturally many times after each prayer. But not reflecting in our glorification of Allah. Because without reflection, it is useless. It's just a sound. Subhanallah. People say, "Subhanallah, Subhanallah." Remember that? People, "Hey, Subhanallah" is far different from "Subhanallah." To be serious in that sense.

From Prophet Yunus, we learn those principles, all of which create a personality capable of dealing with stress. Handling stress. Not escaping it, but handling it.

The Meaning of "La Tahzan"

Sadness—we have the book which was translated into English, "Don't Be Sad" (La Tahzan).

When the Prophet and Abu Bakr were in the cave on the way to Medina, Abu Bakr got scared. Quraish were close. He said:

لَا تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَنَا

"Do not be depressed. Indeed, Allah is with us." (Quran 9:40)

This is translated as "don't be sad." Actually, that's not the correct translation. Though, everybody knows it as that. It's not "don't be sad." Because Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sad. When his son died in Medina, tears came down his cheek. He was sad. We have by our nature times when we are sad and we will feel sad.

So to say "don't be sad," no. Don't be depressed. That is the better translation. Don't be depressed. Don't be overwhelmed by sadness. Where you reach what they call clinical depression. Where you're overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. You're helpless. Nobody can help you. It's hopeless. You've lost all hope.

Clinical Signs of Depression

These are among the key principles to know:

So these are the signs of real depression.

Practical Islamic Solutions

So Islam offers a number of solutions. We've talked about some in general in theory. But among them is:

Fasting on Mondays and Thursdays

Fasting. Where is fasting from depression? Well, when you're depressed, you feel a loss of control. Like your life is just spinning out, falling down. There's no way to stop things from happening. You've lost control of your life. People are depressed—it's a common expression that they say: "I don't feel I have control of my life anymore. My life is just spinning out of control."

What fasting does, it gives you control. What is fasting but control? Isn't it? The essence of fasting is control. So, you control the time when you eat, your suhoor. You control the time when you break your fast, your iftar. That gives you a sense of taking hold of your life. You've got it under control. That can help.

Demonstrating Gratitude Through Sujood Ash-Shukr

Demonstrating gratitude through sujood ash-shukr. I talked about it before when I visited you. That's one very important way. Because gratitude through sujood ash-shukr, where you prostrate without necessarily having wudu. Doesn't have to be in the direction of the qibla. You just go into prostration, especially when something good happens in your life. That's the norm.

But for people who are already depressed, then they need to go and prostrate and find the good things in their lives. Go down and prostrate and think about, stay down there till you can remember something good in your life. That very day. Or yesterday, if you can't find anything today. But actually everyday there's something. But you stay down there until it comes to your mind. And everyday you go ahead and you do sujood ash-shukr remembering other things which were good. And you keep doing that day after day after day. Eventually your outlook will change.

Because where you thought there was no good—because this is the problem—when you feel there's no good in your life, and in reality there is plenty of good. There are always people far worse off than we are. So you just need to reconnect with the good that is in your life. So when you have that consciousness of the good, then that can start to change your whole mentality, your expression, your energy. All of that can start to change.

Belief in Qadr

And of course our dua—the two duas we mentioned and others. And we also have belief in qadr—qadr, the sixth pillar of iman. Reflecting on it as the Prophet had told us that 50,000 years before this world was created, Allah instructed a writing instrument to write. And it asked Allah what should it write? And Allah told it to write everything that was and would be. So whatever has happened to our lives and in our lives, it was already written. Already there. It's just for us to handle it. The good of it and the relative evil of it.

As Prophet said belief in the qadr—it's good خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ its good and its evil). The good of it and evil. But the evil is relative to us. Because Allah is not evil. Whatever Allah has created is good. It is us who end up in evil by violating the rules, disobeying, disbelieving.

So coming to grips with qadr is also important mentally to help us deal with depression.

Conclusion

So Islam as we said in the beginning provided already a foundation for us to deal with depression. If we are implementing the teachings of Islam in our lives properly then we shouldn't fall into full-scale depression.

Becoming sad at different times maybe, depressed occasionally, but not a state of continual depression. I mean that is only going to happen when one is not following the teachings.

Many times when people get depressed they give up salah. They don't realize that that's what's making it worse. Instead of trying to make your salah better—because there is in salah cure, purification, repentance. All those elements are there that can make us better human beings. Consciousness of Allah, make us understand the world around us correctly. All of the good that is there we lose when we abandon prayer.

