Rania Awaad – How to Cope with Day-to-Day Stress – Embracing Faith Holistically Q&A
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of finding faith and wisdom in one's own experiences and finding value in their own success. They stress the need for community involvement and proper teaching practices to prevent harm and prevent future harm. The moderator announces upcoming events and encourages attendees to attend. The speakers also emphasize the importance of protecting from harm and learning to prevent future harm before it happens.
AI: Summary ©
Takbir, Takbir, Takbir, Alhamdulillah we have some time
for the speakers and so we definitely can
take some questions the next session will start
at 615 but before that we get questions
you can there's a mic right here and
there's one over here and I'll definitely start
with a question to Dr. Rania Awad because
I've been asked before in different circles and
Dr. Rania you've been in psychiatry so I
hate to put you on the spot is
with today's landscapes and even parenting is a
stress that's the latest thing I've heard and
so how do you give some tips of
people who are young parents with teenagers and
whatnot and this topic what both of you
that all three presented holistically thinking but in
today's landscape people cannot think beyond the immediate
situation that they have so they are really
going through tough situations in today because the
latest thing I heard is parenting is a
stress so somebody asked me and I'm not
qualified to answer the question I'll start with
the question and but anybody from the audience
if you have questions you can come up
here the mic here on my right and
the mic on the left for this question
and you're right so there's a question that
comes up again and again for all of
us subhanallah and first before I begin I
just want to thank Sheikh Abdullah and Sheikh
Faraz and I guess the best way to
answer this is please come to our 930
p.m. session where I'm talking exactly on
this topic mashallah in reality the concept of
coping in a time where it's we're just
completely torn apart how is it that you
actually keep on going and moving forward I
had a friend say to me the other
day I feel so guilty even going out
to eat somewhere or since spending time and
having a coffee with my friends or doing
anything really when we continue to think about
our sisters and brothers in the buzz and
across the umma and it's absolutely right you're
absolutely right what I will say and this
is something I'm planned to present inshallah at
the session tonight is Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
reassures us and reminds us that there is
a time in which for everybody including our
entire Muslim ummah that there will be highs
and there will be lows at times we'll
be successful and a time and victorious and
at times will be the opposite of that
and it is up to us to remember
and to not lose hope in the qadr
of Allah azzawajal and to know that he's
always going to be on the side of
those who believe in him even if at
this very moment it seems others have won
over us or as the hadith mentions has
have literally eaten us completely the reality is
though the time will come because Allah has
said so and that is important for us
to hold on to hold on to that
faith and hold on to that rope of
Allah azzawajal and to not let go of
it and like the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam
said at the end of times which many
say this is at that moment holding on
to our deen will be like holding on
to a hot coal holding on to it
is hard because it's blistering your hand and
dropping it is not an option yet it's
hard and so you want to be from
the ghuraba you want to be from those
who are strange from those who are weird
at the end of times who those who
dress like this at a place where you
say what are you doing in the heat
of Texas dress like this or better yet
at Stanford University just like this and the
reality is because Allah said so and it
does not matter what anyone else thinks even
if they try to tear you down and
so I hope inshallah that faith that we're
talking about today that holistic faith continues to
inspire each and every one of us here
to hold on tightly to the rope of
Allah and not let go may Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala free our sisters and brothers in
Ghazan across the ummah and allow for those
in Sudan and those across the ummah subhanAllah
if we began naming all the countries we
wouldn't finish today subhanAllah but there is so
much pain and we pray for them and
then we must do upon our prayers our
dua because it's not simple it's not enough
to simply sit here and make the dua
you must then take the next steps inshallah
ta'ala all
the speakers all the wisdom that was shared
if I understand the question correctly like tips
or advice I'm just managing day-to-day
stress so I think we have to return
to our tradition and our scripture the Quran
and Sunnah in terms of both faith and
wisdom faith and wisdom so in terms of
faith what was mentioned just now in terms
of tawakkul relying on Allah ta'ala alayhissallahu
bikaf an abdah Allah ta'ala has revealed
is Allah ta'ala is Allah not himself
sufficient for his true slave is Allah not
himself sufficient for his true slave for his
true servant so to the extent that we
