Young Muslims and Mental Health. Psychiatrist interviewed by the Muslim prodigy Moeghsien Aghmad
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Channel: Tarek Kareem Harris
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Sam Come on metal liner my cattle well econ Salaam Alaikum Salaam What a pleasure What a pleasure How are you?
How are you doing Dr.
Lila? It is not such a bad day out here in the UK How is it for you down in South Africa and have written that it is going very well it's a bit chilly but Alhamdulillah we are coping and managing. I say desikan located for joining that
my brothers my sisters and have reliable al amin we are very honored to have the honorable Dr. tk Harris was a Subhana Allah all the way from the United Kingdom. And today's topic is mental health and Islam. So panela Dr. tk is a lifelong friend, hon mentum of dismay, mink, and subpanel I have a quite a lengthy bio of this great man that we have with us and inshallah I will take a minute to leave it be the life to Allah. The doctor was born in the United Kingdom, and spent several years in Africa, Canada and Asia. He got his medical degree from the Oxford University and went on to train in cardiac surgery, and then to becoming a psychiatrist focusing on people with long term conditions
and difficult to keep diagnosis. In soo Han Allah, Neva doctor left clinical practice to start coaching performance, individuals in sports and finance, and in the last couple of years have turned to working with medical with media to help increase the awareness of mental health issues in Islam Subhana Allah
The doctor has a YouTube channel, which is the goal is to get a million subscribers inshallah. And the mission should be funded on its own, along with donations from the public and the sales of the doctors two books which he has written insights, some Hana law, and you see it on the screen, instant actions and instant insights of Hana law here on behind me, Dr. Zack allocate for joining. And again, all welcome to Santa Monica. While they like to thank you for having me, thank you, and thank you for such a nice comprehensive.
My brothers and sisters, we are going to have a jam packed live session in sha Allah, Dr. We're going to get right into it. And the first and introductory question, what is mental health?
Well, mental health broadly, you could think about it like physical health. And so there's two dimensions to anyone's health, there is the fitness and there is the illness. So you could say that, you know, if I am physically well, but so I might not have diabetes, I might not have a broken leg or whatever, but I might not physically fit, I might not be running very well might not be in good shape, and missing. Health. There are people who are mentally
they're not you. But they may not be mentally very resilient. So it won't take a lot for them to become ill. for mental health is really all about the avoidance of a lot of things like depression, stress, addiction, all these kinds of issues. But also it's about how do we make ourselves as as as if we're well people, how do we stay? Well? What are the things that we can do to make us you know, have a strong Dean or be positive in life or to achieve our goals. So it's a big, big subject under the law, and it's a very, to anyone who thinks about learning about it, then you are very welcome because we need people in mental health more than most medical specialties.
To love.
My brothers and sisters you just joined we have Dr. tk Harris with us. And our topic for this evening is mental health and Islam. The Dr. Day gave a brief
a brief introduction to what is mental health and Dr. We know it is a huge problem today. And especially nowadays, what are youth, meaning people from the ages between 10 and 25. They have serious mental health problems. So what causes disturbances in our day to day mental well being, especially within the EU?
Well, in the US it's a specific, specific issue because you got a developing mind and as you have a developing mind
described what we have really in the human mind, in the Islamic way, I've broken it down into three different components, you know, so you've got on one side, you've got your nuts, which is like your basic emotions, your basic drives. The other side, you've got your intellect, which is, you know, your logic, your ability to solve problems. And the third one is your heart, which is really what we are judged on your heart is your, your true self, so to speak, and you use your heart to try to make the best judgments going forward. Now, the issue with
mental health in young people is that that's the essence.
And the intellect isn't very strong, the intellect takes time to develop. So when we start developing it, we have five or six years old, seven years old. And so the, and the hard part comes.
So what we try to do is say, well, they use you know, they, there are things that cause us which are sometimes genetic.