So Alhamdulillah, Allah has blessed us to be Muslims—for those of us who converted to find Islam, from those of us who reverted from having left Islam, reverted back. There's a lot of those out there too. Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah that Allah has blessed us with the greatest possible blessing that a human being could have and that is Islam.

And through it—through knowing it properly, studying it, practicing it and teaching it—we have a complete comprehensive system of life which will protect us from most of the problems that general society faces. And that is why till today in spite of where Muslims have gone away from the teachings, there's still enough energy there to protect the Ummah from much of the psychological mental issues that exists in the first world, in the developed world where we have a situation like New Zealand, Japan is way up there too—you know suicide, massive, they may be number 3 or number 2.

So Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah for the blessing of Islam and we ask Allah to allow us to leave this world as Muslims firmly practicing His religion. Ameen.

Question and Answer Session

Q&A on Children and Depression

Question: On the topic of depression, interestingly you mentioned Japan. I heard on the radio BFM even now there's a high rate of depression and suicide in children as young as 7 to 12 years old. So there's a lot of religious, Islamic methods of dealing with depression for adults—so how about children? What if you find a child between that 7 to 12 year old who's depressed, who's having suicidal tendencies? What could be the cause of the depression? Is it the parents who are raising the child?

Answer: I think that in places like Japan where people have to do examinations to enter nursery-you have to do examinations to enter into the nursery—then that kind of pressure that you're putting on the child from that age, then don't be surprised this is the consequence. In terms of religion, because they have shown, the studies have shown from psychologists that people with a clear concept of God or at least belief in God and a higher power tend to have less incidences of depression, they tend to live happier lives, they have that sense. Whereas the religion there is basically going to the idol, burning some incense and asking for money-dunya, the

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religion is just a glorified dunya good luck charm. So they don't have the benefits that come from real belief in God.

And the concept which is at the root of belief in God is gratitude. It's gratitude, that's at the root. Because when we raise children and we are trying to get them to know Allah—not just to know the name Allah but to know Allah—how do they know Allah? How do you explain to a young child, a very young child, the concept of Allah?

The only thing that you can do is to show that child true gratitude. You show them that listen, you know when I give you something you are happy, you like what I give you, you feel attracted to me. The tree, the car, the house, everything—this is all from Allah. You teach the child that understanding that this is all coming from Allah and the same way that you are grateful when I give you, then you must also be grateful to Allah. That's a very important, in fact I would say it is the most important concept that the young children when their brains, their minds have reached that point of understanding to teach them.

We tend to focus on "say la ilaha illallah, Allah," say first word should be Allah, okay. First word is Baba and Mama, no matter how hard you go it's still coming up with Baba and Mama, because this is natural, these are easily pronounceable, whereas Allah it's got some complexity to it. But parents will be pushing the kids to say Allah. More important to get them to understand this relationship with Allah that gratitude gives them a sense of presence in this world, this world makes sense. Allah created everything, we should be grateful to Allah, that's why prayer makes sense. Because if we don't give that to the child so that prayer makes sense, then prayer will be a cultural habit which they may end up dropping later on when it's no longer convenient.

Because the little kids—you know that story about the little kid—all of you who have had little kids, you all experience that moment when you're making salah and your little daughter or your little son stands up next to you and prays along with you. Mashallah, Allahu Akbar, subhanallah, that moment—all parents ecstatic at that time. And of course, the more they do it, and you give them presents, you give them whatever, they do it more and more and they see that you're happy when you do that and they know, okay if I want to get those presents, yeah I'll do it more, yeah, they'll get up and do it more times. Eventually they'll get up when you and all your friends are there, they'll get up and go in the middle of the sitting and they'll start to pray, everybody say, "Oh look at that, subhanallah look at that little," and of course everybody will take the kid and hug him or her and kiss them, give them some presents, give them some money, whatever, very happy. But the point is that what we're teaching the children at that stage is riyah. You know riyah? Riyah is minor shirk. This is what we're teaching them.

So we have to be very careful with this that we don't allow them to grow up on that mode. Okay, we can understand, like father, like son, like mother, like daughter, they will imitate us, it's a natural stage that they go through. But we have to know that the real goal is for them not to pray to please us, but to pray because they understand that this is gratitude to Allah, that's how we show our gratitude to Allah. Because if they've

understood that, then that will be there with them for life. If it was just a thing to please you, when they go to university, you're no longer around—there goes salah very easily. This is the problem that many of us face.

