Webinar
Omar Suleiman – Weathering the Storm – Muslim Mental Health Awareness
AI: Summary ©
The speakers emphasize the importance of community resiliency and mental health awareness in reaching out to individuals. embracing uncertainty and progress in life is crucial for achieving healthy outcomes, and a holistic approach is necessary. The importance of hardship and a strong relationship with the Lord is emphasized, along with bringing together people to achieve success and sharing experiences to improve. embracing uncertainty and progress in life is crucial for resilience and achieving success in a business, and a holistic approach is necessary to achieve healthy outcomes.
AI: Summary ©
Santa Monica whatsoever to catch everyone I was gonna say welcome back to around 30 for 30 then realize that 100 and now we're we're we're we've moved on button Charlotte's on that moved on from the end but very happy to be with you all again hamdulillah handle all sorts of summer so our audio sibm unwinder so as you can see from the libre, I mean, we have a wonderful panel tonight that is with us and handed out but I mean, we have Dr. Huston on one vector if not emerging, who of course, were part of the on 3430 as well as Dr. Vanya I want and Dr. fata Istomin hamdulillah and joined by 100 out for the very first time only on your Kane's platform, you know for the very first time for
their hams out the left handed a lot I mean who's a dear dear dear friend that 100 dear brother,
someone I've had the pleasure now knowing actually was looking back on when you first came down, it's been 10 years of 100 loss I can say I've known you for a decade at home that a lot of what I mean, but but very happy to have you as well inshallah tada with us tonight. So welcome to everyone that is here tonight. 100 enough.
This is where you're all supposed to say Happy to be here and you know, that kind of stuff
is like my locker. So, I think you know, this is obviously a very serious topic. So let me get the the housekeeping notes out of the way inshallah from the very beginning, inshallah tada next week, we start the first I'm sorry that we weren't able to start this week. So it will be starting with Hamza will be alongside I know, on Tuesday night and sha Allah. And we will continue with the Monday night reminder and things of that sort, I want to remind you all to look into the trauma series and the history of Muslim mental health by Dr. banya and Charlottetown and some of the other resources that we have on mental health. Many papers that have been authored about particularly how we
maintain our mental health and spiritual and emotional health in the midst of a pandemic. So I don't I don't want you to miss all of those resources and think this is our first panel on it before I start. So please go to the website, check it out and show what's out of the team. We'll also post it in the comments inshallah specific links that you can go to papers, articles, videos series, so much that has been done on this subject. But as we you know, talk about now the moment that we're in right now, I think all of us can say some kind of love that this is a time that's been very, very trying for our mental health for various reasons. First, you have the pandemic that broke out, and
Subhanallah that caused all sorts of uncertainty in regards to our health in regards to our, you know, careers in regards to our loved ones and families. A lot of us have lost people in the midst of this pandemic. So you had the insecurity that came through all of that, then you had the isolation, especially for those that don't have families around them, and even those that do have families around them. But this was the first time that they'd been in such close proximity for such an extended amount of time. And there were challenges that arose out of that. So family issues, health issues, career issues, right? The Masjid being shut down, and for many people still not being
opened, especially our brothers and sisters in Canada. And then of course, Subhan Allah, we went through two normal donsol right one Ramadan where we were fully shut down, another Ramadan were partially shut down. And now we're trying to get back to normal, whatever that means. And in the midst of that, of course, there are certain things that have always been normal, unfortunately, in our lifetimes, but have really risen to our attention in, in this particular period, police violence against African Americans in this country, which has, which is not a new problem. It is a historic problem. But of course, we're one year after the murder of George Floyd, still many in justices that
are coming to light murderers before him murders after him over 1000 people since George Floyd. And police violence is still a, you know, a truly, you know, terrifying reality for many people in this country and one that has yet to have any recourse and so the stress that comes from that from seeing a new hashtag on a daily basis, and of course, in the end of Ramadan, that violence that was taking place and has been taking place in Philistine and Palestine, around Muslim oxa you know, the 27th night of Ramadan, people being attacked, worshippers being attacked in the first Qibla. In most of the Luxor, the evictions and shujaa, the bombing of Gaza. And of course, what continues to be an
unremitting justice. There is many brothers and sisters will mention and you might have a connection to Ivana Stan, and seeing the terrible unfolding tragedies there the continued murders that take place in Afghanistan and the uncertainty that takes place in Afghanistan are oiler brothers and sisters are Syrian brothers and sisters. Right?
We're going on a decade of the genocide that takes place that has taken place there. So it's its connection to international causes to domestic causes so much that is taking place. And then, of course, the day to day stressors that come. So this webinar, and I was sharing with the brothers and sisters before we got started to kind of love that. Sometimes it's a relief truly to the heart just to be with each other. And I know that's true for me just to you know, be with everyone handed in what I mean here is a relief to the heart. And I pray that Allah subhanaw taala always allows us to be a source of relief and clarity for one another. And I pray that the loss of pants on allows us
to, to gain firmness through our connection to each other and connecting to him ultimately, but you know, we have all of these discussions that are taking place about what resiliency looks like, what is the solution for Muslims in this mental health crisis that, of course, contains so many subtopics how do we as a community deal with all of these unfolding tragedies? And how do we as individuals cope and I think it's important for us to separate between the two that there's community resiliency, and there's individual resiliency. And obviously, you know, I do want to mention this, we had the suicide trend, many people committing suicide, and discussions about what you know, what
it takes to to stop people that have reached that place and to, you know, to cater to people that are struggling with mental health. You know, before it reaches that point, while also recognizing, obviously, you know, the Islamic stance on these things, also trying to have the Islamic spirit in taking care of people before we reach, you know, those extreme points. So, this is a webinar about resiliency and hamdulillah. Each speaker here is uniquely qualified. And I really do say that I'm really looking forward to hearing what each one of them has to say in shot last
night, because they are unique ly through personal and professional and pastoral experience on how to deal with resiliency, when we're in the midst of a mental health crisis. And we are looking at a time now where you know, around 5% of the world's population was thought to suffer from depression before the pandemic. Now we're looking at the past year, where it's about 25%. But religiosity is a part of dealing with you know, dealing with a holistic mental health approach with the 90 Tada and truly digging into our community dynamics while also digging into the brilliance of our religion, and how we can cater to that in the nighttime. So I want to start and show Lazzara with brother
Hamza.
You know, Hamza is a person that you have dedicated your life to mental health awareness, especially in these last few years, and you have specifically spoken to the Muslim community but not just the Muslim community. And you've spoken about this from a professional perspective, you know, with the NFL and your experience with the NFL. And you've also just spoken about this as a whole, right how people need to take this seriously. So can you tell us why mental health is such an important topic to you, personally, and why the community should take it more seriously. dogma calm, Salaam Alaikum. Everyone, I will give you their human issue tennoji mismatch
stuffing on adding another layer here.
Now based off the study where you're simply Omri over the 10 minutes and yes
First off, my name is brother Hamza doula retired NFL player, I left the NFL in 2012 to go for the Hajj pilgrimage, I was able to go with my brother Hussein Angola. And when we returned from Hodge, Hussein went back to the NFL, but I did not. And this started my transition and my introduction to the mental health journey.
Subhan Allah, before we move on, I think it is so very important for us to say these kinds of disclaimers, it is not my intention to trigger you. So if you feel as though you're in a place or a space where you're a little mentally unstable.
Now maybe it's time for you to reach out to a friend reach out to a family member or someone in your support system. And just let them know that hey, you know, I'm watching this, this webinar, and I would really like to have some company as we go, because I want to introduce you to my mental health journey. If you feel as though it's another level above that, if you feel like you are in a crisis mode, it may be it may be of benefit to reach out to a helpline like nnessee had that or or if it's very serious. Then of course the National Suicide Prevention line at one 800 273 talk or 1-800-273-8255
I myself, attempted suicide
and
and now Lila he went Knightley original
I thought
I thought there was nothing for me.
Here I was.
I dedicated myself to football from the age of 12 to 28.
