Islamic Reminder on Anxiety and Trust in Allah | Friday Khutbah by Abdulrahman Chao

The Prophet's Anxiety at Badr

When the Prophet ﷺ was standing on the battlefield, looking out at the first battle that the Muslims would engage in, at the battle of Badr. The Prophet ﷺ saw that there were 1000 people gathered from the enemies, from Ahl Makkah. And the Muslims only had 319, and only one horse.

They were not equipped for a full battle. They were actually originally intending to catch and capture the caravan of the Quraysh that was coming back from the Levant. And when the Prophet ﷺ saw the huge difference, the numerical advantage, he was so distressed that he immediately faced the Qibla.

He raised his hands, and he started making dua to Allah, asking Him for help. And he ﷺ said:

"Oh Allah, bring about, fulfill what you have promised me, bring about, give me what you have promised for me." In other words, Allah had promised Muhammad ﷺ victory and help.

Muhammad ﷺ was beseeching Allah with such fervor that his cloak that he was wearing fell off from his shoulders. And then the Prophet ﷺ said, "Oh Allah, if this group of Muslims are to be killed, you will not be worshipped on this planet." Abu Bakr, who was emotionally intelligent, saw that the cloak of the Prophet ﷺ had fallen off his shoulders.

He came from behind him and put the cloak back on the shoulders of the Prophet ﷺ and he hugged the Prophet ﷺ. And he said, "Oh Prophet of Allah, your dua will surely be answered by your Lord and He will bring about what He has promised you."

Anxiety is Normal for Human Beings

Brothers and sisters, we see here a snapshot of the Prophet's ﷺ stress and the anxiety that he experienced when he saw what could happen to his army and to his sahaba.

And having anxiety is something that is normal and expected for a human being. Every human being on earth experiences some sort of anxiety, some sort of sadness, some sort of fear and discomfort. And Allah told us:

"We will surely test you with something from fear and hunger and so on and so forth."

Anxiety is something that could be involving something that you are afraid of from the past and you're afraid of what could come to light or it could be something that you are unaware of what could happen in the future. Whether it is a bar exam that you're taking, whether it is a final exam that you're trying to pass, maybe it is lab results from the doctor, maybe it's a parent's anxiety for their child or vice versa, a child's anxiety or worry for their parents.

Whatever it is, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that anyone who claims that a true Muslim does not have anxiety is speaking from ignorance. There is no such thing as saying, the strong believer is never anxious. No. Even the prophets and the messengers and the righteous people, they had their moments of anxiety and stress and fear.

But the difference between them and us is not in whether they experience anxiety, it's their response. It's how they responded to difficult times and how they faced anxiety.

Examples from the Prophets

The Mother of Musa

We look at the mother of Musa. She was filled with anxiety. She didn't know what to do. And Allah inspired her to put Prophet Musa into the basket and into the river.

The Mother of Isa

You look at the mother of Isa. What did she say? She had some strong words:

She said, "If only I had died before this moment." She was in such pain before giving birth that she said these words. And she said, "If only I had died before this moment and that I would have been totally forgotten by the people."

Prophet Musa's Anxiety

You look at Musa. After Allah told him, go to Fir'aun. Go, you and your brother to Fir'aun. What did he say?

Musa said that, "I feel this tightness in my chest. And my tongue, I'm not as eloquent." So he was clearly fearful of public speaking. And he was also afraid of what Fir'aun would do to him.

In fact, Musa says that he was afraid that they will come after him for the mistake that he had did. In other words, when he had accidentally killed someone previously:

And what does Allah say to Musa in his time of anxiety? When his chest feels tight. What does he say? What does Allah say? He doesn't say to him, "Well, if you had believed in me, you would not talk like this way. If you were a prophet and a messenger, you would have no fear." No, Allah assures Prophet Musa:

"I am with both of you, Musa and Harun. I see and I hear."

Allah's Comfort to the Prophet

The Prophet ﷺ himself experienced times of great anxiety and discomfort. What does Allah say? Allah in this verse is acknowledging, Allah is giving comfort to the Prophet ﷺ because of the evil things that the people of Mecca used to say to Muhammad ﷺ - ساحر كذاب - they used to call him a sorcerer, a liar, a magician even though they used to say he is الصادق الأمين - the trustworthy and the honest.

180 degrees from being the honest and the trustworthy, now liar and sorcerer, madman, possessed by the demon. So what does Allah say?

"We surely know that your chest feels tight from what they say about you." So the Prophet ﷺ experienced fear and he underwent those times of stress.

Islamic Solutions for Anxiety

But what has Islam given to us to deal with anxiety, to deal with stress? And I want to pause here to say, we as Muslims, we acknowledge, we first and foremost acknowledge that the greatest source of shifa, of healing is from the Quran. And so it is absolutely important for a Muslim to seek help in these difficult times by reading the Quran.

And at the same time, it is absolutely important for a Muslim to not be in denial of the importance of seeking medical and professional help if you are experiencing severe anxiety or PTSD, etc. There is no such thing as either or. No, it is both. Allah gave us knowledge of this so that we can benefit from both.

So today I'm not going to talk about the medical aspect because that's not my area of expertise. I'm going to talk about the spiritual aspect of what Allah has given to us on how to deal with anxiety.

Three Spiritual Solutions

So how does Allah command Muhammad ﷺ to deal with times of anxiety and difficulty and stress? In that verse right after that. What does he say?

First and foremost, give glory to Allah. And you might wonder, what does giving glory to Allah have to do with my anxiety? It has everything to do with it. Because when you have that correct mindset knowing that Allah is in charge, that nothing bad shall befall upon me unless it is written. And if it happens, then it is a test. And if it doesn't happen, alhamdulillah in all circumstances.