So very important for us to give them that understanding, so the child who doesn't have that, they don't have that consciousness, understanding, then the stress of the circumstances that they live in will take them to that point. If you think about that the same kid I spoke about, Columbine Massacre in the US that started it all—and know that there are many going on every year. If you go and look to see how many school shootings took place in America in 2018 you will be shocked. They don't even report it anymore, it's so many, it's not big news anymore. Where did this come from? That child had no consciousness of Allah, no consciousness of right and wrong. All he knew is that I was hurt and I need to hurt some people. That's all. That is the consequence of secularized education that morality is taken out of it and what you're left with is just the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest.

So this is very important for us to make sure that our children have that understanding and when it isn't there, don't be surprised what our children can do, are capable of.

Q&A on Sujood Ash-Shukr

Question: I would like to ask about the sujood. Is this something that we do privately or is this something that we do openly?

Answer: Privately or openly? Openly. I'm sure you've all watched the football game, right, when Zinedine Zidane kicks his goal and he drops down and makes sujood. You saw it, that wasn't private, it was public. It didn't matter, doing it privately or doing it publicly is perfectly okay.

And the other thing you asked about—whether it was for remembering Allah or when good comes to you—it's one and the same. When good comes to you, you remember Allah that it came from Him. But you don't do it for the remembrance of Allah specifically. You do it for the good that came and in making sujood for that good you are remembering Allah because that's where it came from. So it's not something you say "I'd like to remember Allah, let me go make sujood." No. You remember Allah in your salah, in your dua, in all the other ways. The sujood specifically, this is called sujood ash-shukr—the sujood of thankfulness, gratitude. So it's specifically for that. So if some good thing comes to you today, you make the sujood. Could be on the spot. Maybe it's in a workplace and you feel shy—okay, it's alright, go by yourself, wait till you get home, whatever. But you do it as soon as you can.

Q&A on Monday and Thursday Fasting

Question: Somebody told me that the Monday and Thursday is not sunnah, but the 3 days every month is more sunnah than Monday and Thursday.

Answer: That's a contradiction in terms. You said that Monday and Thursday is not sunnah but the 3 days- that's the 3 days of the full moon—the 3 days every month is more sunnah than the Monday and Thursday. We

have more Sunnah. Sunnah, either it's Sunnah or it's not Sunnah. So first and foremost, Monday and Thursday is Sunnah. It is from the Sunnah. The Prophet (peace be upon him) recommended it. As he recommended three days from every month also. But Monday and Thursday, this is from the Sunnah. So whoever said it is not from the Sunnah, is mistaken.

Q&A on Depression from Death of a Loved One

Question: Can you just specifically elaborate on depression caused by death of loved one? And also we frequently hear people asking for prayer, dua for extended life and all that when people are sick. Is that Sunnah of the Prophet (peace be upon him)?

Answer: Your first question which was depression as a result of death happening to somebody close to you— your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, your child. Sadness is natural. Depression is not allowed. When people go into that depressed state, they start wailing, screaming, tearing their clothes. All these things were forbidden by the Prophet (peace be upon him). Not allowed. But sadness, that is natural. It's natural to be sad of having lost someone who is close to you. So that's the limit. Where you go beyond the limit, the extremes, always you find Islam forbids it. What is moderate, what is natural, Islam supports. But when we go to one extreme or the other, Islam draws the line, says no.

Your other question was dua for extended life. It's permissible to seek it, but it's better to seek an extended life in righteousness. Because an extended life in sin and corruption is just more problems for you. Better you die early. So if you make the dua, you make dua, "May Allah extend your life in righteousness." Yeah, he had duas for people who are sick, asking Allah to cure them, to heal them, all this. We don't just say, "Oh, it's Allah's qadr, we don't make dua for them because that's what Allah wants." We make dua for them. We ask Allah to lift it from them.

Q&A on Satisfaction with Qadr

Question: If one is not satisfied with things, then will they not be satisfied with Allah's qadr as well?

Answer: I can't say. It may vary from person to person. They're not being satisfied with what we call normal things. It could be natural dissatisfaction, things didn't go our way, whatever. But that doesn't mean automatically that you are not satisfied with Allah's qadr. Unless you express it that way, it comes out that way, you say it.