And really to 30 every day that I woke up, I had something set on my GPS, by Yes, I was a Muslim, but every day I did something that I love to do, and all of a sudden it was gone. And what I didn't understand at that time was football was masking what I was really doing with the childhood traumas, the small t traumas, which led to big t traumas, all of these things. I was diagnosed with bipolar one disorder. So I had a very up and down
very up and down mental health. And so Pinilla when I reached out at that time in 2013. When I looked for help from the NFL and NFLPA, there wasn't during 2012, five current or former players died by suicide. And I say die by suicide, because it's so important that we now start to pay attention to the language because no one commits to suicide. And I can only speak for myself, but when I was in that position,
there was nothing committed.
I was scared. I was scared, I was reaching out for help.
I was resigning quit and I was doing a vicar.
I even prayed someone was right before. And I asked him not to save me. I asked a lot to protect me. And I asked that if there's any brother or sister who has been affected by suicide, I asked a lot to heal you. If there's any brothers sister who is experiencing suicidal ideation, ask a lot to heal you and to protect you. If there's anyone who has died by suicide, I asked a lot to forgive them.
Instead of us judging that individual, instead of us shaming or guilting, that individual
or being ashamed to talk about or discuss it as a community, I think it is an opportunity for us to serve. Now, I am not condoning suicide, I am not. I'm not propagating the message of It's okay. Because it's not. Suicide to me is preventable, as long as we catch it in time. But when you when someone is in that stupor, when someone is so severely depressed, you know, they talked about many times, we talked about the storkcraft unit isolation, when he was in the darkness of the night, in the darkness of the sea, in the darkness of the whale. And he called out to a wall, that in the haisla, and saw the Hanukkah in the continental gholami. There is no god but you, Glory be to You.
I've been amongst the wrongdoers. Well, there are many brothers and sisters that may be in the same type of darkness. And just as Prophet, Yunus halation on probably couldn't see right in front of them. That individual may be in a in a room lit up, but they can't see right in front of them. And so they're reaching out. And so can we be as a community, as a family, as a brother, as a sister, as a husband, as a wife, as a son, as a daughter, as a mother or father? Can we be the one that reaches out to that individual in the dark as they reach up? And they call out to a law? a law saying, Can we be that brother's sister that takes that hand and walk them gently back and say, Hey, I love you.
You're worth it.
You know that? I think it's very important for us to start at the human level. Because ask yourself, what must it take for a human being to decide, hey, the best option is to take my own life that goes against everything, all of our basic human instinct that goes against everything. Now, a couple that with the fact that this individual being a Muslim,
being a Muslim,
who submitted their entire self to a law. So I think it's very important to just start at the basic level, that brother, their sister, I don't know what they're going through. But I'm here. I'm your brother, I'm your sister, no judgment. I'm here to listen to you. I'm here to serve you. And give me a lot I love We can do that. And before I end, I just wanted to say, you know, Shaykh Omar, he, he says Vietnam a lot. And I think, to me personally, that's the most important word for someone who is struggling with their mental health, or someone who is struggling, being in that with a loss permission. Understand that what you're going through right now is only by last admission, it's
preparing you for everything that you ask for. Because you're going to do great. A lot shows you a lot chose you and only you to complete a task was given you a gift, you are special. Think about the odds that it took for an embryo of 44
fertilized egg or sperm to fertilize and a name for an embryo to come to term, therefore your mother to deliver you, and then for you to be where you're at. And then put on top of that the birth rates in the country that you come from, you know, those are minuscule data points, that you are here for a reason. And it reminds me of the Iet. And I have 41. So I thought how was it we're after Allah narrates to Prophet Musa relational. what he's done for him, showed him his favorites, then he says, this mark when he was done that to Kelly Nessie, that I chose you. So remember that a lot shows you a lot chose you to be here today to listen to this message of these great sheoak are going to let us
know that hey, they've dedicated their lives to serving this oma in this way. And so I look forward to listening and learning. Getting in that with the last permission, I know that I'm here for a reason. I thank you all my brothers and my sisters, please keep us all in your dwarf. And those brothers and sisters that may be struggling. May Allah have mercy on them is that when I send out more, they can more often fly, but it
just comes up for that beautiful message on some Hanalei Thank you, you know, you speak from a place of experience. And I know that it's not easy to make yourself so vulnerable, but you do it because you care about people. So I really appreciate you
being open to be so vulnerable to the rest of us and everyone else to share your experience so that others don't don't have to struggle. So does that come alongside and I'll open it up to the panel and shout out to Anna, for anyone that would like to comment.
Just wanted to say that brother comes out how much I appreciate you sharing this in the courage that it takes to really share a personal story, and how much healing inshallah we hope will come at your hands and your story. Because there are so many I'm sure that are listening to this exactly. And feeling that this is I appreciate that you gave the trigger warning, of course at the very beginning, which is very important. But I do hope that everyone that is listening here that feels that there is something similar that they have gone through or their family or friend or loved one has gone through that they also reach out for help. And I can't emphasize that enough and how
important in part of our, you know, tradition, it is to reach out for help in that way. And I just want to bridge this really quickly to you know, the right before Ramadan, as we know, there was a very difficult case that many have heard of attractivity really a full a whole family that was last in which there was both murder and suicide. And I just say here again, that for those since it was such a wide known story in case that for us to seek out the kind of training and support that required that helps us really help others. And I hope that people will continue to do so I'm just going to give a shout level B I'm sure resources in the chat in terms of trainings that have been
developed specifically for the Muslim community around this at Marist. And the new organization that I'm part of this is exactly the training that we do related to suicide and the Muslim community. And so I do hope that others will partake in that kind of care and help so that we can continue providing healing all the way through our community.
Would anyone else like to share anything before we move on Chela?
Bought a coffee Come, I'll just say some how long that, you know, as we sort of move on to director photo Highfield like, one of the beauties of our religion
is that there's something productive to take. In each and every single one of these discussions, some guidance from the prophet SAW Allah or it was some meme on how to show compassion to the individual, while not compromising standards in society and community. And so I really appreciate that, you know, you shared some how long that the hokum on suicide is not what's being discussed here, right, the ruling on it as a cardinal sin in Islam, but the speaking to the individual and helping the individual to see value in themselves, they're not struggling with the gravity of the sin, they're struggling and see value in themselves, to continue to push forward and I appreciate
that. You merge that together, may Allah bless you and reward you as well. Dr. Tanya for all the resources and I'll say this that you helped us as the moms in Texas get through a very, very difficult stretch one of the most difficult Genesis I've ever attended in my life. It seemed unnatural, it seemed strange. And I asked a lot that I'd never have to see anything like that again in my lifetime. Because preying on multiple people at a time I mean even the way we were just trying to arrange know the bodies and those that you know, the two brothers that committed the murder suicide that are that, you know, that carried it out and then the rest of the family members, we
were trying to figure it all out and Dr. Daniels was very helpful in that entire process and I love bless you and helping us navigate that all just
so in recognizing that I'm going to come to you Dr. Fasano.
Doctor Father, you know when we're talking about spirituality
And leaning on our religion in a healthful way. And in an authentic way, because a lot of times it's taking a heavy and taking a concept that's, you know, fundamentally, you know, not necessarily in accordance with Islam even and putting a hot leaf on it right or a language on it and we're not trying to put a language on it our religion, you know, recognizes the benefit that comes from other from other paradigms that can be abused to us as long as they don't contradict and undermine. And at the same time, you know, our religion recognizes how holistic we are as people that we have our physical selves, our emotional selves, our spiritual selves, our mental selves. And the Prophet
slice Allah mentioned that, you know, Allah has a right upon you, your family has a right and upon you, you have yourself has a right upon you all of these different needs. So a lot of people think that spirituality alone can resolve prior emotional suffering and trauma, how should a Muslim approach their well, being holistically while considering all possible avenues of healing?
circle locate and shape? oma? That's an excellent question. I'm going to try to unpack it by actually asking a question back to everybody. Have you ever been in a situation where you've had a really difficult time, and you finally break down in front of somebody, and it can be breaking down in your despair, or maybe you break down in your rage, right? Everybody breaks down in different ways. And you tell someone finally about what you're going through. And they respond with something like, Oh, you know, the sun will come out again, there are plenty of fish in the sea. It's kind of like a like a pat on the back. But it's such a hard path, it sends you flying across the room.