So all of this anxiety about what could happen, what could happen, will I pass, will I not pass? If you put in the effort, you rely on Allah. As long as you put in the effort. So whatever is written for you will come. It is how you respond to it. So that's the first thing to do to glorify Allah.

And then what does Allah say next?

And be from among those who make sajda. In other words, who pray. The Prophet ﷺ was described as whenever he experienced something difficult that bothered him, the Prophet ﷺ would immediately go to salah.

Something that bothers us. A lot of us we say, "Oh, I guess I have to call my therapist now." It's good, call your therapist. Absolutely. But don't forget the spiritual therapy that is prescribed for us and that is salah.

And then what does Allah give us the third solution, spiritual solution:

Worship Allah until you reach the state of certainty. In other words, until you die. What does that mean? It means when you are at a time when you don't know, you need to stay the course and continue to do what you know.

A lot of times when people go through times of difficulty and anxiety, they're like, "Oh, I'm not in a mood to do salah. I don't want to do any of these things. I'm too stressed out to think about salah." No, continue the course.

And it's sad because I want to give you an example. Sometimes people, they have a doubt, they have a question, they have some trauma that they experienced. And what do they say? "Well, I don't know if Islam is true anymore because of this and this thing." Really? Because one aspect you are not sure about, you could have sought help and ask scholars to understand that one aspect. So you're just going to throw Islam out? Because you're under stress and anxiety?

That's like the equivalent of saying, "I don't understand calculus. Therefore all math is false." You don't throw all math out because you don't understand one aspect of it. But how is it that under stress people allow this? They don't understand something about Islam? They're like, "Oh, I don't know if I should believe in Islam anymore."

Powerful Duas for Anxiety

Brothers and sisters, I want to end off with the most powerful solution that the Prophet ﷺ gave us. And that is in two things. He gave us the dua to say when we are anxious:

"Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from things that cause me anxiety, things that distress me, things that make me sad and give me despair." A lot of times we ask Allah for wealth, for health, and we forget to ask Allah for our spiritual health. All that money doesn't do you anything if your psychological state is not stable. That's the first one.

The Dua of Prophet Yunus

The second dua that the Prophet ﷺ has told us is in this beautiful story I want to share with you. Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, during the khilafah of Umar ibn al-Khattab, he went into the masjid, and he saw Uthman ibn Affan sitting there. And he said, "As-salamu alaykum." Uthman ibn Affan didn't respond. Even though Uthman saw Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, it didn't register.

So Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas was so disturbed by this, that he later on, he went to Umar, not to snitch, but to find out what's going on with Uthman ibn Affan. So he goes to Umar ibn Khattab, and he says, "Ya Umar, ya Amir al-Mu'mineen, has something changed in Islam?"

He says, "No, why?" He says, "Well I went to the masjid, I saw Uthman, we looked at each other, I said salam, and he was completely not there, he didn't acknowledge me, he didn't say wa alaykum as-salam."

Umar said, "That's not like Uthman," brings Uthman over. And they started talking. "Yeah, I said salam to you, you didn't say salam to me back, I don't know what's going on." Uthman says, "No, I don't remember seeing you or you saying salam to me."

And it got to the point that they were both swearing by Allah that "I said salam to you," "No, you didn't." Then finally Uthman realized, then he started saying, "Astaghfir Allah, astaghfir Allah, astaghfir Allah." He says, "Actually you know what, you are right, I do now remember. But at that moment, when you came and said salam to me, I was in such a deep thought about a dua of the Prophet ﷺ that he taught, that it completely overtakes my sight and my senses, everything."

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas says, "Shall I not tell you what that dua is?" And he said, so now Sa'd is recounting an event during the time of the Prophet ﷺ. He goes, "One day I was with the Prophet ﷺ and we're sitting in a gathering. And the Prophet ﷺ said, 'Shall I not tell you of a dua, that if you were to say it, all of your duas will be answered.'"

So Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas is saying, "I was eager to find out what this dua is. He said, and then suddenly a Bedouin Arab came into the masjid, and started talking to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ became distracted, and he forgot. And so he left the masjid, and he started walking back home."

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas says, "I wanted to know what the dua was. So I followed the Prophet ﷺ, and I noticed that he was walking back home, and I didn't want him to go into his home before telling me what this special dua is. So out of respect for the Prophet ﷺ, he didn't say, 'Ya Rasulullah, Ya Muhammad.' He made some sound with his feet, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, he made some sound with his feet."

"And then the Prophet ﷺ heard him, and turned around, and he said, 'Who is it? Abu Ishaq?' And he said, 'Yes, it's me, Sa'd.' That was his nickname, Abu Ishaq. He said, 'Ya Rasulullah, you said you were gonna tell us this dua, that if we say this dua, Allah will answer it.'"

"And the Prophet ﷺ said, 'Yes, any Muslim that says this dua, their dua will be answered. He says, it is the dua of Prophet Yunus. Of Prophet Jonah. When Prophet Jonah was in the belly of the whale, in the darkness of the stomach of the whale, in the ocean at night, what did he say? He said:

"There is no God worthy of worship except You. Glory be to You. I am from the wrongdoers."

The Prophet ﷺ says, "Any Muslim that says this dua, their dua is answered." Now you might say, "Well, this is not a dua, this is like a dhikr." That's exactly what it is. It is a dhikr, it is a remembrance that suffices as a dua. Why? Because you're number one affirming that Allah is to be worshipped. You're saying, glory be to Allah. And you are saying, I am wrong.

You might say, "Well, where is the dua?" It's because sometimes when you're in such high stress and anxiety, you don't even know what to say. So just by saying this, it is enough. Allah knows what difficulty you're experiencing. Just saying this, Allah will answer your dua.