Q&A on Pretending to Be Patient vs. Dealing with Emotions

Question: It was mentioned earlier that whoever pretends to be patient, Allah will give you patience. I wanted to ask, I feel in my life experience, I'm always being told to deal with my emotions and to not ignore them. So between pretending to be patient and kind of—my question would be where do you draw the line between pretending to be patient but also ignoring your emotions?

Answer: Well, it depends on what you mean by ignoring your emotions. Now there was a time back when we were told that it's better to let it all out. When you're angry, it's better for you to just scream, bang the desk or whatever, just let it out. Because to keep it inside, it's like it's affecting you emotionally, mentally, psychologically, you're not letting it out because it wants to come out and you're keeping it inside. So that's for a long time, that was the thinking. "Let it out. Let it all hang out."

Then researchers on the brain found that when people scream, you see all the veins in their neck, they're screaming so mad—actually little capillaries in your brain burst. It's not good. Don't let it out. Keep it inside, better. So with your emotions, negative emotions, it's better that you seek to overcome them by controlling them rather than just letting them out in general.

Q&A on Family as Source of Depression

Question: What is the best way to deal with depression when it comes to the source of depression itself is from your family members? We are trying to become positive in our everyday life but suddenly your family members is actually become the source of your depression. So it's quite stressful and I just want to know if there is a way for us to control ourselves because something that happens every day is not something that you can face every day so positively.

Answer: So basically your question is, if the source of depression is from family members who you live among, meaning you can't get away from it, they're going to be coming at you everyday, what do you do? Are you justified in packing your bags? Well, if that's the only way to deal with it, yeah. Go live with another relative, whatever. Because if what they're doing is something which you have tried to deal with, tried to get them to understand and to find a middle ground and to remove the negativity and that if you've tried and it's not working, then what do you do? If you have the option of staying with another family member, getting out of that situation, then it's better. This is like hijra, some mini hijra from a place where Islamically it's not comfortable for you, it's going to be affecting your deen and everything. So you go to a place where you can practice your deen comfortably, without the stress, without the problems.

Q&A on Suicide Case

Question: There was an incident in the UK, a very strong brother who was a young man, like he was really depressed and he came in front of a train and killed himself. Well, all of the town really thought it's the depression that killed him. So in that scenario, killing himself, what would you say?

Answer: Well, we're judging from the outside. We don't know what was actually going on. You've got a general description. We would say the illness killed him. But you know, internally he had some things that people around him didn't see, were not aware of. Of course, normally the Prophet (peace be upon him) had said whoever kills himself or herself will find themselves in the hellfire, repeatedly doing it over again. So it's a major sin. And you're not even supposed to make salah for them. But where it is from a medical, clinical state which has caused him to do this, and this is just out of his normal behavioral pattern, then we can say that this

was not his choice, but due to mental illness, this took place. Once that's determined, then he's treated as just a Muslim who died, and you pray for him and everything else.

Q&A on Hysteria and Jinn Possession

Question: Over here in Malaysia, we have a classic case of hysteria. So some categorize that as a result of depression. Some of it, they categorize that as some sort of a jinn possessing the person. So how do you categorize that, and is there any cure or any advice that you can give?

Answer: Hysteria, you know, it's a sort of a catchphrase that just grabs and collects everything. Usually when it has to do with women, it's called hysteria. But the man, they say, is just crazy. So, where it is something real in that possession is a reality, it's a possibility which can take place, but the number of cases of possession from my research indicates that the percentage is very small, maybe only 10 or 15%. Most of the other cases tend to be psychological.

And then you have people who play on these psychological weaknesses, saying it is the jinn, basically everybody who is brought to them with any problem, it's the jinn. And then they have special medicines that they've prepared—water, holy water. We don't have any holy water, but all of a sudden these guys have holy water. And the prices vary depending on who read over the water. If it was Sheikh Sudeis, it's gonna cost you serious money. If it was only Sheikh so-and-so in the masjid, it's less. It became business.

And challenging that business can be a big challenge in itself, where people speak out against it, against these practices, because it's so widespread today. But the main thing is just to try to educate people to deal with these situations according to what is there in the Quran and Sunnah. We have all those steps and things that I mentioned. This is the proper way to deal with it. And if you have issues that you think may actually be an issue of the jinn, then you take them to somebody who is firm on the Quran and Sunnah, who has not taken it as a trick, trickery, which they use to fool people and take their money for nothing.