Police brutality, you know, violence, racism, it happens, you know, we need to get you through this. Why are you getting so angry about this? Israel and Palestine? This is an article ongoing, right? You don't need to cry over this. inshallah, it'll be okay. Right, you're gonna get through this. And let's focus on the positive, let's focus on what we can actually do. And they get into full on cultural, right, that's called toxic positivity. And then on the other hand, maybe you've been in a situation where you've poured your heart and your guts out to somebody, and they respond with something like have sub have patience. It's the federal law, you know, recite this surah, before you
go to bed, et cetera, et cetera. And they kind of blink at you, you know, blink at you a couple of times, and seemingly unmoved by the fact that you spilled your guts out to them, and they walk away, even though they've left you sobbing.
Both are awful. So that's called spiritual bypassing. And both toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing are awful ways in which we dismiss the lived experiences, emotions and realities of the people around us. You know, here's the thing with spiritual bypassing and toxic positivity, right? We are trying to force people out of their pain, because it makes us uncomfortable, right? I promise you that you will not make anybody stronger or more resilient, by trying to make them put a lid on their emotions by telling them Oh, you know what, emotions are messy. I don't really want to deal with this, you know, can you just wrap it up? Right, make me more comfortable, what you're going to
do to that person is forced them to build a hard shell around themselves, where they will be broken inside. And I can't emphasize enough how dangerous this is, you know, when a person continuously has their pain dismissed just over and over again, they will walk away from Islam, right? There are so many paths in this world in this life, people can find comfort by turning to so many things. And they will say that they will think that Islam did not give me that break. Islam did not speak to my heart. Don't be the person who drives someone away from Allah.
So let me give you this scenario. All right, you're in the my state. You've been in charge of a kid, it could be your neighbor's kid. It could be your niece. It could be your little brother, or it's your own child. And the HIPAA sermon is about to start and someone gives them a candy or suddenly on a sugar rush and they start screaming and bringing around too messy and all of their glory is ugly. Right? Do you a clamp your hand over their mouth be to glare at them somehow willing them into submission? Or do you see take them outside, take them out into the hallway to the parking lot and let them run around. Let them have fun, let them be free, scream and laugh as much as they want to
and then and then bring them back inside when they're feeling calm and okay or
Maybe all of the above in a certain situation, right? Here's the thing, A and B, clamping your hand over their mouth or glaring at them, condemning them, what they're doing is like toxic positivity in spiritual bypassing. It doesn't help the person, right? When you clamp your mouth, your hand over a screaming child's mouth, what's going to happen when you move your hand, probably going to bite you. Maybe that's a very valid response. But they're going to probably Scream louder, right? When you tell someone to put a lid on their emotions, they're probably going to cry even harder, they're going to become even more enraged. Right? The thing is, when we take someone out for a walk, right,
US listening resonating with someone's experience, is like taking them out into the hallway to the parking lot and just being with them. Right? We walk with them, we be with them. And we say things like, sounds like you're going through a really difficult time. I'm really sorry, you're going through this, you know, I'm here for you. You can talk to me about it. Tell me more about what you're going through. And you can save in a scene that, you know, seems foreign, it seems, you know, uncomfortable to say or, you know, that's not really how you would respond. response, right? Then you know, what silence is gold, right? Just sit with them, just put on those active listening ears,
and just be with them just be with someone in their pain. And you're telling that person, I am going to walk with you in your pain, right? Just say brother hands so beautifully was talking about just being with someone resonating with what they're experiencing? Think about the sooner of giving advice, you know, our Prophet solomani within them had so many different responses to the same question. Because he intimately knew what would reach the heart of the questioner, right, our path is so long. I mean, we send them you know, he deeply felt for his oma, he cried for us, he knew the people around him, and he knew what he needed to see, to be able to really make that impact. And
think as well, about all the different conditions, but all the different states and circumstances that are profit so long, I mean, we're sending went through in his life, you know, from being an orphan poverty, being a widower having to bury his children. And as well, you know, being a great leader of a powerful oma, right, she went through all these different conditions, these different states, and he used all of those experiences, to draw upon them to develop a deep empathy for the people around him. Right. And the thing is, and it sounds kind of strange, but you know, what cut an individual level, we also can spiritually bypass our own emotions as well. You know, we can use
faith, oftentimes, as a distraction, we can be going through a really difficult circumstance, and we just keep telling ourselves, you know, I'm fine, even what Muslims don't get depressed. I have so much to be grateful for, and you kind of bombard yourself with, you know, different fkr praying more doing this doing that just to distract yourself from what you're really facing. Right? And, you know, really when you know, maybe you should be having that difficult conversation, or maybe you should be doing that apology that you know, is really difficult for you, or whatever the situation might be. So, you know, I want to emphasize and remind ourselves that Allah Subhan Allah to Allah
and brother Hamza, actually beautifully talked about this too, you know, Allah specifically handpicked different situations, circumstances, hardships, dark times, just for us to be able to teach us, you know, Allah is out Rob, he is our teacher, he is our master. He is our guide. If we choose to take all of that hardship, all that pain and shove it into a closet and not face it, we are failing to hear the lessons from our Lord. Right? Think is one that we just went through Ramadan, you know, a person who fasts and only gets hunger and thirst out of their fasting. They didn't do any of that introspection, any of that no soul cleansing, didn't change after Ramadan,
that Ramadan was not helpful for them. And it's similar with our hardships in our dark times. If we can't glean lessons from what Allah from Medina is trying to teach us from those typical circumstances, then again, all that pain, all that hardship was for nothing right? panel up.
And so there is a beautiful Heidi through our profits.
Hello, I'm interested in them. And the the authenticity of this hadith is disputed, but I wanted to share it because it provides us with a beautiful lesson here, where the Prophet sallallahu I mean, we're sending them tells us that there is no forbearance there is no hygiene, except for the one who has stumbled, except for the one who has fallen. And there is no wisdom, there is no hacking, except for the one who has experience will be vulnerable, be raw and honest with yourself. We have all made mistakes, we have all stumbled, we have all fallen. And we will continue to do so throughout our lives.
But use those experiences, use the lessons in those circumstances, and allow it to develop a deep forbearance a deep hygiene, not only for your own pain, but so that you can resonate with the pain of the others around you. There's really cool quote from Jeff Brown, where he says, When you reach a stage where you can have a very dark and difficult experience without having to look on the bright side, then you know, you have made progress on your healing journey. You have enough light inside to own the shadow, and you have enough shadow inside to own the light. Allah is the is the Lord of the east and the west. Wherever we turn there is his face. Allah is also the Lord of your light, and
your shadow. He knows all of you and loves you.
Use your light and your shadow to bring hope. Walk with people in their pain. As you walk down your own road, facing your own fears, lean into that dark, lean into that shadow, explore it, face it briefly. That is where you will find your strength. Just a little later on.
Very powerful words, may Allah bless you, and I'll open it first to the panel. inshallah, if anyone would like to share.
Does that come a lot here looks like very powerful. And so panela, like, as you said that research even showed, you know, like when they do therapy. And they wanted to see what contributes to positive outcomes, is the counseling theory is that the techniques used right, and time upon time, what game is the number one factor that results in successful therapy that, besides therapy successful or not, is the therapeutic alliance. It's not the counseling theory that's being used, it is not your techniques, it's what it is, then I feel that the therapist, understanding what people are looking for, is to be understood. I felt sense, what they're looking for is a holding
environment. And so Pamela and like, we have this beautiful concept of rational, you know, the word Grace, mercy, and the womb, and the right hand is the womb towards the baby. It provides a gentle, tender environment where the baby grows, human beings, we have the see the seeds of goodness in them, sometimes all What they need is the third time ground to hold them. And they will grow. They find their own solution. And it's very well put mesh Allah, I wish May Allah give us the ability and the courage to feel the pain of others and to see others and for them to see that in us. Because I think that's the best thing we can get people around. Does that go lucky?
Does that? Dr. Hassan Is there anyone else that would like to share anything in regards to that?
