Yassir Fazaga – The Prophetic Remedy 03
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the concept of anxiety and how it is a natural feeling. They emphasize the importance of acknowledging and accepting the challenges of life, avoiding health challenges, and modifying one's behavior to avoid anxiety and grief. They also stress the need for patientity and practice to avoid loss of eyesight, and emphasize the importance of finding people who have done good work to others and creating positive environments to be useful and helpful. They also mention a study that found that people who have done good work and enjoyed their success were happier than those who did not.
AI: Summary ©
Are we the guy who initiates on the rajim Bismillah Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah in the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Most Merciful All praises due to Allah and means peace and blessings be upon our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. I begin by greeting all my brothers and sisters saying a Salam aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato. And as always, we'd like to begin by praying to Allah subhanho wa taala, that all of you out there, your loved ones, your neighbors, and your families are in the best of health, the best of spirit and the strongest of faith, or Brian Amin, and welcome to our nightly halters. And as we have been saying, In sha Allah,
we are discussing anxiety that is related to the current situation that is taking place. And tonight, I would like to discuss with you in short, a lot of Prophetic teachings
as to how to deal with this. And just as a refresher, please remember what we said about anxiety last time, we said that anxiety is this very unpleasant emotion, that we feel in anticipation of something going wrong in the future. And we said that this emotion
at times is vague, we do not know what what is driving it is unpleasant, meaning that it is not something that people actually you rejoice, or they look forward to, people actually do not like the experience of being anxious or being in the state of anxiety.
Sometimes anxiety is very natural, depending on what is going on. That would be like we said, you're anticipating an exam waiting for a result you're in a court hearing. So that type of anxiety is natural, it is 100% acceptable. What we are concerned about is chronic anxiety, and that is people who are just in this constant state of anxiety. And usually what happens at that point is that there are two things that are taking place, there is the emotional symptoms of anxiety, and then also anxiety. Interestingly, subhanAllah comes with physical symptoms, as well, when we said that the emotional symptoms of it is this constant fear and worry always in the state of anticipation, the
feel that something is about to go wrong at any minute. And then as far as the symptoms, I remember reading, that there are at least about some people have said that there are about 102 different physical symptoms of anxiety, dry mouth, lightheadedness, blurred vision, feeling that there is a lump in my throat, trembling or shaking, or any of these, any of these
things. And what we wanted to do is learn more about the prophetic
remedy and how did the prophets Allah, Allah wa salam deal with this, and what did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam on peach, and please remember
that when we speak about acknowledging anxiety, see there is a difference between acknowledging something and encouraging something acknowledging anxiety in the circumstances that we are in does not equate that we are encouraging, we're just acknowledging the fact that it is taking place. So when we speak as far as acknowledgement is concerned, we are saying that it is natural, it is normal, if you've been feeling it, the situation lends itself to people feeling this way. So please do not feel guilty. Do not question you know, I am religious, and I'm not supposed to be feeling this way. That is absolutely not true. And again, please forgive me for repeating this, but this is
so unbelievably important. A believer can be very tender in their heart and simultaneously also very troubled in their mind and that does not take away from them whatsoever. whatsoever.