Q&A on Depression in Affluent Societies

Question: I just want to know from what you have actually done in your research work regarding depression, why is it that depression is so common with people living in affluent life than those in abject poverty? Because I understand that even people in abject poverty does not have this thing in mind, which is called depression. So what is actually the reason behind this?

Answer: Why depression seems to be more dominant in the affluent societies, Western societies especially, or even the affluent in the poor underdeveloped—that these kinds of things tend to happen more amongst them? Because wealth and affluence breeds forgetfulness of Allah.

So these people tend to be, because they have what people strive for in life, they've got it, they own it, they possess it. And so they lose touch with God. And when they lose touch with God, then they become susceptible to these matters.

Whereas people who are poorer, they are more conscious of God in their poverty. Because they can see the good, they can see what Allah has given them. They don't tend to forget God. They'll have difficulties. They're going to turn to God. Their life is not made easy for them. So this I think is a big factor which leads to that. And they're able to find happiness in the simplest of things. Where in the affluent societies they go to extremes to find happiness. To the point where they're tying rubber bands around their feet and jumping off mountains.

What kind of happiness is this? The people in the third world, in the poor world, this is madness. That's crazy. Who would want to do that? But it's a whole—so they are going to extremes to try to find a thrill.

The simple people, they can find that in rain coming, the crops growing well. They can find happiness from the simplest of things.

And I remember, this reminds me of a newspaper article I remember seeing years back. It was during the Civil War in Somalia. And the picture—in the picture there was two Americans, they were taking off their boots and there was a little masjid behind them. And the newspaper correspondent was asking them, why would you accept Islam in the middle of this Civil War in Somalia? So they said, you know, these people, in spite of the poverty and the war, they smile. They can still find happiness here. They can still smile.

You know, they remembered, one from New York, going to the train, all you have to do is get in the subway, the train, you're going to work. And you look around and the faces of the people, everybody is like it's like going to work is just so painful. There's just suffering. If anybody smiles at you, you say, what does he want? He wants to take my purse. There's no sense of friendliness and openness and happiness, real happiness in that sense. It's artificial. So they could appreciate that, that in spite—that's what touched them, the two of them, that in spite of what was going on, Civil War, people dying left and right, these people were still able to smile, to be cheerful, to share with them what little they had, and so on and so forth.

Same thing, I heard that also from some of the soldiers that accepted Islam after the Gulf War. They mentioned how—this is the first Gulf War in 91—they said that they would be on the desert in maneuvers close to the border with Kuwait, and they're loaded with all of their stuff, and they would be doing the maneuvers on the sand, going up here, there, and they would come across a Bedouin. Bedouin would be sitting there, he's got his tent, he's got his camel tied up, he's brewing some tea, and he'll call them over. They would look, what does he want? Check, double check, make sure their guns are—they would come. He couldn't speak a word of English. Of course, they don't know any Arabic. But they understood the sign. They'll come, they'll sit down, he'll cook some tea up for them, give them tea. And they would drink the tea and smile, they would smile and they would leave.

Yeah, it's just how? How could they be so trusting? This is war time. War is going on there in Iraq at the time. This is war. They're so trusting. Could offer. Obviously, he doesn't have very much. He's just got a tent and a camel and giving tea. In America, people don't share. If you're eating and somebody comes to your house, you close the living room and they stay on the other side. You finish your food, then you go sit with them. The idea

of sharing is not very much there. You don't share with others. But whereas in the third world, people share whatever little they have, they share with others, gladly, happily.

So that happiness, that state of well-being remains among the people who are living simple lives, very basic lives, that is lost from those whose lives become complicated. You're not living in a little house. There's another person, your neighbor and so on. So now you're in an apartment building, and you're just in a little apartment, which you don't know the people beside you on the right, on the left. You might see them in the elevator when you're going down. You don't even communicate with them.

So somebody—I read of how many cases people will die in their apartment. Nobody will know until the stink comes out from under the door. Finally they say, what's that? Call the 911 and they break down the door. The man's dead. He's been dead for two weeks. Nobody knew. That's a whole nother life, a life that doesn't breed real happiness among people. So this is the consequence.