But there are things which are stressful in society, which can cause a lot of issues, issues to come come up in young people, you know, the family breakdown, there are strategies nowadays that have not been in the past. There are temptations nowadays, that are, they have not been as strong.
And there are cultural problems, which many youth find it difficult to get through, even if you were a Western youth, you still find it. It's a bit like an Aladdin's cave, becoming an adult because there's so much permission and so much liberty that you don't know really where you should stop. And with Muslim youth, they feel the double boundary, they feel the one boundary from Islam, saying, you know, don't do this and do that. But then they also feel the boundary, and their parents cultural boundaries. And of course, they've got the boundary of society. It's a more complex thing to be a young Muslim these days, because you've got temptations. And you've got limitations of various
different kinds. And of course, there are there there are cultural things which pop up in the life life of a young Muslim, which may not pop up in the life of others. For example, many cultures, Muslim cultures look at things like marriage, and we have, you know, preparation for marriage relatively early on in our youth. Or there are taboos, which Muslim life are more taboo, like, notice people with alcohol issues. What if your Muslim family, you know, it's very shameful to admit there's an alcohol issue? I mean, it's, it's a shameful issue, even if you're a sort of non Muslim family, but it becomes double the problem. If it's a if it's if it's a Muslim family. So you know,
all of this kind of stuff is
I'm only touching on the surface. So what I have to do is, well, I say I could I could spend an hour telling you about the hundreds of different types of issues I come across. But let this not overwhelm anyone. Because if you have an issue, which is troubling you, you own that issue, and it's just your problem. And when you see someone who can assist you, or if you learn about yourself, then you only really have your problems to solve. And whatever it is that you're going through, whatever it is, if there's a family issue, if there's abuse, if there's pain, if there's illness, if there's anything,
you are paid as much attention as anyone else, by Allah, Allah, you know, people say all you mess up on a periscope of the Arizona pedestal, allies watching you as much as me as much.
So you never need fear. And that the difference between me and a sort of non Muslim psychologist is the Allah factor. What I do is I bring in the Allah factor and I say this, how the Muslim mind works. And we potentially have an advantage when it comes to understanding the Muslim mind, both scientifically and religiously. But at the moment, it tends to be a disadvantage, because I think many people will agree. Many young people feel that actually being you know, those we love, many of them feel like being a Muslim in their society is put is putting them behind, you know, and we need to turn that around. We need to be the ones who mostly mean we're at the top at the front of clients
in front of mental health, you know, four or 500 years ago and it is people like myself, people like you, people like Mufti who will come and we will try to advance us there is no problem too big for any young Muslim out there. Let me assure you reach out. And if you can't find someone to help allies there, just be patient. You will get that help.
Panama doctor is true and
a lot of our Muslim youth
They feel that Islam is pulling them behind. But they we know that there's number the number one person to speak to our problems. He's the one who created us. It's beautiful. He said in a school but he wasn't me, you know, I only complain my aggressiveness and my sadness to Allah subhanho wa Taala. So on that note to our viewers, you can ask questions in the little question box, and inshallah we will take some questions. So I think Dr. Very, very important points made there, that always number one on top before anything else is unlocked. Number one, nothing comes between you and your makeup, no problem should be easy enough that Allah cannot solve it. And so panela very
brilliantly said they're not there. And inshallah I think we're going to go to a question from our viewers.
So someone think, Okay.
Okay, there is a question.
On the screen there that says, Is it possible to completely heal mental health or heal mentally? Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, yes, just just as much as it is possible, to completely be cured of the physical disease, you know, whether you have an infection or anything, it is completely out of a mental disorder. And just like physical disorders, mental disorders are different kinds, you know, there's some physical disorders, which you can't get cured from at the moment from science. But you know, inshallah, science is advancing, and we will find cures for them given time. But there are some issues, which are sort of, they'll come in, they'll go, just like baby people say, you know, I got
arthritis, and my arthritis comes and goes, there are some people who get depression, for example, and they say, I mean, depression comes and goes, just like a person with arthritis.
