Assalam Valaikum,
I am a young man of 20+ age. Since many years, I have been suffering from mental health-related issues (i.e., depression, anxiety, panic attacks (very rare), negative thoughts, extreme emotions, and sleep paralysis (rare)). This doesn’t occur always, but rather once in 2 or 3 months or sometimes more or less frequently. This severely affects my focus on studies & other useful tasks that gravely impacted my scores and performance. I cannot understand the exact cause of these issues. I don’t consider it to be due to some sort of influence of Jinns. Actually, As I am a weak-hearted individual who thinks a lot, get tensed promptly even on trivial matters might be the reason for this; or might be due to lack of proper sleep (really don’t know why this happens!). I am suffering from other health problems too from a very young age, which makes me distressed. To be honest, I am not a strict follower of Islam who prays 5 times a day, reads Qur’an daily, etc. I don’t want to bear it further in my life. I detest being a weak-hearted person who gets panic quickly and messes up with many things. I wasn’t able to acquire any job just because of the fear of interviews, presentations, etc. Currently, I am unemployed. Kindly suggest me an Islamic remedy for making my heart strong, always feel stress-free, get rid of all painful mental as well as other health problems.
Answer
Wa’alaykum as Salm wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
The following five actions should be done many times daily:
- Itighfaar,
- Durud,
- Recitation of Quran,
- Dhikr of Allah
- Refelection on the greatness of Allah.
Together with doing these, you should go for therapy, and consult with a proffessional doctor. If need be, they will put you on medication, or advise you on other steps to take.
Consider mental problems as any other sickness. Turn to Allah, then go for treatment, and at all times place your conviction on Allah.
May Allah grant you complete cure and happiness.
And Allaah Ta’aala knows best
Wassalaam,
Ismail Moosa (Mufti)