realize our abudiyya being an abd or ammah
of Allah ta'ala a male or female
slave of the divine then to that extent
will we find his kifaya the sufficient sufficiency
of Allah ta'ala alayhissallahu bikaf an abdah
and so that's at the level of faith
and one of the best ways to do
this also is to review the seerah of
our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and I
would recommend everyone including myself to make at
least once every year maybe two years maybe
three years max to do a khatam of
the entire seerah and find a local teacher
if you can find one there's a lot
of online opportunities a lot of our beautiful
institutions we're gonna have sessions I believe tomorrow
and educational institutions that are arising in North
America and the Muslim landscape and many there's
many avenues to find teachers if one does
not have local teachers to try to study
and studying the seerah allows us to see
that faith lived through all the struggles and
the greatest struggles that anyone has faced the
struggles of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
that gives us consolation with the struggles of
the Ummah that are inundating and bombarding us
at the level of wisdom I would simply
say that you know managing day-to-day
stress we should find fas'alu ahl adh
-dhikr in kuntumna ta'lamun ask experts whatever
field whatever issue it is that we find
ourselves struggling find experts of that and and
you know learn wisdom from them so there's
experts on parenting you know there's really highly
recommended books on parenting today like Leonard Sachs,
Boys Adrift, there's really good educational materials of
the crisis of literacy or illiteracy you know
A is for Ox that's a good book
that's recommended on just getting our kids to
read more to get off these electronic hallucinations
and addictions to social media there's important books
of wisdom on the problem and the crisis
of addictions Gabor Mate this he's written a
lot on addictions and his books are highly
recommended and others so you know consulting people
of whatever issue it is that we're struggling
with and finding wisdom and our Prophet ﷺ
is the ulama site al-hikmah daalatul mu'min
that wisdom is the lost property of the
believer so wherever the believer finds wisdom in
the world it's ours to take and to
put it in its proper place through the
lens of the kitab was sunnah and so
that's my nasihah something that you know we're
all struggling with collectively we can and then
one last thing I'll mention pardon me is
we really need to cultivate community one of
the things that modernity has done with us
is to split us into atomistic atomized lives
so we're always isolated isolated in our homes
isolated in the car isolated in work isolated
in our cubicles these are we're not we're
not connected in a holistic way with fellow
community fellow people and traditional Islamic societies you
could not escape the connection with human beings
family relatives masjid you know the the hunkers
and the and you know there was all
these institutions in the neighborhood where you were
connected with human beings and through through through
being with one another you know it uplifts
the spirit it gives us a different type
of strength that we can't find on our
own just through our own individual efforts so
to really re kindle the institutions of community
building in our lives you've been patient so
I'll ask for a few comments and then
we can have the questions just quickly quickly
very quickly you know the continuation of the
verses that Allah spoke about victory about this
and that and done then he says was
saddening you know I'm not forgetting the rubbicum
agenda although I said I went to a
lot like that can make haste because sometimes
we sin we don't pay attention to it
that our sins delay the victory of Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala can punish people and this
why I personally keep praying to Allah that
he didn't punish other people by our sins
and this why Allah said sorry or make
his don't wait and then Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala says after Jannatul Ardha wa'iddak lil
muttaqim khalaas wa ardees alladheena yunfiqoon fissarraa waddarraa
walkadheemina alqaiz wa al'afeen a'an alnaas
wa allahu yihibbu lil muhsneen wa alladheena idha
fa'alu fahisan au zalamu afudha zakaru Allah
fastaghfaru li dhunub ya Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
said make haste do this don't do this
call for the maghfir of Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala and when you do wrong come back
to Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala because our sins
delay the victory of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
Assalamu alaikum sister, you've been very patient so
go with your questions.
Thank you so much.
First of all assalamu alaikum to all the
speakers and jazakallahu khairan for being here and
sharing your wisdom.
The question that I have is primarily directed
to you Dr. Rania as a physician.
What do you think of the idea of
the orientation of people's thinking of Haram in
terms of just like the Sheikh said don't
do this don't do that but just really
thinking of it from the perspective of this
is about Allah trying to protect us from
harm and so viewing Haram more from a
prescriptive perspective as opposed to prohibitive.