So, and we said that also in Islam, there is this idea of when people usually ask, why is it that people experienced the same event, however, some people experienced the event and they do not necessarily have anxiety and other people who experienced the same event? They may have anxiety. This is a really, really good complex question. There are so many different factors that that determine this. There is a
Absolutely the learned behavior. There are personality traits there is maybe history of abuse or trauma and negative experiences. There is also the way that we react to mental and emotional stress, there is also brain chemistry and genetic factors that are all to be explored in this case. And also interestingly, there is something called susceptibility, some people are more susceptible, in in in
to be the recipients or those who experience anxiety more than more than others. So nevertheless, then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam speaking about anxiety, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam never
forbade the presence of anxiety. In fact, we said that it is the prophets of Allah Halima seldom acknowledged it, and then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us how to how to deal with it. And as we have said, In Islam, the beautiful thing here is that
life is not supposed to be worryfree. That was never a promise that was made to the believers. If anything, Allah's pantalla promised that I'd hold off on an insanity cupboard, that man is created and created with, you know, by virtue of being alive, that they're going to be difficulties. And what happens at that point is because they're going to be these difficulties acknowledging this. What happened is that now the Quran is shaping the attitude of the reader of the poor, as far as life is concerned, because we said last time that the way you see live determines how you live life. And what we see is that in a crusade, more than at least 50 places in the Quran, Allah subhanaw
taala speaks about what life is like, and so on. There is a beautiful Hadith insha Allah that I really, really would love to focus on. And that is where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam speaking about about this thing, a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim Narrated by Abu Ghraib, Ronald Callahan, who the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, matter mini commercialization. Let us read how to Emmylou whether yes or no we will see will Bella hometel pneumonias, epi commiserations or little RC platter, tests you have to start so he's Allahu alayhi wa sallam said that the parable of a believer is that of a crop, which withstands the wind, for the believer continues to endure the
suffering of trials. The Parable of the hypocrite is that of a see that three, four inch does not budge, until it is uprooted. And as you know that the Quran uses this idea of parables, parables are really, really powerful tools in conveying a message. They are supposed to be short, or most of the time, they might be a rhythm into them. They are supposed to be impactful. They're easy to remember, but they're also easy to recall. And what was beautiful about parables is that they are able to condense so much meaning in in in, in literal words. And by the way, this is not just something across human cultures, people use this idea of parables. In the US for example, people will say I am
between a rock and a hard place or people would say I am barely keeping my head above water meaning that this constant struggle and so on.
So the Quran, as well as the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, they both use the idea of parables in, in conveying a, a, a message. This one is a beautiful, beautiful parable that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, he said that a believer is like a crop, you know, it's standing upright. But when the wind blows, what does that crop do in order for it to survive? The crop actually bends along with the wind, acknowledging that the wind is really powerful as means of survival. The crop bends along with the wind. And the processes have said that the winds here are the different sufferings and the trials and tribulations that a believer faces. Acknowledging that
right now, this is what I need to do like that very smart crop aid. It goes along with the win, because then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said that the hypocrite does not budge and does not budge until it is completely uprooted. And then of course, once uprooted you
never coming back again. So here the Prophet sallallahu alayhi salam is telling us that certain types of tribulations a believer must actually go like the crop with the wind. And remember, this is in terms of acknowledging, and not necessarily encouraging and the fact that I am accepting something does not necessarily our acknowledging something does not necessarily mean that I am accepting it. Because remember this certain losses in life, we must accept as a new reality, and certain losses in life, we need to get up again. And there is this beautiful serenity prayer. And I believe it's, it's repeated a lot within the Christian circles. And this is truly a prayer where a
Muslim believer can truly say sincerely they can see me. And that prayer called the Serenity Prayer, you're supposed to pray and say, saying, God, give me the strength, to change the things that I can. And give me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change. And give me the wisdom to differentiate between the two. It's a beautiful draw, it's a marvelous, marvelous job.
So what happens now is you say, God gave me the strength to change the things that I can, and the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change. Because we said, the challenges in life are two types, some we can change, and others we must accept.
Recipe for misery. A recipe for disaster is when we attempt to change the things that we must accept. And we accept the things that we can actually change. So for example,
death,
death is a calamity, there is nothing that can be done about death. So what does the Prophet salallahu alayhi salam teach complete surrendering the Lahemaa herdsa What a homer Arbab for Coolessay Ananda hoping to Allah belongs what He has given to Allah belongs what he has taken, and everything that is done by him is done with due measure
an invitation to complete surrendering, because only complete surrendering is the wisest thing to practice at that moment. And what we need to do is the serenity to accept this
certain health challenges, you know, what we do is that we change, we accept and sometimes we need to modify, okay. Once we are faced with certain health challenges, some are permanent, which means that we must accept and some are temporary, which means that we need to modify like the crop that the Prophet sallallahu wasallam said, it is blown by the wind, but once the wind is over, then that crop comes back again and it continues to continues to grow, because withstanding the wind,
it may give us a false sense of being a hero, and it will end up uprooting us. And once you are uprooted, you cannot get up again. And these are these these are beautiful Prophetic teachings, that makes so much not only sense, but these are signs of emotional intelligence and psychological intelligence that is expected of a of a believer. So he said, now these are challenges that the we have to either change face and change, or what we do is that we accept.