And there are some issues where you might get it once, and it never, ever comes back.
Yeah, I had a bout of depression or psychosis or the anxiety disorder. So it is definitely possible to be cured. And in fact, you know, the other factor comes in here is, even if you think there isn't a cure, Allah is very, very, very, very wise. Because whereas the doctor might say to you, there's no cure, there is no hope.
We have to accept that. If you have been given a disease without a cure, you are actually potentially very, very blessed. Because Allah said to you, I'm going to give you a burden, right? This is your burden to live with. Nobody's going to be able to help you. But believe me every second you live with that burden is going to be like a year in general it's going to be like 20 years in jail not because you were born blind little child, you were born deaf little child. Were born with leprosy little child, believe me, the when you bear this burden, there will be not be a second that goes unrewarded. So what that teaches us now you might be a non Muslim, and go, Hey, you know, these
are just saying things just to make you better. But let me tell you this, scientifically speaking, when we compare religious children and religious people with chronic disease, to those who don't have religion, we find that those who have religion actually do much better in terms of their prognosis, in terms of their happiness in life, and in terms of their life achievements, because they have this belief and that belief affects everything, their heartbeat stronger. They, they relate to things better, they have hope. And hope is extremely important. In most psychology, in anyone mental health. If there's one thing that I say everyone needs, no matter what.
And Islam is nothing, if not a very hopeful religion is one thing you need is hope. And we can you've got bucketloads of that in Islam Alhamdulillah will never be incurable. Allah
Subhana Allah doctorly we see that the cure for any of our diseases lies in the hands of Allah subhanho wa Taala even though science and doctors may say that there is no cure, but Allah subhanho wa Taala and as the cure and now coming to our next question on cure, and before we tackle the actual questions, inshallah, Silas, for your mental state, where can you find it? Besides finding it will doctors? How can we find that sunless without makeup? Yeah,
very good question. And in fact,
This question is probably quite central to the work I'm doing on YouTube tend to channel that our mutual friend Mufti. You know, he said, you've written a couple of books, what do you want to do? Oh, it would be nice if I could give this stuff for free to people. And he said, Well, why don't you make YouTube? I said, Hey, I'm not
much has gone well, but essentially, solace is about really mental well being. And mental well being is something which not many people know about. Mike asked a lot of average guy, you know, what does it mean to be physically fit? And He will say to you, I know what it is to be physically fit, you have to eat right? You have to do exercise, you have to, you know, look after your height.
And then you say, Okay, well, what does it mean to be mentally fit? And the guy will say, Well, I don't quite know what that means. I just means maybe don't get depressed, don't become anxious. That's you telling me a lot of things not to do, but what is the thing that I must write. And so I'm looking at that. And the formula, there are four or five areas, which I know, a person must look at, in order to be to find some solace that Allah has made those areas clear for every human being. And if you can pick, there's five main areas, if you can take three out of the five boxes in between, okay, four out of five, are the wonderful, five out of five.
Okay, less than three out of five, to one or two. So the four, the five areas, I'm gonna try and recall them, there's only five, but you'll forgive my memory because I'm a busy busy guy. So they might slip up, here we go. Okay, so the first one is autonomy. autonomy is a person's ability,
I am free, and I can do what I wish to do. I am relatively Oh is in my family, I have permission to flow my own self. Right. That's number one. If people don't have that, they suffer because they think
family etc. The second one is mastery. And mastery is when you feel you are you have something to offer that is your own. So a girl might feel okay, my mastery is, you know, I'm very good at cooking, or I'm a very good runner for my school team, or I'm very good at maths. And a boy might feel the same, I am a good cook, or I'm a good dad, whatever.