And I'd like to put something out there before we move on. And Dr. has announced Allah tala, with with his portion. And I want to see if we have agreement across the panel insha Allah, because I'm trying to process this as a student right now to someone who's not in this field.
That I think that we would say that Dean is always part of the healing, right, that it's never to be completely cast aside. Religion is always part of the healing. That's one thing that I'm understanding. The second thing and this is my, my putting this forward that nothing that fundamentally contradicts the deen can be a part of the healing. But then the third thing is that anything that is sought for the purpose of being a more or more holistic person, so that you can be a better servant of Allah subhana wa tada and a better servant to the people, right, in the sense of helping the people is a part of me that that's a part of Eva, that's a part of our worship. So those
are three things that I'm understanding as a student today does. Does everyone agree with this? Or what do I need to word this a little a little bit differently until you got it? And the word holistic is the key there. That's exactly right.
I got I got a thumbs up Hamza, you give me a thumbs up too.
Though Dr. Hassan, cielo, we'll move to you and Zack Morocco for the beautiful example that you just gave, you often take concepts that we have that I personally have not thought of, you know, with very familiar texts, but offer just a much deeper dimension. I really appreciate that about, always when you speak about about what you bring forth. And so the question that I have for you is that when a person is suffering, when a person is going through life's challenges, they often feel like the intense emotions cloud their judgment, I'm not able to think clearly, I'm not able to do what's best. So how do we better control our emotions? In the face of stress and difficulty? Does
this mean 100 level select or select all of them resilience at no?
point in marketing? Does akmola here a beautiful question. I talked to the Dalai Lama enter salon, woman castle,
rock De La Jolla, you will come along you are the source of peace, the source of serenity. And from you comes peace, serenity, tranquility, stillness, and blessed be you most deserving of all and most deserving of reverence, and the most generous. Yes, so panela, like we are all looking for this concept of peace, serenity, stillness. And oftentimes we get disturbed when when we see a storm, if you will. And I'll start with this simple example, to answer the question I want you to imagine with me, abort, somewhere, maybe in a heartbeat when the water is, you know, everything is gone, you know, the skies are great, you can see the clouds, maybe the birds, the sun, vary, and that's what
most of us are seeking, I just, I'm seeking peace and stillness and tranquility, you know, maximum in, however, the weather conditions do change. And all of a sudden, you see clouds, and all of the sudden, you know, the wind started blowing, and surely enough, you know, there is some waves coming and they're the boats, the boat starts rocking. But the most dangerous thing is that this, the waves coming and hitting the wall, the boat can be thrown on the rocks, the boat can get off, its its location, and it actually can break. What do people do, they can change the storm, they can do nothing about the store. But usually they drop an anchor. What happens is the boat, I can control
the storm dropping an anchor will hold me in my place in the midst of the storm.
So panela we say peace, serenity is not the absence of a storm. But it's the ability to have tranquility and stillness in the midst of store. There are techniques. Sometimes we suffered from storms that are internal, emotional storms, sometimes we have anger, sometimes anxiety, sometimes sadness and time. Sometimes it's so big, and sometimes it's loud. And there is thunder and lightning. And it's it can be very scary. But what we're looking for sometimes is not to remove the emotions, the emotions are there for a reason. But if I can anchor myself,
is there a way that I can drop an emotional anchor, as spiritually, you know, a spiritual, emotional anchor that in the midst of the store? I'm anchored. And yes, and I share maybe one or two, the first the first technique? What is emotions about? And why did Allah subhanaw taala create emotions.
Emotions are essential for communication, I just want you to reflect on the beautiful words of brother Hansen. Like Well, why they say it is not about the words that leave our lips. But it's about the heart, from which the word scheme, the words that leave our mouth comes cloaked with the state of our heart. And you can tell when a person speaks with emotions, the words are very powerful. So the intent that Allah subhanaw taala created those emotions and us those emotions that we like, happiness and smiling and, and there are other emotions, you know, fear and sadness, and we don't like that they have a purpose, they shape our communication, they help us communicate. And
therefore, the number one way to drop an anchor is to take the emotion to almost hang out with it. It was created for me to shape my communication. Therefore, I use the instead of I want to get rid of the emotion, which is the essence of the problem. I've said I don't want sadness, which is of course legitimate. Nobody wants to be sad all the time. But the first way to anchor myself is to take the emotion and take it to almost a panel that which is compromised compromise of what number one I have to be aware of my emotions. Where are they in my body? What am I really feeling? And then I go to almost,
you know, yeah, probably your many largest sway almost people who is for the most part
Got you. You have to be afraid, one time, and you're the source of all peace and all the sorts of all safety, I take the emotions and use it to shape my dad. I take it to almost.
And we find that in the upper end, you find the Apple Valley center, for example.
He was faced with Jani things that would make any dad grief and sad, losing your children, losing us Valley celebrate the one that he loves so much. And what did he say in the rain in school? bethey was neat, you know, I'm taking my sadness, I'm taking my grief, I feel them. But I'm taking them to Allah subhana wa Tada. And that's the spiritual anger that prevents the emotion from throwing me left and right. It will not remove them. Remember, dropping an anchor doesn't remove the store, as we said, but at least I anchored. Right. So that's the first thing. And the second, which I think is very powerful. It's based on a Hadith of the Prophet tombola Hollywood. So the reason that the
emotions tend to escalate, is, interestingly enough emotions feed on themselves. What does that mean? emotions have a feedback. I'll give you an example. I wake up, I'm sad. Because I'm sad. There is an urge don't leave, you know?
Or like, let's say, I guess I'm sad. I don't want to leave the bed. Why am I sad? find the solution. So I feel an emotion, the emotion is intense. What do we tend to do? find the solution thinks he tells the mind think analyze, find the way out? What if my mind thinks and comes with? I don't know what to do.
I don't know what to do think about Palestine. I'm so upset. I'm so angry. But I think so. I think and I come back, there is nothing I can do. I feel angrier.
I'll give you an example. If I hear me a lot protectors.
There has been a terrorist attack. The first thing I do is I get my phone and look, you know, and then what will I do about it? And I start thinking, if my mind comes back with, I don't know a solution. How would I feel? I feel more wide. And then as I feel more worried, I tell my mind think more. And this this is what produces this mental health issue. My mind keeps thinking thinking I'm into an analysis, paralysis more. I feel an emotion. I don't know the way out. I get upset at myself. I beat myself up. I hold to the problem. I insist on thinking as it happened to me that somebody said something against me and he went home and I spent the entire night thinking why did he
say so? And I can't stop thinking about it. And the more I think about it, the more upset I become. How do I break the cycle? There is a Hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and they see the meaning here. So
he saw Allah Allah Selim this Hadees Yes, Allah subhanaw taala saying that I'm your servant, but some of your servant and he asked to impose almost a panel with Allah with all his names to make the whole end, the remover of his sentence and the renewal of his voice. What's interesting about this headache is the following. neuroscientists lately descend upon
a brain cannot retain a thought you cannot retain a thought if you focus on two physical senses. So for example, if if my brain is so much focused on something, I'm into this loop of analyzing it, and I feel sad and they keep thinking about it and I can't stop thinking about it. They tell you Okay, focus on two physical senses Meaning what? focus on your breath
in and out focus on the way the ground is you know, your feet is on the ground. If you focus on two physical senses, you cannot retain a full Well, what about recycling?
recycling for answers the same purpose if I have an intense emotion that captured my mind and I cannot stop thinking people would see what I decided for no nothing happened. How do they decide? recite outloud recite with focus on the action of the dream. And
I want you to notice you there is no way I can be reciting for him with focus on the detail of the dream You know, the proper pronunciation notice the breath, the in and out breath that calms my
neural system down and it actually breaks the cycle. My mind is if you will reset. I can never retain a thought if I'm reciting improperly even if I don't understand the meaning as long as Yes Go ahead. Sit properly you know please the Qibla recite out loud if I don't know how to recite you know play. I don't know why shift mishary Rashid and follow along. If I do that, for five minutes, it breaks the cycle of this intense emotion. It gives me a break. Finally I want to talk to something about this heavy. It's very interesting on the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said
he in this Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu Sallam the focus is not the Arabi.
