Dealing with Difficulty #17 Fear & Anxiety

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

and unto him is our return.

and unto him is our return.