And what happens, unfortunately, sometimes is
the things that we can change, the most common remedy that people choose, in order to
in order to avoid anxiety because we really don't like the experience of being anxious.
That which is practice by most people is avoidance. So we avoid situations, sometimes it could be family situations, we don't want to get into an argument we avoid. I'm afraid of this way avoid I remember I had a client very beautiful brother Mashallah. I had a very successful job and he just did not like to go under a bridge as he was, you know, driving
And sometimes that just made it very difficult. So what he ended up doing is that he would find all these different routes that do not necessarily include driving under a bridge, okay? So this is what we call avoidance. Now, certain things if we avoid, they may not really impact our life. So what we do is that you know what, you avoid it, then you move on and that's fine. But then once the avoidance start impacting our lives, that becomes a, that that becomes a big huge problem. So we need to know which challenges we must accept
which challenges we need to change and which challenges we need to modify. So in this beautiful Hadith, the Prophet salallahu Alaihe Salam is given this beautiful summation as to how intelligent A believer is in making sure that they do not play that role of a hero. So that they do not end up like the cedar tree that is, that is uprooted. Okay.
And then also, you know, the different
different Hadith as far as the,
as far as the Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wasallam, you know, we would speak about these different challenges. He would speak about a person who lost his eyesight, for example, and this is this is one of the most unfortunate things to ever experience, but it is reality to some people, some people have really lost their eyesight, for whatever reason, accidents, diabetes, or you know, whatever, whatever has happened. So, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would speak to these people and he say, and he will say, well as to have a better he has our tesab Lamb Arden, who's 11, Doonan, Gemini, again, the Hadith collected by Imam Timothy, the prophets Allah Allah Allah wa salam speaks,
that you know what, who has ever lost his eyesight, and they have patiently persevere, so that the only acceptable reward for them Allah says is paradise. And please remember when we say that a person is patiently persevering does not mean that I do not feel the pain.
I don't know why. But we equate patients with the lack of feelings that is humanly impossible. And and if this is what we teach, it is very cold. And it is very inhumane.
Nowhere in the Quran, doesn't ever, you know, teach these things. They're just humanly not not possible.
Give you an example.
Yaqoob Ali salaam, the father of Yusuf alayhi salam, he loses his son, Yusuf alayhi salam for a for a long time. And yet the Quran tells us that he was a very patient man. Yet Jacoba Salam really displayed a unbelievable amount of grief. He was grieving for his son and for the loss of his child, so much so that Allah subhanaw taala tells us that something happened there is for real, but I know minute Herzing that his eyes went blind out of grief. And he said, Wait a minute. See, losing an eyesight is a physical, it's a physical issue. Grief is emotional.
Are you suggesting because the Quran is saying that the loss of his eyesight was due to grief from Jambo Dinah hominid person, for those who speak out of it. Men here means because of mean SLV.
So what happens now is, which is very common. Sometimes people would have emotional challenges that they're going through. And these emotional challenges would exhibit themselves in a physical form. You are afraid fear is emotional. But then your heart starts pumping faster, it starts beating very fast. So even though what you're feeling, it's emotional, but the way that it is exhibiting itself comes in the physical comes into physical form. Sometimes you hear a story, and then you say, Oh, I'm getting goosebumps. Or I can feel the back on, you know, the hair on the back of my neck.