And move my anxiety, you know, be pleased with my sadness, which of course we should record on the floor. But did you notice what he said, make the horror n is a cue of my sadness. Make that for me that you have my anxiety, a big difference between a person which we should, you know, find cure and breathing exercises. But if I can find a tool through the upper end, that's more beautiful. I'm thinking reward as I agree. So, I said two things, when we feel feel intense emotions, the number one thing is take it to a loss of height, our emotions are intended to shape my state to shape my words to shape my worship. So go to Allah subhana wa gyla, India and Malaysia. This is one, the
second one has to be careful from the link between emotions and the mind. I don't want to enter into a cycle analysis paralysis, I need to break that cycle. How do I do that, especially if the motion if the emotion is intense. By focusing on two physical senses, one of the best ways is for him. Finally, I have to practice those techniques in the time of ease so that they're there for me in the time. I asked Allah subhana wa eila to give us an EFS that's more in a tranquil soul that is content with his own his decrees happy with all what he gives, and longing and aspiring to meet the Zakat Allah
because I can love her like her husband, Mila orgy for those beautiful, beautiful words to Pamela the polar Han is truly our refuge in more ways than one nillable su, Would anyone like to share anything on what Dr. Hassan just shared with us?
I would I would like to say to Zack Walker, first for Dr. Hudson. And I think when he's talking about
taking those emotions to a law and crying to a law complaining to a law, and that Siddhu. Well, when you get up and you go and someone is there for you, that brother that system, the other end, that may be the answer to your door. So being willingness bill being willing to, to receive the help. And also if you're on the other end, you know, something says I want one I'd set and I'll send a text message to shape Omar seeing how see how he's doing, I may be an answer to the door shake. Is there anything you know you guys have had? You know, we mentioned earlier, that very difficult stretch of time that our brothers and sisters experienced in Dallas, but being able to reach out, and then
being a being a listening ear and no judgement again, but just being there for our brother or sister, you may be dancing to a Glasgow, coma car, say customers
are beautiful. And
I can just add to that real quick reflection and say that and thank you, brother comes out. And also does your husband because this concept that you mentioned about the other person, couldn't you get to the other side? And they could actually be the answer to your jaw is so key because people always ask and think you know, should I be able to just do this alone. And our tradition is one that explains that actually help and care that almost pinata sense. As you mentioned, further, Hamza can come through all different forms. And this especially, I mean, I speak here now as a mental health clinician where I say, what is my role in the middle of all of this? And honestly, sometimes it is,
I hope and pray the answer to someone's do either their own or their family member that says yellow please send this person help and care. And there are people in our community that are trained to actually help others through what they're going through. And they trained all these years in order to be able to have that therapeutic listening ear and know how to advise in a in a proper manner. And so I hope people that are listening all those in the audience that are listening, realize that it's actually about the way in which Allah answers your due out could be through other people. Right and through other means that yourself. Batticaloa
exactly the wrong thing you're supposed to know. So there is this story that I even sometimes share with people that seek counseling
and the story it's it's not the story of companions but a righteous person that used to have this reliance on loss of plan on Island he would go into the wild no no food or anything at Newtown, Tennessee alone provide for me to get his water. He just got his food and everything is great that depend on only almost a panel to highlight the word cool, you look great, right? One time he goes, a day passes nothing. He said you know, our khattala second day, I find some nothing 30 nothing. And then he sleeps and he's now so disturbed. In Europe we did I do something I'm relying on you that is nothing around and he sees in a dream as if a caller is telling him You will not be given any
provision till you enter this village village at this moment
wakes up and he goes to the village. Once he goes in, people see that he's getting, it's apparent his state he needs food. So people came to him and started giving him food and water and everything. But the man was so disturbed, you know, why people, I was asking you
why I don't want people to give me anything. And then he saw in a dream, that as if a color is telling him they didn't you know, that for Allah to provide for you on the hands of people is more beloved to him than providing you on the hands with his power and, you know, direct provision. So sometimes Allah subhanaw taala will afflict me not because I'm bad
because the doctor does going to view me he needs the hustler in his you know, scale of good because I'm going to become the reason that others will enter agenda through me as well. So other people sometimes are the solutions and Allah loves to give on the hands of other others may Allah make us all keys of goodness, inshallah.
I mean, beautiful stories, exactly. I
think all of us are moved by the story and humbling on the deep lessons in it. And inshallah tada to build on this concept. I think that there's a fear of uncertainty, right. And as human beings, we don't like what we don't know. And that's usually spoken about in the realm of prejudice, but it's also, you know, how badly people want us to know when is the day of judgment? mateesah, right, when is it yellow? smilla, can you just tell us so we can know, we want to know the date of our death, we want to know the date of Day of Judgment, we want to know when this is going to happen, when that's going to happen, we want to always be able to see, you know, the exact plan unfolding in front of
us, because with everything in our lives, right, we, you know, you get into a degree program and you know, that at the end of four years, if I finished this many courses, then I graduate, you know, it's it's supposed to be structured and panela. One of the most difficult things about being od is that you submit that to Allah subhana wa Tada, right, yeah, Allah, I'm, I'm okay with not knowing, as long as I'm doing what is going to earn me your favor. And I know that you will only plan in my favor, as long as I am doing what is, you know, the actions that are in your favor? And so I think that it's uncertainty, right. And so I want to turn out to Dr. If none, and hamdulillah this has
been a beautiful session just far thus far. And and you know, you all work together in the same department at European and and you know, this has been the beauty of the research that's been produced is that it merges these two. But you know, Dr. Rothman from a spiritual perspective, building on all of this and being aware of the mental health struggles and challenges. We don't like uncertainty. And COVID has taught us how unpredictable The world is. How do believers prepare for the uncertain struggles ahead? Without knowing right, how do they prepare for that uncertainty? What What does it take to prepare for the uncertainty that life will inevitably present to you?
Because I've noticed that I've leveraged on James Miller who remember him from the last summer to LA while he was being one.