And then the third one is relatedness. The fact that you can connect to other people, many people say you know, I don't feel good when I'm disconnected from people. But when I don't have any relationship or friendship, or love, and you know, scientifically, if I take even a cat, I take a baby cat from its Mum,
and give it everything that it needs milk water, but if I don't let it be near its Mum, and I don't touch it, that capital died
out doesn't happen. That's because Allah has demanded that we as living creatures need to be in contact with each other. And if we don't have contact with each other, we suffer, you can give the cat everything it needs. But if it doesn't have its parent around, or at least another cat around, it will die. But it's the same for human beings, we need that sort of reassurance that we are part of the community.
And the other third, or the fourth, or the fifth one, right? So the fourth one is a higher purpose. Now the higher purpose is our sense of direction in life and our sense of connection to a lot, right. Most people need to know that there is something bigger than the day. And if you give them that they will almost get through anything is a great writer called Viktor Frankl who was actually a Jew who underwent the Holocaust, you know, and well, he survived the camps. And he said, You know what, a man can survive almost any got, as long as you give him a why. So anything you put through If you say no, but because God is there, I will take it, I suffer anything. I know there's a bigger
purpose, right. And that in itself is extremely for any human being. And there are kids there might be listening, watching, who are open to horrible. But if they know that at the end, I'm going to be out of it. And my suffering is not going to be in pain, then they will get through it. and forth. Sorry, finally, is the nicest one of all, or at least the cutest one, which is moments of joy. Everybody needs to have every day, two or 3567 little little things that just make fun. It could be someone else smiling at you like, you know the
smile, you can make, you know, open the doors of genda for somebody if you smile, and or you might do something that like you might be nature, you might just appreciate something beautiful look at the cloud and go in. That cloud looks like what it looks like. I'm just so happy to be here.
I try to teach people about these things. And my videos are really focused on ways that we can make ourselves to be more resilient. And find that solace like you say solace is, well the closest thing to solace is contentment. And there's a very good Hadith about contentment, which probably in Arabic version, but the Prophet himself was known to say that you know, true contentment is not your
contentment is in mental contentment, that you can have all the wealth in the world. And you and I know that you see rich people, I've been to South Africa and you know, like, there are happy people in the poorer areas laughing and smiling, go drive thru center, you see very rich people driving very expensive. Next, why is that? And yet we think all wealth will bring me happiness, it does. So in a long winded way,
which I hope you can forgive me for, but I, this is where I exist. This is the stuff that I wish to bring to muslimin because there are many people out there who think there's no hope for me, I'm not happy. But if I just give them these five things, and I say, well focus on this focus on that, inshallah, they will find themselves feeling increasingly happier, and they can reclaim that solace that we all seek.
Lava activa, Allah Subhana Allah, the doctor giving us their five tips to get that solace. Doctor, we started at the end. Now we're going back to the beginning. And this is a question that came through to me, from one of our viewers, they asked, How can one identify at an initial stage that they need to have?
Yeah, okay. Okay. Well,
to spot that you have something that goes wrong in your mind. Basically,
everyone needs to have a touchstone sometimes people might identify it, because somebody else says, you know, you've been burning yourself out, you can tie it. So the first thing to say is people don't necessarily gonna know. And if you there's people around you saying, you know, if there's more than one person who said, you know, it seems like you're not yourself, especially men, were pretty bad going, and I'm going to be fine. But you must listen. And you must be aware that if people are teaching with kid gloves, or people are sort of saying, you know, it looks like you haven't taken enough risk, we mustn't be macho and go, Oh, you know, I'll be fine, I'll be fine. Actually, we have