Standing. I don't have hair on the back of my neck. By the way. I'm just using an example here. Okay. So now what happens is us we speak we speak this way, in a sense that I was having an emotional issue
You burden exhibited itself in a physical form. But going back to this idea of a person who patiently perseveres does not mean that they don't feel the pain, that will just be unreal, unbelievably inhumane for us to either accept or expect or promote such a thing. If you are
patiently persevering, you are 100% allowed and permitted of course, to feel that, to feel that pain, and sometimes to even display your pain, the prophets of Allah, Allah wa salam, he lost his son, and he was crying so Allah, Allah wa salam, and people did not expect this from the Prophet of Allah, because they thought that if he is a prophet of God, then he is supposed to be exhibiting some serious amount of patience and people came out and they said, the prophets of Allah Rollinson and what is this prophet of Allah? What are you, what are you doing? And then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam told what to believe, or they said it in the military man said Indeed my eyes tear
up, we're in Cambodia. Indeed, I experienced grief in my heart, wala Nakoda lmao.
But we only say that which is pleasing to our Lord Allah subhanho
subhanho wa taala. So, that is the first thing as that as we are meeting these,
these challenges, okay.
And, and the second thing that we have been talking about is the importance of attitude. Please remember that attitude is contagious, attitude is contagious, depression is contagious, and anxiety is contagious. And when we speak about attitude, we are talking about the emotional responses to different situations that we go through different people that or ideas that we react to, an attitude encompasses all the things that one does, that outwardly reflects one's mood, feelings, and
beliefs, you can also think of attitudes as the mental tones, and the outward expression of one's thoughts and feelings, that affect how we act or the ACT and invariably influences how others react to us. All just to put it very simply, we can say that attitudes or indications of one's approach to daily life, so please remember that attitude is contagious, and the better of an attitude or the most positive on a sort of an attitude that we, that we that we exhibit, then that's what we are influencing what how we are influencing those who are around us. And that's why we say positive attitude is contagious, do not wait to catch it from others, but rather be the carrier and pass it
on positivity. Like knowledge, when share is not have, but it is double. I love this
positivity. Live knowledge, you know, when we when we share knowledge, if I tell you what I know what I know, there's not become less because now I'm sharing it with you. To the contrary, what I know can potentially become more simply because the more I share it, the better I know. But then I share it with somebody, then they ask questions, they add their thoughts to my thoughts, and now it actually doubles. Similarly, positivity is like, the more we share of it. It does not split, but rather it actually doubles if I am positive, and my neighbor becomes positive as a result. That's two people being positive not I have half of positivity. So please, in these times, please be the
bearer and the carrier of good news. We all know what's what's been there. We all know that the number of cases of you know people who have been infected with Coronavirus now the US exceeds the number in China. We know that so we can all be exposed to this news. That's fine. Remember, a positive person a person with a healthy attitude is not necessarily a person that is that denies reality. But this is all about where do you choose to have your
vision and energy and time focus. So we will be bearers and carriers of goo
News and positivity. And as you all know that the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wasallam, not only just about, attitude about about the past, but also our attitude towards the future, it influences our own mindset towards the rest of our life, being positive about our life or the life that is ahead of us is amongst life's greatest motivators. Hope is the best attitude towards the future, realistic expectation that something good or better could, will happen Insha Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah me continually doing the best that we can, Inshallah, you know, one of the, in one of the courses that I teach, I teach Islam and psychology, and in one of these courses, we speak about the concept of
hope, in the Quran, compared to you know, we compare it to what science tells us, but also we compare it to the Western attitude as far as hope is concerned. So, there is attitude towards what is happening right now. And then there is attitude towards the future, the best attitude to have towards the future is this idea of hope, that insha Allah things are going to get better this realistic, good, positive, realistic expectation, a good outcome for what happens in the,
in the future.
In addition to that, you know, we part of the attitude that we also carry is this idea of living in the, in the presence. Now, remember, we can look at the past, learn from the past, and appreciate our memories, we can look into the future, set our goals,
the more we remind ourselves of the responsibility of the presence, the better we get at living the moment, the better we live the present moment, the better the consequence for the futures
for the future becomes, okay.