Final, Chicago, this has been the topic that we've been thinking about for the last year and a half with COVID. And you're right, people do crave certainty in life, it seems like every single day, all of us, you know, we do things that maximize our knowledge is going to look like so we check the weather forecasts despite the fact we know that it's going to be sunny or might be cold, right, we put the GPS coordinates into our phone, even though we know the exact route of where we're going to go. We'll shop and shop and shop livings at the best price, we're certain we got the best deal. And all these are part of human nature. But so panela it's for the believer is really, really, really
important to remind ourselves, that uncertainty has been woven into the fabric of the universe by Allah subhanho wa Taala. For a hikma and that hikma is that life is actually meant to change the seasons, the colors of the trees, our emotions, you know, our own kind of personality and, and our children. Like we're always constantly in a state of flux and change. And Allah reminds us about this in one of the most powerful verses in the Quran that I love and sort of look, man, and you mentioned that but we're always wondering, you know what, this one is the day of judgment. And Allah wants to remind us that only he holds the keys to the uncertain in Allah in the morning or Sati or
you know, a little faith Oh yeah, a little muffled or ham, or matted enough so mad at that see bovada or matter enough soon, in the mood in Allah alima Fabio, this verse to me is one of the most humbling verses that a human being can really stop and just absorb. Because in this pursuit of certainty that we all have, Allah tells us, oh, human being who craves certainty, recognize that certainty is reserved for Allah subhanho wa Taala Indeed, Allah alone knows when
is a day of judgment, he alone knows
when the rain is going to fall, he knows only he knows what we will acquire tomorrow, the human being will never met, we'll never know exactly what his income will be tomorrow. And we will never know when and where we will die. Indeed, Allah is all knowing. And he's all aware. And so these verses what I find is beautiful versus that it reminds us all the things we care most about, we care about our you know, what is the day of judgment we care about, maybe when we're going to die, we care about how much money we're going to make, we care about the details of who our children are going to be. Allah says this is not for you to know. And so one of the things that I believe we can
do is to remember that true progress and life actually occurs through the uncertain through progress in life and breakthroughs in every field, whether it be scientific or personal or spiritual breakthroughs, they occur with the element of surprise. And this is what makes life truly worth living, when there is surprise. And if we were to know everything, if I was to know tomorrow, exactly what my day is going to look like, you know, to the detail of who I'm going to meet. And what I'm going to do, that's a boring lifestyle. And so what I want to speak about for a few minutes is this idea of embracing uncertainty and actually, not just tolerating it, but truly embracing it
as the key to resilience. And I'm saying this as a tool, so that we know how to weather the storm when it comes. This is something difficult to do in the middle of a difficulty, but hopefully, that we can use in times of peace and comfort. So that way, when the tribulations come that are promised to come, that we have a better idea of what to do. And there's two things that can happen. As you mentioned in the storm, one thing you can do is weather the storm, right, you can just it's it's it's difficult, right? It's it's not fun, but we're just going to get through it. And the other thing we can do is also try and aspire for the best, which is people who are stronger after the
storm. And I love this analogy that's given is a flame that exists a flame. If it's exposed to the one of the most uncertain elements, which is wind, two things can happen to the flame, the wind can either knock out the flame completely, and there's no more fire, or that wind can really cause that flame to become a full blown fire. And so we don't want to just survive the uncertainty of the wind, right? We want to thrive during that uncertainty. And this is what we learn from the prophets of Allah subhanho wa Taala as they were those that Allah tested over and over and over, as Heidi it says, you know that the youth de la jolla has to be the new fun canopy, Dini solo button, the ZIVA
at that alone will test people to the to the level of their faith, and that sometimes it will give us more tribulations, not to break us, but to elevate us. And so the prophets are examples of what we can do. And they will we want to be like that flame that when the wind comes, it makes us grow. And this is why it's apt that the Prophet Muhammad Hassan actually gave a damn about the wind, that when you will see the wind coming. He said, he put up his hands in the sky and say, oh, Allah, I asked you for its goodness, and I take refuge from you, and it's evil. So part of uncertainty is about not trying to avoid it, and not trying to run away from it, but to actually run to Allah with
that uncertainty. And so yeah, I don't know what is going to happen. Y'all I am not in control of these things. I can only focus on what's within my control everything else I put into your hands. And so I want to mention two things that I think are really, it's it's, it's, it's one of the most confusing parts about the world we live in today, there's something called the world uncertainty index. And this has been tracked since 1990. And the world in 2020, and 2021, it hit a peak of what they consider to be the amount of uncertainty that people are experiencing, politically, economically and personally. Now, while we're having this peak of uncertainty in the world, we also
live a lifestyle that in many ways, is just reinforcing that everything is predictable. So this technology around us has created an illusion of certainty. So you know, we get up every morning, we set our alarm, we know exactly what time we're going to get up. We know, we can set the thermostat, we know exactly the temperature of our house, we put the GPS and we know exactly the minute we might arrive somewhere. And so all these things give us a sense that we're truly truly in control of everything. But for the believer to remember to build a telecoil mindset. Dr. Hudson spoke about the what could truly this idea of putting your complete trust and reliance on Allah subhanho wa Taala it
is a form of embracing uncertainty. It is a way of saying Allah, I know that there's uncertainty in the world, Allah, I cannot predict what's going to happen tomorrow. And so the unpredictable, I put in your hands a lot, I don't know how much money I'm going to make. This pandemic has has has made my business upside down. I asked you for your risk and to give me what's best, Oh Allah, you know, I don't know what's going to happen, you know, tomorrow because of something with my children. I'm worried about their well being Allah, I put my concerns in your hands, but I will take that whatever's in my control and do the best that I can with that. And so just one of the things I want
to mention for time and what we can do is in this world that we live in, that is super uncertain in one way
regard, but in many ways, we're seeking certainty every single day to try and do something very practical as a tool, you know, we go to the gym to work out when we're healthy. So that way, you know, we get stronger and stronger and stronger. So if any stressors hit us, you know, physical stressor, you're able to deal with that, because you're strong. Dealing with uncertainty and building a tolerance for it, is to help us when there's turbulent times, so what can we do? One of them is to begin to reduce our reliance on the false sense of certainty. So one of the things that we can do a simple example is rather than rely on technology 24 seven to give you that false sense
of security, step away from it once in a while. So I'm going to go to the store today, I'm going to leave my phone at home. And for many people that can be really really, really paralyzing to say that I'm away from the from the thing that kind of anchors me and kind of gives me that sense that I know what time I'll get there. And all the details. If anyone calls me if anything's on social media, I can access it, step away from that for a day, turn off your social media for a day or two and say a lot, I don't need to know everything that's going to happen. I am okay, with not knowing something. Go out in nature, that's probably my biggest piece of advice is when you go out in nature, and you
spend even a day or a night if possible. What it does is it teaches you that you can't control nature, you can control your houses thermostat, you can control a lot of things, when you have technology around you go out in nature, and let the elements just be there. It might be windy, it might be warm, it might be cold, you don't know exactly what is going to happen. He does go out and you allow that the world to just and you soak it in the way you can. And so this is what the prophets of Allah had done. And the last thing I'm going to say is to read the stories of the righteous because that is a way to practically have a visual model, but it means of practice, and
embrace uncertainty in life. The story of Musa the story of use of sorry Prophet Muhammad SAW set him up a YouTube, they were hit with tribulation, after tribulation of tribulation, and all of us will find in one of those stories,
something that we connect with. So whether it be with musante, salaam, he may had an accident, accidentally, he hurt somebody, he was fearful and he had a run out of town. That is the most uncertain thing that anyone could go through. Or if it comes to us, if they said I'm in the uncertainty, he went with willing sold into slavery and being plotted against his brothers, and being thrown into prison without doing anything wrong. Prophet Muhammad SAW said, I'm being chased out of town, bleeding and having people die that he loved one after another, find stories of resilience in the righteous. And so this is just the one thing I really really want to emphasize is
that learn to embrace that uncertainty, put it in the hands of Allah subhanho wa Taala and build a typical mindset, by surrounding and in and inundating yourself with the stories of those who are masters of it. I ask Allah subhanaw taala to give us the ability to tolerate uncertainty to embrace it, and to put it in the hands of Allah subhanho wa Taala because he is our will kill his own we put our trust in spandrel vigor of the eyes of the Amazon or Solomon Allah's more serene
Carvalho Hi, I'm Dr. Hoffman and inshallah Tao Of course, I'll open it up to everyone if anyone wants to share anything inshallah.
Man, I'm reminded about the research study that you lead Michelle law related to this concept of uncertainty tolerance that you've been referring to, and, and, and for everyone, I just wanted to share the plan has done this amazing study on Muslims and COVID-19, probably one of the largest, if not the largest study on Muslims and COVID-19. Globally, with with, I don't know, the newest numbers, after I fund something, maybe in the arena of 10,000, Muslims, it's a lot of people. And what's so amazing, one of the most amazing takeaways, I remember from that study, and what you're saying right now is exactly right. This concept of not being able to tolerate uncertainty, actually,
some of the research show that we found was that there was a clear connection between someone who wasn't able to fully, you know, tolerate that uncertainty, which had handed us some gives us that resilience, to be able to do so. And so those who had less uncertainty tolerance, actually had higher levels of potentially developing major depressive disorder or MDD. Like there was a clear clinical connection between the two. And so yet another reason here coming from the scientific or medical perspective of why it's so important to employ that level of being able to do to look good as a verb, like actually take it upon ourselves to live and let live right to like put things in
Allah subhanaw taala his hands after you've tied your own capital, as we say, right. And so I think that's a very clear indication and even another level of of reasoning as to why what you're saying is so keen parenthetical.
Anyone else lecture anything about that?
Man, I think he brought up some amazing points which
I love this, this idea of running to Allah with our uncertainty, I think another really great sort of exercise that we can do is to go back to some of those moments of uncertainty in our lives. For example, think back to what it was like when COVID-19 first hit. How did you cope with that uncertainty? What we're sort of your go to methods and strategies and other moments of uncertainty as well and kind of brainstorm What are other ways that you would like to encounter or face the other next uncertain time in your life. I think that's a way of also developing our resilience, we can draw upon the examples of the profits, and instead of just like you mentioned, and also our own,
our own our own ways of how we dealt with uncertainty and how we want to move forward facing the future and show up.