to open our eyes and go, perhaps this is something that I'm intentionally. Secondly, there are ways in which you can work out yourself, there are biological aside, your sleep has changed, and you're losing sleep, or you're sleeping too much. If your physical health suffered, if you feel your energy levels are low, and you just can't really get through the day, you just wake up thinking, I'm not me, I'm really there's something missing me. And it's as simple as that. Most people will wake up and they can tell you, no, I don't need to give you a science degree for you to say, Are you feeling yourself today? And if the person says, Yeah, overall, No, I'm not. Okay, good. Not good. But at
least you have an idea that something is, so then you can work through it. And I'm not expecting anyone to be an excellent, because if you had a physical disorder, and if you had diabetes, I wouldn't expect you to diagnose yourself. So neither should you expect yourself to diagnose anxiety, or depression, or go and seek professional help. Right? Or if you're not feeling so coffee, you don't waste their time, go online, there's numerous places where you can see these are the signs of depression, D, those are signs of anxiety, and you can look for those, and inshallah, when you find them, you can say, yeah, I'm not feeling 100%. In fact, what I am developing is a little instrument
that people can use, inshallah, I'll be launching an app soon. And that app will have a check in function. And the chicken function asked you three or four questions. And, inshallah, if you can answer those to your question, it will give you an idea of, Oh, you know, is there something to worry about you they have instruments in medicine for that goal and things like the GHQ 12, it's very common. If you're listening to you can google it the GH to 12 general health 12. And that's 12 questions that doctors can ask somebody. And if you score a slightly above that level, then the doctor will know Oh, you need to see a psychiatrist because even family doctors may not know exactly
what's the what's the issue, you know what I mean? So, there are ways but if I was to simplify it, do you feel yourself and if you're not sure, has your sleep suffered? Has your appetite suffered? Do you feel aches and pains? Are you just losing your zest for life? And if that's the case, then maybe reach out to somebody you know, you know, and at the very first time, all you should always know who's already reached out before.
You can just remember that, you know, he's already inside. He's already there. If you wake up to that fact, then you can have a bit of energy. Oh,
If I can find some help here, okay, so, so don't lose hope. And if you're not sure you will never waste anyone's time by saying, look, can I just take out with you? If I'm right or not, I don't feel like myself. And that's often only takes, it only takes
doctor telling us how to initially see and find out if you need help, and inshallah The doctor is working on an app that would inshallah help many, many people to handle a doctor. Yeah, are so many so many questions. That's, that's coming through, and I don't even think we're going to have enough time
to answer all but inshallah Dinah inshallah. Donna. Okay, some, some people asked not to share their identities and mutual respect that is a question from somebody who says, How to deal with mental and physical abusive parents, when they are now better than before. So this person's parents were abusive, and they were mentally and physically abusive to this person.
Does this person deal with them? If they are changed, but the memories and the trauma is still in their brain?
Okay, yes, well, that that is a well, it's both good news and bad news, at least, they are not in the throes of being abused right now.
But there are the scars, which they have endured from from previously. And you know, there are many, many, hundreds of 1000s of children who are in this situation, not even just children, grownups, you know, adults, wives, brothers, sisters, who are suffering at the hands of somebody who is perhaps, sometimes they're not themselves.
Like, for example, there are parents who may have an issue with depression, or with alcoholism, or addiction or gambling. And during those times, they can become very irritable, unpredictable, as violent or might neglect their family. And finally, what goes hungry because the guys, you know, all his winnings are lost, he's lost his wage packet, or he has too many drinks, and he, he stays out or he's hurtful? And the answer really depends on the cause. Assuming that the person has reformed, then obviously, there are relationship issues, which need to be looked at. And it really depends on the person, as in the person asking the question needs to be sort of taken through a number of
steps. What do you feel about your relationship with the person? Are you willing to forgive them?