The sad reality is that too many of us spend a lot of time in dwelling in the past, or on the future, that no real attention is paid to the present. The present is all we really have at this point, and it is the most valuable gift. And that is why we need to practice as much as possible. Appreciate this. And that is why in the Hadith, the prophets of Allah is Allah says, in personal journey, mean personally,
that having good thoughts,
is part of excellence in worship, in has no one meet men has a very bad, you know, the idea of having good thoughts and good assumptions is part of mother a burden. Now imagine, imagine Subhan Allah hoping that having a positive attitude or a positive outlook, that is actually part of a person's excellence in religiosity. So it's not just about being hip, it's not just about
it's not just about you know, trying to join the culture or what have you, but rather this is part of our deen this idea of being a better and a carrier of positivity is is really, really beautiful, okay.
And then, of course,
in the
teller will come come to these things later, but something that the prophets Allah, Allah will tell, you know, as taught, and that is the idea of being useful.
One of the best ways to overcome anxiety to overcome depression. And they found this idea of say that when we make somebody else happy, when we extend a helping hand to somebody else, it said that that actually positively reflect on our own lives, and it changes our circumstance as well.
How so? In the Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
Allah convinced you hug or Jaya up Sevilla for internal Jihad he's a beloved baboon of WABA Jana unit de la with Abba ricotta Allah beam in Alam me while the company, he said engage in the idea of jihad struggling to do something good for
the sake of Allah subhanaw taala for indeed this type of struggle, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam says, opens the gates of paradise opens the gates of paradise. But then he said something else. He said it opens the gates of paradise.
Babylon will have our region, it's one of the gates of paradise. And then he said, unit Guillaume Devala, Kota Alharbi Minh and Hamdulillah. Hamid, that through it, Allah saves from anxiety and grief. This is beautiful. If you're out there, send your Salawat on the prophets, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Muhammad wa ala Muhammad.
Because the idea here is the idea of being useful. You know, sometimes remember what I said about sometimes being depressed or being anxious, because of them. We can be so depressed, that we are absolutely isolated and so on. And then we can be very anxious and afraid that we become paralyzed or that we, we freeze, the prophets of Allah Azza wa sallam said, don't, don't, don't do that. Rather, be useful, in love it be useful, be useful, engaging into what the prophets of Allah Azza wa sallam said, you know, some kind of struggle, being good, is a do so at an airport, indeed, it is one of the gates that leads to paradise welcome, aquatint genuine. And then he beautifully
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, you know, Jinda will be emailed to Allah, Allah through sales from sales people from anxiety and from and from the crusher.
So, we've been getting, you know, the questions from the brothers and the sisters in sha Allah. And I want to make sure that I, I answered some of these questions before our time is, is up. So if you have any other questions, I believe that is the link where you can send the where you can send the questions. So being being useful, and being helpful to those who are around us.
What do you do, now that there is so much that can be done, especially nowadays, you know, the checking on people, you know, love the idea of this picking up the phone and remembering people, you know, that would rarely be remembered. And you know, some of our community members are actually like this, people who come to the masjid, people may know them by face, you know, when we see them, we do innovate. And when we don't see them, they we don't, we don't miss them. And it will be so beautiful that every now and then we remember these brothers and sisters, we will just pick up the phone and say, Look, man, how are you doing? Or sometimes you've got people who are just constantly who are in
the state of
they're always helping people, they're always serving people. And they always, you know, in this process of always continuously giving, and, you know, we don't ask as to how they are doing, please, please do that. These are beautiful, beautiful things.
I love the story of
the the landlord. Remember what I said about you know, attempting to make sure that
we were not always, you know, be carriers and spreaders of good news, the landlord who called his tenant, and he said, You know, I know that these days are tough for many people out there. And he said that he was going to only charge her, she was a single arm, he was only going to charge her half of the event. And then he also gave her back half of her security deposit. And he said that I just want to make sure that you are doing that you're doing well. And that's beautiful. Lovely, that is beautiful. You know, we can go into the stories of the people who are holding and buying so many things and what have you. But these are these are things that are beautiful. You know, I know that
people who have reached out to the local hospitals, or coffee shops who reached out to the local hospital to the local doctor said look, it may not be much what we are providing lunch for you today. You know what for the rest of the day coffee is going to be on us. We will provide fresh coffee to these heroes out there. The doctors, the nurses and everybody in that room that's just absolutely Subhanallah crazy in so many in so many ways. Expressions of appreciation are some of the most beautiful things that we all can practice.