Q&A on Islamic Psychology Education

Question: The other issue is how do you as an Islamic scholar or your other colleagues, Islamic scholars, do you help to manage this issue in the world because it is becoming very serious now. Don't you think it's also good for you to introduce it as a field of study, like depression, psychology depression, so that these psychologists will be able to help the other people there know exactly what they should do in terms of managing their depression. As Chancellor of the Islamic Online University, I want to suggest that you think about it and see how best we can introduce a whole study of depression in your course outline.

Answer: Our course in psychology, our course in psychology actually, Islamic psychology, does address all of these issues from an Islamic perspective. And alhamdulillah, we have signed an MOU with Rifa University in Pakistan, which is one of the top ten universities, and whose leadership is Islamically oriented. But the psychology which they were teaching was Western psychology. So they recognized the need and inshallah, we'll be setting up with them the first center of Islamic psychology in the world, in Pakistan, Lahore, inshallah. To spread that, we're going to offer a master's there, as well as a PhD, to spread that understanding. Our bachelor's is already Islamized. Theirs will switch over, inshallah.

Q&A on Muslims with Depression Despite Knowledge

Question: I know people who, alhamdulillah, are practicing Muslims. They are also fairly knowledgeable Muslims, but are unfortunately dealing with some form of depression, which they find difficulty in getting out of. So they do the dua they're supposed to do, they do the ABC that they're told to do, and they still feel some form of depression. And when they turn to other Muslims for advice, maybe some will give them the idea that, oh, you know, if you have true iman, you shouldn't be feeling this way. Which makes them, of course, even more depressed, because now, adding to the whatever worldly reason for their depression, they question their own faith as maybe being questionable, therefore leading them to be in this constant spiral of depression. What would your suggestion or advice be to people like that?

Answer: Well, I would advise them to seek medical help from people who are trained in psychology, counseling, people who have Islamic inclinations or background. You have the Relationary Organization, which is the IPC, which has an MOU here with Al-Khadim, and they also have one with IOU, Islamic Online University also, that they have trained people there who can help people work out these issues. And there's no harm in going to seek medical help, professional help, where whatever you've tried on your own, you have not found success, then it's better to go to somebody who is trained in the field, inshallah, especially somebody who has also Islamic background to ensure that they don't send you on another trip, inshallah.

Q&A on Depression in the Time of the Prophet

Question: During the Prophet's time, is there any companion who is facing this depression, and how they deal with it, how Prophet helped them to deal with it?

Answer: Well, depression as we know it, where people are going to kill themselves, things like this, I don't really know of any particular case. But depression in the sense of sadness, and a sense of loss, we know the story of Hanzalah, who went out into the streets and started shouting or saying aloud that, you know, "I've become a munafiq."

He went out into the street, walking in the street, in a sort of a dazed state, repeating, saying, "Hanzalah has become a hypocrite, munafiq." And then, he ran into Abu Bakr, so Abu Bakr asked him what's wrong, and then he explained to him that when he was with Rasulullah, he felt his iman high, strong, he could see Jannah and the Hellfire, as if the Prophet was in Jannah. And the Prophet (peace be upon him), in his descriptions, he felt like it was real. But when he went home to his family, the family got him busy with all this and that, and the children, and so on, then he forgot. He felt his iman had dropped. So he felt that he was like a munafiq.

And Abu Bakr said, "I feel the same thing." So he joined him walking down the street saying, "Abu Bakr has become a munafiq." He joined him, brought him into the same thing.

So when they went to Rasulullah (peace be upon him), and they explained to him what they had experienced, he said that if you are the same in your homes as you were with me, the angels would shake your hands in your beds. The angels would greet you with their hands shakes while you're in your own bed. But this life, there has to be time for the deen, there has to be also time for the dunya, for the family. So it is not an unnatural state to be in. It is natural that you're going to be stronger when you're in the presence of Rasulullah (peace be upon him), and be weaker when you're there with your family. So he clarified, in other words, where people felt that way, he would ask questions, get background information from them, and then advise them how to look at their situation correctly.

Closing

Jazakumullah Khairun for the questions. I believe we have run out of time. Thank you Sheikh, Doctor, for

attending to our questions. We hope everyone would benefit from today's lecture. Inshallah, please do share the insights with your friends, especially for those who you think may seem to be dealing with this issue. And once again, on behalf of Al-Khadim, we would like to thank Dr. Phillips for speaking here today.

Thank you everyone for coming.

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