Are you Are you still angry at them? Do you still want justice? In the past, but you prosecute them? Because that's still an option? What is it that you how do you connect to that person? How much do they do you want to do with them? And how little Do you want to do with them? Then we look at the consequences of the abuse, as well. So when you suffered from something, what did it? What effect did it have on you? Okay, so you might have physical scars, but actually, with most of us, it's the mental scars that are more troublesome. So there may be some things like, post traumatic stress disorder is a big problem, especially in young people who have been beaten, or physically or
sexually abused, they have this constant fear that it's going to happen again, they have this constant
sense of feeling that they've worried that something else is gonna go. But they're, like flashbacks, like, they'll have moments where they think it's happening to me again, or they'll avoid certain triggers, like they will never go near, you know, smooth, like they might
have used for a record so there'll be very little see the color red, is we addicted the brain might do. But understandably. So we have to pay attention to those symptoms and say, Okay, well, is it a mental disorder, and we can deal with that as well. They can be medicines, they can be talking therapies, and they can be spiritual guidance. And it's that those things together that we need to look at you with any one person, there's some people might,
I've had to deal. I, you know, I've had a life when I've been dealing doctor with people of all religions or no religion, and if they don't have a religion, I'm not gonna force them, I'll say, Okay, well, you don't have a spiritual, let's just do the, the scientific element. But then the other people say, No, I'm just
I need to connect with God. Because when I was being hurt, I felt that God forgot me. I was asking a lot about why I do this. And they need to repair that relationship as well. You know what I mean? And I might need to refer them to somebody who's better I
nearby who will be able to say, Okay, now what? Let's try and work because to repair your relationship with God is very fundamental to a lot of people and especially children, who has been hurt, they will come out questioning, they'll come out. They they will have a number of questions which may not have easy answers from somebody who doesn't know the religion so
I know it sounds like a very kind
of answer, but it really does depend person.
What I can tell you is that for every 10 people on trauma, very severe trauma as a child, roughly, the numbers are basically, I think five and four and one, meaning roughly five of them will come out.
Something horrible happened to me, and along the line fine. Yes, the person was bad, and well, whatever, I'm not really interested, I'm moving forward, four of them will come out with some kind of variety, they might get PTSD, or they might become violent themselves, you know, you'll see a lot of like criminal behavior, violence is repeated to families, and the young guy who's been hit by his parents is going to grow up to become a violent guy, that kind of thing.
And then there's one final category, the 10th, who Allah is blessed, some people actually come out better through trauma, because it appeared, polished up, they will come I think I will, I'm now going to become an advocate, I'm going to become somebody who, who stands up for everyone who's heard. The good news is I've worked with people from across that and I've really worked out ways of trying to push them towards that category. When you go through something awful. There are ways in which people can work with you to make you come out of it potentially, not just not just okay but potentially stronger than ever. And would it be it wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if we could do
that?
And Mashallah, we having the technology and the sciences now and it's definitely about in my coming videos, whole issue of violence and abusing in childhood and younger years. So canon law does aka like a to note that x is the, the person's question in Sharla. And on that, note that my brothers and sisters, the doctor, he does have a YouTube channel and shout out to Hannah. And I urge you all to subscribe to it. Doctor, if you could share the name channel of the YouTube channel. Yeah, so it's called mental wealth with Dr. tk Harris. And
just a description of mental health, mental well being. But mental health is good, because it's not really just for people who have mental problems. Because as you read with my bio for last three years, prior to this Islamic work, I used to work with very high performing individuals. So I worked with people like Formula One, racing driver, bankers, lawyers, people who are achieving at the very top of society. And so I worked with them. So what is it that makes them go? How do they achieve their goals? How do they go even higher than than where they are?
They have worked across the spectrum. And what I've accrued is mental wealth.
And I wanted that back to people so that even a person with depression can say, you know what, I'm My aim is not to get better. My aim is to be the best. Well, I will say to that person, can't, there is no reason why you can't Don't let anybody think, oh, because you've had a mental illness. Or that you can, the best you can do is go and work in a supermarket or something. No. In fact, there's some new research that suggests that there are higher rates of mental illness in extremely high achievers. Did you know that?
No.
And he was right all along. Because there are people who have, who have who have achieved very high, you have to look at some sporting heroes, like the Olympic cyclist, Chris Hoy over here. Michael Phelps.
Those guys have had histories of depression, ADHD, and they do have How can somebody who's suffered so much come out with so much? Good? So handle is all about
along with sort of everyday tips, how do you become more resilient? How do you deal with your emotions? How do we understand friendships? How do we deal with issues in relationships?