There was this study
That was done, you have about seven minutes left, there is this study that was done. And they had about 200 people, it was a very controlled study. And for the weekend, they gave people
a task. And the other group of people, they did not give them a task. And the group that was given a task, it was given a very specific task. And the task that was given to the to them was as follows that, we want you to find at least about eight people that has done you a favor in the past. And you do not believe that you have really, really appreciated them, or you have sent them enough. So what we want you to do over the weekend is we want you to write them a letter of appreciation, a letter, an email, a phone call, but really, that's what we want you to do. So these people, they went home and for the entire week, and they are thinking about the people who have done me good. It was my
fourth grade teacher that was just absolutely loving, understanding, compassionate and nice. I remember one day I did something that was so embarrassing. Yeah, the teacher just, and they start writing about the teacher. And then they remember that they had an operation. And the doctor did such a good job. And they never, they don't think that they thanked the doctor enough. So they started writing a, an appreciation letter to the doctor. And then to say, you know, my wife has been so good to me. And we've been married for so long, I really don't think that I've appreciated my wife as much, and the stock price and appreciation that the wife or to the husband, and then and
they just
they spent the entire week and you know, taking mental notes about different kinds of people and what Harvey
comes back after the weekend. And in the study, they found out that the people who spent the weekend thinking of people to sank and sinking of the notes that they wrote as a form of appreciation, they actually reported a much happier within than the people who were not given any, any task. And that reminded me and Inshallah, this is something that we will talk about the other times, it reminded me of what Allah Subhana Allah said, Woman he has called for in Nama is Quran University, whosoever is grateful, they do so for their own good.
When we express appreciation, we actually benefit from that, more so than the recipient of the appreciation, remember the recipient of the appreciation? They definitely, you know,
they definitely appreciate the fact that they've been appreciated. But overall, what Allah is telling us is that the person who actually is the giver of appreciation is the one who actually benefits most from the appreciation that they are extending to other people for many years in nema. We have currently not seen for many of Korova in NEMA, yet coral cleanup, see, my brothers and sisters, please, please, please be safe. Please be safe, as I don't want to, you know, go back into some negative news. But it's getting very serious. And we have an obligation to protect ourselves and to protect those who are
around us. And I was really say that, you know, what, the as painful as closing the message has been, but I really, really believe that this was the wisest thing to do. It was the most Islamic thing to do. I've been hearing reports about I read somewhere that 23% of the people dying in the UK, or elderly Muslims. And somehow, you know, the idea here is being linked to the people going to the machine. So remember, even though it's no longer the case, young people do not are not impacted by Corona. That's not true anymore. But what happens is that we go out and then we come back to our elderly parents or we come back to our elderly grandparents, whose you know,
immune system is already compromised, and they are frail in their old age. And we pass on these things to them. So please, please, please, please be safe. Please be safe. And if there is no reason for us to be outside, then please make sure that we are not.
We are not outside. Like I said I was just looking into the questions that
We're coming
our way.
And here is one
of my Sunday
if I can't find the one
and you know, it actually would be nice if people can also join by sending good positive stories that we can, that we can actually share with our families that would absolutely be
that would just absolutely be beautiful if we can, if we can do that inshallah. So if if you are able to share these stories with us, that would be
that would be great.
In case
once again, Zack Molossia for spending this time with us, and in sha Allah, we will see you tomorrow please continue to follow our live it's either Chef or Puppet or chef onward. Tomorrow evening in sha Allah continue to send the questions and we will eventually get to them. May Allah subhanaw taala continue to bless us all Europa Alameen. May Allah Subhana Allah protect us all Europa Alameen May Allah continue to keep us all safe Europa Alameen our brothers in faith as well as our brothers in humanity is optimal affair. And as you notice tonight, we're not at the masjid because of the curfew. And we want to make sure that we are respectful of this. Jack Murphy once again as salam
aleikum wa rahmatullah wa barakato.