Because I think with that, by the way, you know, you mentioned our individual past, going back to our past when we did things right, how Allah got us through other difficult times. And so I want to transition them to the collective past of the Muslim community. Dr. Vanya did a wonderful series on the history of Muslim mental health. I remember trying to take notes and I think it's being converted into a paper insha Allah Tada. As you were speaking, I was listening to the series trying to take notes because it was truly phenomenal. 100 and, and I think it gives us not just a sense of pride, in an abstract sense to go back and say, Wow, we were at the forefront. We were pioneers, but
to think about what that looks like now, so Dr. Vanya in that spirit. How have Muslims dealt with mental health in the past and how can we implement some of the best of that in our communities today?
inshallah happy to definitely discuss this because I think it's such a powerful history and heritage has been documented Rahim was a little long Molesey than 101 audio se Anima Jemaine, and actually I will, I'll do what the doctor did and ask the audience back the question and ask what if I said that Muslims were in fact, the pioneers in the mental health fields
that might strike people, you know, in different ways. If especially if there's Intel, Lino, large understanding of what our history has been, I know, I didn't have that starting off, and had to really do research and really find this and discover this along the way. And that's why I'm so passionate about sharing it. Because when I ask a question like this, people always say, myself included, what's the proof? And I always say, well, the proof is in the pudding. So let's look at the putting together in sha Allah. And what if I further asked and said, Did you know that Muslims were some of the first to classify, diagnose and actually treat mental health conditions? This was
not theoretical for them. There was the theory and the writing and the research part, but then there was a real creation of incredible knowledge base, and then real treatments that were developed, and even more so actual healing institutions that were developed.
Do you believe me up? Mashallah, here's, here's Okay, I'll add one more thing. What if I were to say that Muslims were likely the first to develop talk therapy? Yes, the very same talk therapy that many of us today as Muslims in the community, in various Muslim communities, actually may feel very much a stigma or feel like no, no, we don't talk to strangers and air dirty laundry. You know, we were taught by our parents and grandparents who don't talk about things that are from the family to other strangers.
How is it that I am saying that Muslims were actually some of the first set only to develop talk therapy, but to encourage it?
And then what if I were to say, also music therapy, a shelf? Ah, so let me let me try to qualify some of what I'm saying here and what you know, show how much that is very important and clear, that it's not about the race to be first. That's not the point. The point is what inspired early Muslims in the first place to create these very things. What drove them to figure out the inner workings and inner psyche of the human being, our cognition and our behaviors? They were inspired by the Quran and the Sunnah. And this was long before the term psychology was ever coined or created. So do you want the proof in the pudding? Let me ask you this. Whenever I give a talk and ask and talk about
the history of Islamic psychology, I always ask does anyone in the audience know when and where the first psychiatric hospital in the world was created or built? And the guests I'll answer here and say the guests that most people have is somewhere between the 17th and 19th century, and often they'll say in Europe, and that's typically what a history book or documentary on mental health history would tell you. But actually, the first psychiatric hospitals and the first ward in a hospital that had mental health treatment and psycho psycho psychiatric treatment was actually in the Muslim world. And it's likely in the eighth century. So this is right after the advent of this
down, and a solid Millennium before any such institution show up in the Western world, and so on when I say this, and people think, Okay, this is very, very old, what did this look like. And so they might have thoughts in their mind about kind of dehumanizing gowns and electric chairs. And, you know, people kind of warded off in cells, like you might see in a movie, maybe even a horror movie of some sort. But the reality is, Muslims actually had something very different. They had an actually what they're known for in medicine is humanistic medicine. And they created these healing institutions, which in Arabic, they called daughter, she thought, the institutions or place of
healing. And in pharmacy, which is the other equivalent word, is the amount of stolen, the place where an ill person goes for healing. You know, in short into medicine, this is actually why I was inspired to name my new Men's Health Organization and not a stun, because I really believe in reviving this incredible tradition that Muslims had, where mental health was fully integrated into well being. And when you look at what they did, they didn't just create hospitals that helped, you know, with heart disease, or, you know, with diabetes, or to help you heal your broken foot. They also realize they had to have places, if you're going to talk about the holistic healing, you have
to have places and also talk and heal the mind, the brain. And these institutions were beautiful, because as Muslims who always did things with its pawn, right, this feud, this idea of as much as far as human perfection can because perfection is only with Allah. But when you give it your all, you see the heat institutions that were built were so beautiful, even in their outward architecture. And that beauty followed them inward to. And so they find you find these beautiful institutions that were in the center of town, they were not out of sight, out of mind. They had luscious gardens and fountains because they understood that a person who was feeling turbulence needed to be healed by
all the different senses, this idea of holistic healing, right. And one of the most beautiful things is these institutions were funded by what, by the endowment system. So anybody who needed help Muslim or non Muslim, who was living in that land could go in and get their treatment without having to worry about cost. And this account money to was used to fund some of this as well. And when people ask what, what was the treatment, like in these historical mental health institutions of the Muslim lands, the mindestens, they were very diverse. There were Yes, medications, yes, even medications, compounded medications to where people would take if they were feeling very depressed,
they would give them something called them a federal handcuffs, right the gladiators of spirit, your early versions of that antidepressant medication. But they also had a very holistic treatment, where and this is where I was saying, Muslims created talk therapy, and music therapy, they use natural sounds like Bird sounds, or water sounds. But they also use the tones like the McCombe of the formal combat of the put on. But if a person was very depressed, they'd bring them up. And if they were down, they do sound and music to bring to kind of bring them down if they were very manic. And when you think about what that means, it's just a beautiful, very interdisciplinary, holistic system,
where there was also, you know, clean clothing, and bathing and balanced diet. They used, you know, cupping, and massage and oils. They had these gardens that people could take natural nature walks through, understanding that all the senses had to be integrated, integrated. And why, because the sun emphasized the whole self holistic healing and all of its manners. And so all of it was together and you couldn't exclude mental health. And if that wasn't amazing enough, I'll just close here by saying that this isn't in the period of time in history when this is happening. I don't prefer these terms historically, because they're not accurate in saying golden age and Dark Ages. But roughly
speaking, these are probably the ones you studied in history. And when you look at the Muslim world, in its Golden Ages, right, it's all the progress on science and medicine, the humanities, these hospitals that I'm referring to were also at the same time we're unfortunately people in Europe who were still in their dark ages, where people with mental illness were being burned at the stake as witches, or they were sent to monasteries, because it was understood this was just a spiritual condition. But Muslim scholars understood it was holistic. So they had the spiritual part, but they also had the physical and biological parts, and they also had treatment of all different sorts
depending on what the person needed. What inspired them all, they'll put on the Sunnah. And you know, I'll go back to this emphasis of Islamic law. We have the mythos of the Shetty, Allah, which one of the main mocassin is that you optimize one's mental health and capacity. And there's a beautiful thing of the past.
It's a Lula Juana, he was sending him where he says, to dare worry about the law. In the law Hello, I'm your daughter and in law who she thought, Allah Spano, Tata prophets, I said, who said, secures Oh servants of God, because God has placed for every cure, and for every ailment a cure. And that's really, really key. But if Allah says something down in terms of an ailment, and we just talked about COVID-19 with Dr. Othman, you have to realize that Allah has promised he sent down its cure, and that includes all illnesses, mental health included. And so as we wrap up here, and really think about how do we integrate this moving forward into our, you know, modern day concept, I really think
it's time for a revival. Now that we understand that Muslims very much are at the forefront. And I would say that we have more of a hardcore right to be at the forefront of this field of mental health and mental well being, because it's so integrated into our tradition. And we're that motivation, that inspiration, that methodology led our early Muslim predecessors to contribute to that field of everyone knifes, right that was a precursor to the current field of psychology, that we look at the current field, take what benefits us is good, don't reject it all. You have to take what's good, but you also have to figure out what's not and remove that and add and revive what is
important. So what is actionable here, that we Muslim sisters and brothers, we really need to remember and realize that we've forgotten our own history, I don't know accomplishments of our Muslim predecessors, and that their work was largely motivated by a snap. And if you want to learn more about this doctor, I'm gonna mention that there's a six part series that hands down the topic here with you, hopefully, in about week kind of go through this in depth. And a paper Dr. Lee mentioned the paper as well, and it's actually being released today. inshallah, that goes along with this topic. So I hope you'll use some time to really read through our history and heritage. We spent
many, many a year actually at the Stanford Muslim health and Islamic psychology lab developing this and researching this. And so I hope this kind of resources really helps us change our mindset. realize this an embrace that beautiful heritage and history that we have as Muslims, and revive it. And with that, I asked Allah subhanaw taala, to bless our scholars with the past, the present and the future, until I was to rediscover our Islamic heritage and build upon those accomplishments of our noble predecessors so that we can benefit our own communities, but also all of humanity 100 Allahu Akbar, Allah me, Zack more. Hi, Ron, and thank you for pointing out the release. So I'm good
enough. I missed it. But it's in the comments. And so let's so we'll put the paper there in the comments, inshallah, so that people can benefit from it. And I appreciate that, and I'm sure it's better than my own notes. I want to just speak back to you in the, you know, so that you can correct if you if you're hearing anything wrong in my understanding of what what you just said, I think that all efforts, you know, obviously after the Prophet, slice alum, and the earliest group, we talked about the poor Anderson are fallible, right, but there's an overall inspiration that we can take that Muslims understood their tradition to actually be calling them to be at the forefront of this.
