Nouman Ali Khan – Can I Go to Therapy Even if I’m Muslim Q&A

			So most Muslims have this thought that, you know, probably they are going to jahannam. And most
likely, they're not going to be forgiven. And probably they are a hypocrite, or probably their job
is not good enough, or probably their stepfather is not good enough and all this, or my, their Salah
won't be accepted or they're gonna do I won't be accepted or their intentions aren't pure enough.
And there's a constant like, negative, negative, negative, negative negative.
		

			To me, the way you look at the world affects how you feel, the way you think about your life affects
you, it affects your emotions, right? So the spiritual core that Muslims have, does, in fact, impact
us. But the problem I will tell you with Islam, as we, as most Muslims, think of Islam, and mental
health, the problem that I see is most of us have a very skewed picture of what Islam actually says
about most things. So we have a very guilt based understanding of our religion. So most Muslims have
this thought that, you know, probably they are going to jahannam. And most likely, they're not going
to be forgiven. And probably they are a hypocrite, or probably their job is not good enough, or
		

			probably their stepfather is not good enough. And all of this like all my there's Salah won't be
accepted, or they're gonna do I won't be accepted or their intentions aren't pure enough. And
there's a constant like, negative, negative, negative, negative, negative. And then when you have
too much negativity to every action, there's equal but opposite reaction, then you have an
exhaustive positivity, overwhelming positivity, don't worry about it, Allah will forgive everything,
which you get, you get these two, and both of these are really bad, spiritually, and they're really
bad psychologically. Because if you if Allah will forgive everything, you don't see any consequences
		

			to your actions. And the other thing that happens with us is like, because the Quran uses words to
define people, like believer, disbeliever and hypocrite, right? So then we think that Well, I need
to fit in. One of which 1am I am I this, this or this. Those are spiritual dice designations and
Allah knows best. But that doesn't define you on a day to day but you can't diagnose yourself and
say I'm an African, I'm officially. You can't you can't do that. Okay, though, what Allah was
talking about them when I feel clean, he was talking about a certain group of people. But like I was
saying before, you shouldn't be designating yourself so record recklessly as munafo, if you're
		

			struggling with something, you know, a lady came up to me today, she says she struggles with wearing
hijab sometimes, because funnily enough, she has no problem wearing hijab outside in Germany. But
when she goes to her own Muslim family, she struggles with wearing hijab, because they're gonna make
fun of her,
		

			you know? Or she's gonna feel awkward because nobody does it, they're within their own within the
family. It's more criticism, right? Does that make me I'm gonna offend? No, I don't believe it makes
you a hypocrite, or just makes you someone who's has a lot of fear of family members.
		

			And you're really afraid of their judgment, and their opinions and their comments. And the way they
see you a lot of that has a very heavy bearing on you, maybe you need to shed some of that burden,
		

			and cleanse that burden off of you, that might take a little while. But then you'll feel more free.
It's not even just about wearing hijab, you're just you're living in a prison. Because other people
are burdening you and Allah does remove some of those burdens from us, doesn't it but the therapy
without any spiritual component can also be really problematic. It can be because, you know,
there'll be says you just need to, you know, your culture. There's a lot of, you know, authority in
your culture, and you have to be your own person. And then you go home and your mom says, Hey, can
you help with the dishes? No, actually, I have to be my own person. And you're trying to organize a
		

			command. So the some of this stuff that's, that's being talked about, in the name of mental health
is also extreme, and it's against our values. And I think it's problematic. So a good therapist will
actually be mindful of the, the Islamic perspective when the when they engage in therapy, and I
think every community should have a number of well qualified Muslim therapists. And if you if you
don't see them in this community, you should be investing in them and pushing some of these
brilliant young men and women to pursue those degrees. I highly recommend the Cambridge Muslim
college or is it Cambridge Islamic college I always mess those up.
		

			Cambridge Islamic college with Professor Abdullah Rothman
		

			the Islamic Psychology program, it's a really good program. Inshallah, if you guys can, Reno some of
you can afford to do that and go there. I
		

			Think it'll be a benefit to the community.
		

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