What do you think that could do for
us as an Oma?
Barakallahu ufeiki.
Love the question.
I love the question because as like many
people probably in the room here today, I
too grew up, and don't be upset with
me when I say this, please.
I too grew up going to Sunday school
in which everything was haram.
I love protect us.
And it was not until I studied with
teachers who really taught from a different perspective.
They taught from the perspective of love.
Allah azza wa jal being the all loving,
the all caring, the one who's going to
hold you and nurture you and carry you
through.
And of course, there is also the fear
that must be instilled, the knowing what is
halal and haram.
I'm not here to mince words.
What is haram is haram.
However, the way we teach and earlier the
question touched on parenting.
We must know when to teach at an
emotionally, cognitively and spiritually appropriate level.
And sometimes we take our little kids, and
I'll give you an example.
We'll start with Juz Amma because they're small
surahs.
But you know that in those surahs, some
of the most intense verses are in there.
And when you try to translate it to
the little kids, they're like, what?
They don't understand cognitively yet, because they're still
in the realm of black and white thinking,
there's very little gray.
And so they don't really understand what is
hellfire.
What is shaitan?
What are these things when they're very, very,
very little.
And so it's not age appropriate.
What you said is beautiful.
It's knowing when to teach with hikmah, with
wisdom, the halal and the haram.
And I always say when I'm teaching to
interfaith gatherings, people who are not Muslim, and
I'm teaching often as a physician, I'm often
called on to teach other physicians, other clinicians,
how to work with Muslims.
And one of the statements that I always
say, think of Islam as a preventative religion.
What is considered to be haram in our
faith is literally there to prevent bad things
from happening before they happen.
And in our scientific and medical fields, this
is highly prized.
Preventative medicine is so much better to prevent
the illness rather than treat it.
So here it is the same thing.
Allah puts things and says these are not
allowed to protect you, to prevent you from
harm, because He knows what He created.
He knows this alcohol, these addictive substances, this
way of behavior will harm you.
So therefore it is haram and stay far
away from it.
But the wisdom in which you teach even
what is haram has to be age appropriate.
It has to be sufficient and in tune
to the person you're teaching it to, especially
children.
Otherwise, like the rest of us who went
to Sunday school and everything was haram, we
end up drifting away because that fear isn't
going to carry you the way love carries
you.
And I'll end with this.
A beautiful imagery that one of our scholars
has mentioned, Ibn Qayyim, he gives the example
of a bird.
And in the bird he says, there are
two wings to the bird.
Without the two wings the bird cannot fly.
There is the wing of hope and the
wing of fear.
You must have both wings to soar and
to fly.
And if you lose one of your wings,
you go crashing down.
If you have too much hope without fear,
everything is hallelujah.
And if you have too much fear without
hope, everything is very rigid, very rigid and
haram, haram, haram.
And then he says, and I love this,
the head of the bird is love.
And it is love that will carry you
through and guide the bird to soar.
So we may all be like the birds
that have both hope and fear and love
that carries us through.
BarakAllahu Fiqi.
JazakAllah khair sister Rania.
I think that with that we'll end the
session.
A couple of things.
Islam is a very preventive and proactive religion
rather than a prohibitive and treatment type thing
like we see in today's environment.
And we are atomized by the situation we
have in Cuba because of all the, mashaAllah,
very good thoughts.
The next session is going to begin right
here at 6.15. It's about standing in
solidarity with the victims in Gaza and Palestine.
So definitely come here.
It's going to be, I have a UNS,
Muhammad Qatnani, Miko Pilat, Neha Dawad, and Yasir
Birjaz.
The moderator is going to be Brother Khalid
Hamidi, a local attorney from Dallas.
And Asr prayers is now about to start
at 6 o'clock.
JazakAllah khair for the speakers to cut short,
even though we lost 30 minutes because of
the previous session.
May Allah bless them.
And JazakAllah khair for Islam.
The 61st Annual ISNA Convention.
The American Muslim, Forging Faith and Action.