Mufti Menk – Dealing with Difficulty #17 Fear & Anxiety
AI: Summary ©
The importance of fear and anxiety in the Bible is discussed, along with the need to connect with Allah to overcome fear and prepare for the day. The speaker emphasizes the importance of trusting Allah and living life as best as possible, avoiding worrying about mistakes. The need to continually remind oneself of Allah's presence and potential consequences of not trusting him is emphasized, along with the importance of constantly reminding oneself of Allah's presence and potential consequences of not trusting him.
AI: Summary ©
Dealing with difficulty regarding fear,
anxiety
and sadness.
Remember we are human beings.
Allah Almighty has created us in a certain
way and he knows best
exactly what we will go through.
And for this reason, it's normal to have
a sense of fear to a degree.
To be sad sometimes, to go through what
is known as
anxiety.
Some people have a panic attack. May Allah
Almighty make it easy for all of us.
Today, I want to go through some of
the verses of the Quran and a little
bit of the guidance from the Sunnah of
the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Firstly, remember Allah Almighty says in Surat Al
Baqarah that he will test all of us.
We will indeed test all of you.
With some of, and then he draws up
a list of things.
The first on that list is
meaning fear.
People may be scared.
They may fear something. You might fear loss.
You might fear
attack. You may fear sickness. You may fear
death. You may fear a lot of things.
But Allah Almighty tells you as he
goes through that list
that the winners are a certain category of
people.
We need to know. Allah's created us in
a way that naturally I would be afraid
of certain things. I would have a little
anxiety
to a certain extent. When I say to
a certain extent,
Allah has given us coping mechanisms.
If we were to take them into consideration,
apply them, perhaps
make them a part of our lives, it
would help us tremendously.
And Allah would never put in our lives
tests without showing us how to
pass those tests, how to go through them.
So Allah says, we will test all of
you with some of fear.
Allah Almighty tells us to lay our trust
in him at all times.
Rasulullah
was told,
and he told Abu Bakr as Sadiq
when the 2 of them were in the
cave
as they were migrating from Mecca to Madinah,
and the enemy was looking for them, and
the enemy was right at the opening or
the mouth of that particular cave.
Allah Almighty tells us that Muhammad
told
Abu Bakr as Sadiq
Don't fear
Allah is with us.
This means the 2 of those come together.
Don't fear because Allah is with us. If
you believe Allah is with you and you
believe the help of Allah will always be
with you, it's a coping mechanism.
It's natural to have some fear, but what
would help you cope and overcome it
is your connection with Allah.
That is the primary way of overcoming
this
fear for a believer.
Those who don't believe sometimes it's difficult to
help them or they would require a different
type of assistance.
With us as believers,
there are so many ways of helping and
coping, but primarily,
to be able to overcome this, we need
to ensure,
we constantly remind ourselves, Allah is with me.
Allah is in control. Control. Allah will do
whatever is best for me. Allah will do
whatever is best for whoever is around me.
At times you have parents who fear
a few things.
It's normal and natural to think about death
because
the prophet tells
us
Increase the remembrance of that one thing which
will destroy your desires.
You desire something, something's gonna destroy it. What
is it?
It is death. When you think about death
often,
Allah Almighty clearly tells us that will help
you. It will help you to prepare for
the day you're going to meet with Allah.
But some people become so obsessed with this
thought
that they begin to have panic attacks. They
start struggling and suffering anxiety. What if I
die?
What if my child dies? What if I
lose my husband?
What if this person you need to understand
Allah put you here in a first place.
In the first place, and he actually has
given you such an amazing condition.
Don't
spoil your situation
by overthinking.
The thought of it crosses your mind. It's
human. In fact it's an act of worship
to think of death only
with the idea of helping you to prepare
for it, not with the idea of worrying
about what's gonna happen to others when you
are gone because
Allah took care of you in a miraculous
way. Allah will take care of them in
a miraculous way too. I know of cases
of people who've passed on and their children
have done better than they were doing in
their lives.
Yet they were worried.
So,
yes, it's natural to worry. It's natural to
fear. It's natural to think. Even if we're
thinking of death, our death, our children's death,
someone's death. But remember,
Allah is with
us. Allah will do whatever is best. He
will take care of the situation.
Now there is something called Yaqeen and conviction.
Is also a coping mechanism. It's also something
a believer needs to have. If you have
pure proper faith in Allah, I put my
trust in Allah.
I know Allah will not do something that's
bad for me. So ultimately, what do I
want? What do you want? We want paradise.
Paradise is earned by going through challenges
and earning a reward
for the patience that you bore because of
the challenges Allah put in your lives. So
when you have a sense of fear, it's
a challenge. It's from Allah. Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
It's normal. It's natural. It's human. But beyond
the point, it becomes a little bit abnormal
because now you're obsessed with it. Now it's
hindering the progress of your life. It's spoiling
the relationship between husband and wife. It's spoiling
the relationship between people who are supposed to
be much closer.
We become so possessive over the people or
the things that we have. Some people have
an anxiety that we're going to lose what
Allah has given us. Well, you have to
lay your trust in Allah. You have to
you have to make sure you believe that
Allah is in charge.
Allah will do whatever he knows is best
and whatever he does do, I will consider
it the best.
Many times I think of death and I
think if I were to go, well, I
have hope in the mercy of Allah. I
know I've sinned, but I know I've sought
forgiveness as well. And I know that's what
Allah wants us to do. We sin, we
seek forgiveness.
And it's not like we sin out of
defiance of our Lord, but rather out of
human weakness.
So sometimes we think, you know, will we
be prepared for the day of meeting with
Allah Well,
I've tried my best. I'm going to keep
trying and you know what? I have to
lay my trust in Allah. If that day
comes, I will have hope in Allah enough
to make me
look forward to the hereafter.
And I have an element of fear,
not to the degree where I can't worship
Allah anymore, but to the degree where
I know that it's the mercy of Allah
I'm hoping for, and therefore I'm not going
to mess up to the best of my
ability.
Some people
have a sense of fear whereby when they
worship Allah, they think is it accepted, is
it not accepted.
That's not up to you. You do your
best given your ability, given by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, and after that leave it in
the hands of Allah. So stop overthinking the
issue of fear. Don't be so scared to
the degree
that things slow down and stop. You can't
make wudu because you're wondering, is it accepted?
Is it not? A lot of the times
that's from Shaitan.
He sees us struggling in our faith.
So therefore,
he wants to keep us in that struggle.
Allah says, break loose.
Trust Allah. You did your best. You worshiped
Allah. He will accept it. Some people in
cleanliness, they have an issue where they fear,
is this going to be accepted? Is it
accepted or not? Do your best as a
human. And don't worry if there are certain
mistakes or blunders. There is a leeway.
There is a leeway for
blunder. There is a scope for mistake as
a human being. Allah will excuse you and
forgive you. He won't even hold it against
you. You do your best, proceed, get it
done, and inshallah everything will be well. You
look for your job inshallah
and you keep it and don't worry. You
have a husband or a wife. Don't worry.
Allah will grant you the best. You do
your best and live your days and thank
Allah. Praise him and always remember to cross
a bridge when you get to it. That
doesn't mean don't prepare for a rainy day.
Prepare as best as you can. Do the
best given your ability or capacity.
The rest of it. Remember,
there is only a limited capacity you have,
but Allah's capacity is unlimited. He will take
care of you and everything. He will ensure
that only goodness comes in your direction. I
hope these few words would help you to
cope with the difficulty
that we actually face in all of this.
Allah says good news to those who bear
patience,
those whom they always remind themselves, we belong
to Allah
and unto him is our return.