It's a sort of a walk through what I think is the essentials of mental health, mental health, with a strong scientific and a good Islamic sort of background, so that people who can look at this and go I don't feel guilty that just secular non Islamic stuff, it doesn't relate to me, this I can watch guilt free, and I can go Yes, I can. I can believe in this, and inshallah it can help me will help someone else. My aim is that if we get enough followers, then inshallah I can start giving the stuff away from me. You know, I funded all of this my books and whatnot.
But if I get I
will start paying for this. So if I get a million, then in future, you know, I will be able to set up clinics, and anyone in the world will be able to ring up and say, wouldn't it be so great
If that will happen,
it will
happen it will happen tomorrow and just keeping faith that you know that like us getting the word like this, it will happen inshallah. Insha Allah Subhana Allah, may Allah subhana wa Adana grantee to become a success. It's a really great initiative and I urge everybody to subscribe to mental well. Some handle adopted took that question right out of my mouth. I was about to ask about mental health and have to explain it beautifully. So had a lot of my brothers and sisters. Isn't it amazing?
What our technology can do, by you subscribing inshallah you will gain on that reward because Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says Mandela and sad can say that whoever contributes to something good, you will gain on that you would. So if you just click that subscribe button by the will of Allah subhanho Adana, you will gain on anything that the doctor will do your gain on that reward and imagine on the death dilemma, how many rewards you will get? An Allah Subhana Allah Allah bless everybody, and the gradual fade in all your problems. I see doctor, many people have said they are going through some problems. So we may derive it Allah Subhana what Allah makes it easy for them.
inshallah, Doctor, I think we're going to go to another question. And I think I'm going to take one of my questions in sha Allah. Are we taking the viewers questions, and I forgot about my question. So panel up. But, Doctor, we are in a world crisis, unprecedented times. We are in lockdown. We are in the time of the COVID-19. We are in the time of the Coronavirus have handled law.
So does all this have an effect on a person's mental well being? And an A person's mental?
Well, yes, I think
with anyone who's got a reasonable understanding of the mind will go Yes, this is, well, it's not necessarily going to cause it's not automatically going to cause a problem for
and but it is, it is a change. And people struggle with dealing with change. And it depends what that change means for you. If it means that you used to go to school, and now you feel lonely, because you can't go to school, because you stuck at home, then you'll be bored, and you might feel sad, if it means better job, but now you don't have a job. And of course that's going to impact and make you feel inadequate. And financially, if you become ill, with the disease, you're going to have all sorts of fears, and May Allah help you to survive it.
But there are also there are also people who will go through this
unchanged or they'll survive it, they'll just take it in their stride. And there are people there as a minority will actually thrive because of the change because they they have the opportunity to grow their business for example, you know, for people with running online shops, for example, is that there's two guys selling the same thing. one guy's got a shoe shop in the in the city, and the other guys just selling online. This COVID is gonna make one guy succeed and the other guy fail. You know, it's not it's out of it just proves that you know what, no matter how good we think we are, luck and make something happen and it will change our fortunes inside out. You know, the guy with the shop
might have been boasting, Hey, I got too many customers and the guy who's selling shoes from his garage is feeling ashamed. Now, nobody's going to the shoe shop, and the guy with a garage full of shoes.
So there are winners and losers. But in in, in all situations, a Muslim can be a winner because when God brings us change, there is an opportunity. And when God brings you crisis, there is an opportunity and there is really no lose situation. For those who have the right mindset. No matter what you suffer, no matter what you do, no matter how much you screwed up your life, deliberately or not. Allah is there he's waiting. And he gives us change in order for us to test ourselves. Any people who have succeeded, really, and they've lost their jobs. Well, the benefit to them is they're gonna go closer to Allah they think, you know, I used to be so proud. I used to be selling cars I
used to sell now nobody's buying my jewelry I'm on the street goes to Allah. Now you tell me who is boo healthy the guy now while the guy
you know. So there is no such thing as as as changed without without the possibility of improvement. And these challenges are there are people who will find it very difficult and I'm not here, one of these endlessly positive, positive sort of coaches who go Oh, there's no such thing as suffering. Oh, no, I don't think there is
If you're suffering sins,
but also notice that there is light at the end of every single tunnel, and whether you're going through something now or you go through it later, if you have faith, if you have a strong character,
it through from one minute to the next to the sometimes you might just think I'm getting through this day and it feels like 10 years just to get through the day. That's fine. And we all have days like that. And if you can survive those days, you can survive anything. So don't let nothing let nothing take away from that.