So that doesn't necessarily mean adopting all the techniques, and the specifics that have come throughout this period of time. So if it's 19th century, in this location, that, you know, that this, this particular type of therapy, or this particular method was introduced, that were somehow bound to that, however, we should reclaim the overall sentiment, the overall spirit of Muslims being charged by the Quran and Sunnah to actually think holistically about about the cure. So Did I say that right? Do you agree with that statement? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I think it's important here to realize that, that this was happening and it didn't happen in a vacuum, it happened because
they were inspired by what they learn from the Quran and the Sunnah. And also integrated modern the science they had at the time, which was Greek medicine, actually, and did exactly what I'm speaking about. Now, they took from Greek medicine, what was useful and got rid of what was not an actually integrated in Islam into what was now Islamic medicine. Right. And I think we need to do the same with modern psychology actually, where we take what is useful and not just take it wholesale, but also not go straight back to the ninth century, because there's so many more advancements that have happened that are very helpful, and there needs to be a really great integrated system for holistic
healing of response. Zack Hello. Hi, Dr. Lamia, so I'll leave it to everyone to give sort of their you can comment on what Dr. Tanya said or you can just share you know in 30 seconds one minute sort of a final message and shall and then we will wrap up inshallah Tada. So the floor is open in sha Allah
or I'll just start calling you inshallah, one by one.
All right, so we'll go back in order of where we started inshallah. So brother comes in sha Allah, any last words for us in sha Allah.
This Nachman or him? I'll say
We're all being tested. And just think about the say Shaykh Omar in high school being the sixth nine point guard.
Let's say that one day after practice, the coach comes to his parents and says, Hey, we think Omar is going to be a great player, but I need to test him. And so the next day Omar's in practice, and he gets called for a bunch of files. He, you know, he makes a great move across over and, and the referee calls in for carry, so it's a violation. So it's meant to frustrate and the coach sits and downs on the bench. And all of a sudden, he's not starting. And so now he's, he said, He's depressed. He goes home and he tells Baba, Baba, you know, I don't know if basketball is for me. Remember, Baba understands what the coach is doing. And he says, Hey, you know what? Your Omar, you
know, you're a great brother, you're great. You come from a great namesake, you know, maybe just stick it out just a little bit. And then so he takes that attitude and goes back the next day of practice. And he tears on his teammates that are starting, he runs as fast as he can during the drills. And so the coach sees that. And then he puts him back in the starting lineup, and Omar goals and he leads his team to the state championship. What's the point of the story is Allah has chosen you, and it's only by his permission, and he's not going to put a burden on you greater than you can bear. So this test is only so that we can achieve the championship which is genital for those, but
not but don't forget about here in this vise. So that's why we say what I've been adding acid dunia has now that he has no option other than not all I give us given this life gives you in the hereafter and save us from the tournament and fire zakk Wylde car for having me. I said I'm only from one
kilo height. And just to be clear, I'm not six, nine. I was in that video that you and her saying made like a while back where we had the when y'all were doing the 30 days. And you said that was 612? seven foot like people were actually like, Is he really? Not? No, I'm not.
And the story is not is not entirely true. But the lesson and shall we say disputed.
But the lesson is sound design. Look, I really appreciated having you on.
Dr. Fuller, you're up next. And
just like on the last hearing to everybody on the panel, I think we got some amazing calls to action, whether it's that we need to know our history, we need to know all the resources available to us. And most importantly, we need to develop a deep, deep relationship with Rob with our Lord. And just being able to call upon him. Whenever we're in those moments of uncertainty, you're in those moments of difficulty, just like myself, again, really powerful reminders.
more pleasure once again, have you Dr. Hassan
zachman. Pleasure, and I will see the following. As my brother comes I said
it's not about the test. It's about the performance in the test. The test is not necessary that
the test that is might be the best thing that happened in my life. But my performance in the test depends on what I did before the test. So the meaning I want to leave with us is the problem.
Our performance, what we do in the times of Fortune depends on how we went in the times of why we speak about mental illness. It is not about curing an illness. As you can see, we're getting vaccinated in I don't have to get the COVID and then search for a cure. Similarly, there are tools that are things in our spiritual practices that might allow law when we practice. It gives us resilience. And it shows when the time comes. And I finished with the saying of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Barbara in Allah.
Jatropha should go ahead and learn about Allah know about Allah, learn about those tools, learn about mental health, learn about those things in the times of difficulty. And Allah will make himself known to you in the times, you know, in the times of difficulty, so we learn in terms of ease, practice those tools practicing for nvic, you know, learning so that in the times of courtship, we read into one prepared with this, and if that's the case, the test will be an opportunity for us to show show off in front of a muscle panel that does that combine, combine Dr. Hassan, Dr. Islam
speller, just like Hamza said, and you and you always say be it, have has no one for Allah subhanaw taala always have the best assumptions of Allah subhanho wa Taala. And for all of us to remember that he is the one who gives and he's the one who in his man out right he's the one who prohibits and everything that he either gives or deprives us of is for a hikma and for us to have that good assumption of Allah Subhana
Without that when he gives us he's doing it out of his love. And when he doesn't give it to us he's also doing it out of his love because he wants us to grow and inshallah through that positive mindset of Allah subhanaw taala will actually achieve the benefits of both both blessings blessings, when we're given and blessing and we don't have something Hello, Mark Hello Hi, Dr. Ronnie Annie, I know you just spoke but inshallah any last word inshallah.
I would say quickly that there's two things that really come to my mind when I think about suffering and intestine chill. I'll just share those quickly because the loss of Hannah Bella taught, you know, the prophets I said, that you know, many of you, they love to be here and you'll slip in who which whoever a lot intense good for that he actually sends them an affliction that betters them. And this is actually found in karate. And it's really strong because it helps us cognitively reframe difficulties. And cognitively reframe any stigma also attached with suffering, because the suffering person actually is very beloved to Allah subhanho wa Taala. And one of the most and the ones who
sends the most tests who are some of the most beloved, and when we think about it, from that frame of where the Prophet sought us Aaj have been the embodiment, many in a medical co-located. But wonder is the fair of the believer that there is good in every matter that comes for him to her. And I think that kind of real framing helps you realize that this is not a
boat of tribulation, but we will get through it and there is something better here. If we were patient and work our way through it, and then in the hereafter inshallah santa
monica lewinsky can look more faded to all of you for your wonderful contributions, and we lost Dr. fata teams, but I know we're grateful to each and every single one of you for your valuable contributions and we pray that Allah subhanaw taala ease the afflictions of everyone that is going through any hardship that Allah subhanaw taala see us all through our difficulties and that Allah Subhana Allah grant us the best of this life and the best of the next and analyzers that allow us to be amongst the companions of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and gender for those alone. I mean desikan a little higher than most other levels. There might have been a Mohammed one, it was
like a dream. Or Santa Monica, Allah He will
select
after Lima