I've got a God and he knows every single hair on my head. Do I think that I'm alone? Yes. No, no, no, no. Bring it on me. What else is gonna happen? Am I gonna lose my job? Am I gonna lose a car?
What will happen? If I lost? Yeah, you can take my hands and feet as well, nothing's gonna.
Does that make sense? So I'm trying to give it a good context, if you like.
And all that we look at the colon and you say Palais de
la luna, will say to them that nothing What happened to them, except if Allah subhana wa Taala has ordained it to happen. So no matter what happens, it is all in the essence, the ultimate plan of the Almighty. And his plan is always the best, the best plan to handle and Allah subhanho wa Taala is sufficient for us. We don't need the riches of the world, we can be staying in a small, small sink house. But if we have a light in our life, you will be living the best life. And it's true when we see people living in mansions, and we're not brushing everyone with the same paintbrush.
But if we look, and we see people in mansions and in cars and they don't have a line their life, that means nothing. And if you see someone living in a small, small house, and they have a lot in their life, it's like the living genda in this wallet. And I think on that note, we have gone a lot over time, like we agreed upon. But inshallah, on that note, I would like to ask Dr. For anyone suffering, whether it be mental health, physical health, loss of a loved one, loss of wealth, loss of a job, you're suffering through this pandemic, inshallah, we'll ask doctors encouraging and motivating final words to all of us in sha Allah.
Allah Abdullah, well, you know, there is no,
they, they say that improvement always comes from change. And so if there is no change around you, you should be suspicious. And one should always be looking out for opportunities, try to be happy, if you are going through a difficult time, it's usually because you're looking at the wrong things, or things that distracted you from the opportunities to be happy. I know, the poor man will be happy for being given one slice of bread, whereas the rich man will be unhappy because he's lost the whole bakery. Now, those are relative. And where you said before you were saying, Well, if you've got a lie in your life, then you just use a lot is mental wellbeing. And essentially, when you have mental
well being you have a resilience to the world. You can take the happiness, the happy things and deal with them, and enjoy them. And you can take the sadnesses and you will not be too fazed. And it is there's a line from a poem that you can greet, triumph and disaster and let neither be your master. And that is the essence of Islamic well being is the sort of, to be in the middle, to be neither too happy when things are going great. And neither too sad, when things are disastrous. Because neither of those things are our two masters are two masters is Allah and how we feel inside if I decide that I'm going to feel okay today, then I can shut my mind out, outside and go. I just want to feel
alright today. And most people who can who do that will have an OK day. And if you can't, then I listen very carefully. Seek help. Never think that you have to suffer alone. Listen to what Allah Himself is saying go and seek help.
But you don't know everything. If you don't pretend you know everything, go and find somebody who will help you. Okay. And so please do reach out because you should never suffer alone, especially with things that are eminently dealer dealer builders. And thank you so much for having me. I've noticed my battery's also dying. I'd love to talk to you more.
But maybe we can set up another one you can cause it
And on that note there, we would like to say jack who will allow for you to Dr. tk Harris, for joining us this evening on this very important topic of mental health and Islam, Dr TK Jazakallah Heron for accepting and this is surely not our last night session does not come along.
inshallah, I will speak to you again very soon. And once Allah to all the listeners and watchers out there, inshallah and all of us and also Salam alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh