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people wonder sometimes what is the
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point of therapy is it just talking and
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somebody else listening who's not even
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part of your family or related to you
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what good or use is that no one path
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Network sat down with one of the world's
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leading Muslim Professionals in the
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field of psychology her name is Dr Rania
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Awad she's a clinical associate
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professor of Psychiatry at Stanford
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University and he's also the director of
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Stanford's new Muslim mental health and
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Islamic psychology lab she has also
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studied Islamic Studies in Damascus
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Syria and is certified to teach Quran
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Islamic law and other branches of
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Islamic Sciences may Allah protect her
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and yes she is perhaps the best person
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to ask difficult questions about Muslim
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mental health and we had a lot to cover
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mental health is seen as a very modern
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field to your knowledge that the prophet
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Muhammad
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ever touch on Mental Health the prophet
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sallallahu alaihi wasallam taught us
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quite a bit about mental health first
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and foremost from his own example so as
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Muslims we look at the example of the
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prophet sallallahu and to follow in his
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footsteps and one of the main things
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that we learned about the prophet
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sallallahu alaihi wasallam is that he
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was very in tune with emotions including
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his very own and we look at the
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prophet's life
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you see that he had a difficult period
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in his life that the historians call
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amenhosen or the year of sorrow or
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sadness and in that year many things
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happened he lost his very close
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companion his wife
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his protector his uncle as well and in
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that year there was also an economic
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boycott against the early Muslims and
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they were heavily persecuted and so many
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more things happened within that year
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that was very very difficult for the
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prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and
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as you look at that timing in history
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you find that while he was sorrowful and
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while he had experienced grief there was
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always a deep dependence on Allah to see
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him through and through that example we
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learn what happens when we go through
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turbulations difficulties when we're
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Afflicted with grief and sorrow
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ourselves and we follow in his example
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because that is what Allah sent us he
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sent us a person who is able to in the
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most perfect example of how it is that
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you heal we see it through the prophet
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salallahu he experienced grief just as
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we experience it and sorrow just as we
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experience it there's a beautiful
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narration in which we learn from the
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prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in
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which he says
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good for he actually sends him
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difficulties or tribulation and that
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might seem counterintuitive it may seem
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something like why would that be the
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case but actually what we learn is we
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have to reframe the way we think about
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it if Allah sent us something that's
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very difficult he's also taken an oath
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upon himself
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that he will not burden us more than we
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can bear and so if he sent something to
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you that's very difficult he's going to
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see you through it just like you wake
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woke up this morning and you took your
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first breath of the day you may not have
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even thought about how Allah gave you
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that breath to be awake today and that
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when we go to sleep at night there's no
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guarantee that we get up the next
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morning and this is why part of the of
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God that we give that we say the morning
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of God is
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one of the very first things that we say
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in remembrance of Allah is to thank him
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and to say
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alhamdulillah right we thank Allah we
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give praise and glory to him
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alhamdulillah
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praise to Allah the one who gave us life
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after he gave us death and what we mean
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by that is sleep is like a small death
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and when we wake up in the morning and
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take that first breath that's something
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Allah gives us yet sometimes we're not
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fully connected and yet when you connect
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to the greatness of Allah when you
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become more God conscious you then
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understand that earlier Hadith we quoted
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about the prophet sallallahu alaihi
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wasallam that when Allah is in control
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when you know that's the case and you
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know that Every Breath You Take Allah
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gave it to you that also means every
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tribulation and difficulty that you face
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Allah also gave that to you too and when
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he's given that to you he's also
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promised he won't burden you with more
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than you can bear so he'll also give you
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the ease and ability to get through it
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and that's the beautiful thing about the
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believer we cognitively reframe and
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shift the way we're thinking so when
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difficulties come our way we don't call
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them difficulties we actually see them
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with a silver lining of blessing that
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comes with them too this is the way of
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our Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
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this is how he got through Ahmed hose in
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the year of sadness and how we should
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get through our difficulties and
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tribulations as well
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is it true that mental health issues can
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arise from a lack of faith and
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spirituality mental health issues are
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multifactorial they can come from any
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One Direction it's important to
00:04:38
understand that sometimes mental
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illnesses are biologically driven
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meaning that they are something
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potentially hormonally or there may be a
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neurotransmitter deficiency that is
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actually affecting the reasons why you
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have a mental illness it could be also
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genetic that you have a long family
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history of people in the family that say
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have anxiety
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or depression or it could also be
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Environmental something that's happening
00:05:02
from the environment around you let's
00:05:04
say for example you've lived your entire
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life without any mental health problems
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but then just about Allah you've
00:05:10
experienced the trauma it could be a
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personal trauma it could be that you
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live in a country in which a war
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happened you saw some very difficult
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things to experience and so it's not
00:05:18
biological or genetic but it's something
00:05:20
that happened to you environmentally
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socially or it could be religious or
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spiritual faith-based you have a crisis
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of Faith or a potentially a weakening of
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Faith any one of these aspects could
00:05:33
happen and any of the any overlap can
00:05:36
also take place
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when people say
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you're depressed because you have a
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weakness of Faith this is inaccurate I
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personally have known many people of
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strong faith some of whom have been my
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own teachers in the Islamic Sciences who
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have an incredible amount of religious
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knowledge and incredible aibada or
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worship schedule an incredible amount of
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faith yet subhanallah their tribulation
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in life is in their genetic history is
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that they have experienced a biological
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depression the inability to get up and
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function every day out of bed to get up
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and to go about your daily work isn't
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because of laziness or a lack of faith
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in their case it is something
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biologically hormonally that they are
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dealing with and it has actual
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treatments so to judge them and to say
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if you were to pray more you would not
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have this depression is inaccurate there
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are some of the people that have
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probably pray the most in my life that I
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have met or if you have more faith or
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Iman this wouldn't come to you this too
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is inaccurate could spirituality your
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religion be part of the story absolutely
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is it the only explanation absolutely
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not and I think it's really important
00:06:48
that we do not judge each other and have
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such amount of Shame and guilt that we
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pile on when people deal with mental
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health conditions know that it's
00:06:56
multifactorial and know that to get to
00:06:59
the bottom of it does require assessment
00:07:01
to figure out why this is happening to
00:07:03
you or your loved one Stress and Anxiety
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increasing how can Faith play a role in
00:07:08
helping people that are suffering from
00:07:09
it here it's very important to think
00:07:11
back to what is the purpose of Stress
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and Anxiety if Allah created all
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emotions he created emotions and didn't
00:07:18
label them the way we humans do
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sometimes we label emotions as good and
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bad we say things like Stress and
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Anxiety or depression these are bad and
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we'll say things like happiness and joy
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these are good and will actually put a
00:07:31
lot of guilt we'll feel lots of guilt
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and even shame related to certain
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emotions versus others what's important
00:07:38
to remember is that Allah created all
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emotions so if you look at the verses in
00:07:43
the Quran Allah specifically reminds us
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and he says
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that he reminds us that we as humans
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will surely be tested
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with something of fear and loss of
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wealth and lives and crops this is very
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important because it's part and parcel
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of the world in which we live this Dunya
00:08:11
this Abode of tribulation
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which is very different than the Jannah
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in which we will not have any
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tribulations and when we think about how
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Allah said that these difficulties are
00:08:23
meant to come our way at some point in
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our life we will face some amount of
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difficulty and everyone is different
00:08:28
some people will have their tests and
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trials will come in loss of wealth
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others it'll be loss of health and for
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others it might be loss of loved ones in
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their lives and for some It's a
00:08:41
combination of all or different ones
00:08:43
that are tribulations to them it's not
00:08:45
so much about which tribulation comes
00:08:47
our way because the like the Ayah says
00:08:48
they're meant to come it's about what we
00:08:51
do with this difficulty what do we do
00:08:53
with the stress what do we do with these
00:08:54
anxieties well here is where the Hadith
00:08:57
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
00:08:58
wasallam where he reminds us
00:09:02
seek out treatments o Servants of Allah
00:09:05
and that means that there are in fact
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treatments that help for the kind of
00:09:09
difficulties we see we face so when
00:09:11
someone has stress there are ways to
00:09:13
modulate that stress entire Sciences
00:09:15
related around this and some of these
00:09:18
techniques or tips are learned in
00:09:21
therapy people wonder sometimes what is
00:09:23
the point of therapy is it just talking
00:09:25
and somebody else listening who's not
00:09:27
even part of your family or related to
00:09:28
you what good or use is that no when you
00:09:31
go to therapy these are people who are
00:09:33
trained as professionals and have
00:09:35
learned the techniques to help you with
00:09:37
certain difficulties you're facing such
00:09:39
as stress or anxiety and it means that
00:09:42
you're going to a person of knowledge
00:09:44
here too we look to the Quran Allah says
00:09:49
and reminds us that when we do not know
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we must ask the people of knowledge who
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do know
00:10:00
so ask the people of knowledge if you do
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not know so if you're sitting here
00:10:05
thinking I have a lot of stress or I
00:10:07
have a lot of anxieties and I don't know
00:10:09
what to do about them what does your
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religion say to you it says seek out the
00:10:13
people of knowledge who do know and have
00:10:15
learned the techniques to help you along
00:10:17
that is part and parcel of what therapy
00:10:19
is all about maybe you might have a
00:10:21
condition that's actually biologically
00:10:23
driven or has a genetic loading to it
00:10:26
and it may mean that it's more than just
00:10:28
therapy that's going to be needed maybe
00:10:30
you might need medications here too but
00:10:32
we won't know when you won't know unless
00:10:34
you consult with the people of knowledge
00:10:35
who have been trained and they're able
00:10:37
to do an assessment and figure out for
00:10:39
you is therapy sufficient is medications
00:10:42
needed perhaps both or could the roots
00:10:45
and the origins of the stress be
00:10:47
something different maybe it's
00:10:48
environmental social something
00:10:50
difficulty is happening in your life
00:10:52
maybe you've experienced the trauma and
00:10:54
need to process that or maybe it's
00:10:56
something spiritual and it could be a
00:10:59
combination of all of these things
00:11:00
because mental illnesses are in fact
00:11:02
multi-factorial they come from different
00:11:05
perspectives and depending on that comes
00:11:07
your treatment to which your Dean also
00:11:09
tells you to seek out treatments and
00:11:11
help so knowing the background
00:11:13
understanding why these emotions come to
00:11:16
us in the first place and then having
00:11:19
our religion tell us to seek out the
00:11:21
help needed and to seek out the people
00:11:23
of knowledge who have this information
00:11:25
is part and parcel of how you heal and
00:11:28
how you get better inshallah many people
00:11:31
often feel reluctant to reach out for
00:11:32
help especially if they are deeply
00:11:34
religious how can people overcome this
00:11:36
one of the reasons people sometimes have
00:11:38
a difficulty in reaching out for mental
00:11:41
health help especially if they're a
00:11:42
person of faith is that they don't find
00:11:44
that there's this connection to their
00:11:45
faith or how to actually use their faith
00:11:48
to help themselves get better and so as
00:11:50
we said before it's important to get the
00:11:53
help needed in order to get better in
00:11:55
terms of mental health but it's also
00:11:57
important to know that your spiritual
00:11:59
being is part and parcel of the story
00:12:01
and in order to heal
00:12:03
especially if you're a person of Faith
00:12:06
your spirituality your Deen is part of
00:12:09
the healing process
00:12:10
and so to bring that into the discussion
00:12:13
with your care provider is very
00:12:14
important to be able to lean on the
00:12:17
verses of the Quran and the Hadith that
00:12:19
specifically talk about and remind you
00:12:21
that you're not going through this alone
00:12:22
that Allah is now going to burden you
00:12:25
more than you can bear and that that
00:12:26
reminds you that other or fate that
00:12:29
Allah has written these very things but
00:12:31
is also there on your side to bring you
00:12:34
through it that if he's brought you to
00:12:35
this difficulty he will bring you
00:12:38
through it insha Allah experiencing the
00:12:40
loss of a loved one can be extremely
00:12:42
traumatic how can Islam help people
00:12:44
through these situations
00:12:48
the great deal of loss and hardship in
00:12:50
his life and because he's our Exemplar
00:12:52
and who we look to whenever we are
00:12:54
dealing with anything difficult in our
00:12:56
life it's really important to understand
00:12:57
and see where it would happen in his own
00:13:00
life related to hardship and loss one of
00:13:02
the beautiful narrations
00:13:04
and also very heartbreaking and
00:13:06
difficult is the time in which the
00:13:09
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam lost
00:13:10
his own child his son Ibrahim was in his
00:13:13
lap as he was taking his final breaths
00:13:16
and the prophet sallallahu alaihi
00:13:18
wasallam showed us how it is to be the
00:13:21
most perfect of all humans but to be
00:13:23
human nevertheless he was tearing and
00:13:26
tears were coming down his cheeks and
00:13:28
the sahaba who were standing around him
00:13:29
saw this as companions and they asked
00:13:32
him about this because they too wanted
00:13:34
to understand how do you deal with loss
00:13:37
and hardship the prophet sallallahu
00:13:39
alaihi wasallam said
00:13:41
foreign
00:13:51
but we do not say that except which
00:13:55
pleases our Lord in this narration you
00:13:57
see something very important happening
00:13:59
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
00:14:01
is acknowledging
00:14:03
human emotion it is only natural and
00:14:05
normal at a time of loss
00:14:08
to cry to shed tears to feel sorrow like
00:14:12
he says in the heart to feel sorrow but
00:14:13
even in that there is a balance in not
00:14:16
saying that except which pleases Allah
00:14:18
and what he means by that is we don't
00:14:20
reject the khadar or faith that Allah
00:14:23
has given us we understand that this is
00:14:25
a tribulation because Allah has said he
00:14:27
will give us tribulation loss and
00:14:29
difficulty so we don't say why me how
00:14:32
come rather we accept the father or the
00:14:35
Fate Allah has given us and we work with
00:14:37
it in order to figure out how to heal
00:14:40
and get better and so when you see the
00:14:42
story of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
00:14:43
wasallam many stories of loss in his own
00:14:45
lifetime to remember that he lost all of
00:14:49
his children except for one in his
00:14:50
lifetime that is very hard for a parent
00:14:53
to bury their own children one after
00:14:56
another this Exemplar of the Prophet
00:14:58
salallahu alaihi wasallam teaches us and
00:15:00
helps us frame our own losses and our
00:15:03
own difficulties it also reminds us that
00:15:06
we have a right
00:15:07
upon ourselves our own bodies and
00:15:10
ourselves to be able to take care of
00:15:12
ourselves during times of hardship and
00:15:14
loss there is another narration that's
00:15:16
very beautiful in which two companions
00:15:18
of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
00:15:20
wasallam
00:15:22
was very excitable
00:15:25
and he said I'm going to pray and not
00:15:28
sleep and I'm going to fast and not
00:15:30
break my fast he wanted to just worship
00:15:31
Allah and His companion friend synonym
00:15:34
said to him and reminded him
00:15:37
some beautiful words of wisdom that when
00:15:39
later the prophet salallahu alaihi
00:15:41
wasallam heard these he said man has
00:15:44
spoken the truth and what were these
00:15:46
words we know them because of the Hadith
00:15:48
narration that collects them and it says
00:15:51
I said manifest he said
00:15:54
that you have a right that your lord has
00:15:57
a right upon you
00:16:00
your body or yourself has a right upon
00:16:02
you
00:16:05
and your family has a right upon you too
00:16:07
and so when you put this in together you
00:16:09
see the Islamic understanding of taking
00:16:12
care of ourselves not going to any one
00:16:14
extreme or the other not denying our
00:16:16
emotions you see the tears of the
00:16:18
prophet and not also denying our ability
00:16:20
to get that help or blaming everything
00:16:22
on our mental illness or difficulties
00:16:25
but rather to say here is here is our
00:16:28
fate and loss and tribulation is part of
00:16:31
the story but so is healing and getting
00:16:33
better could you give us three tips from
00:16:35
our religion to protect our Mental
00:16:37
Health
00:16:37
when we look at faith-based ways to be
00:16:39
able to heal and to really have better
00:16:42
mental health going forward let's think
00:16:44
about three specific steps the first
00:16:47
let's think about the importance of
00:16:50
understanding Allah
00:16:52
and where who we are in relation to him
00:16:55
one of the beautiful narrations
00:16:57
is knowing who Allah is through his many
00:17:02
different attributes and names
00:17:04
any of these names that you hold on to
00:17:06
are going to be very important for you
00:17:08
the 99 or no more names of attributes of
00:17:11
Allah find the ones that speak to you
00:17:14
there's an important narration that says
00:17:20
I am as my servant thinks I am so find
00:17:25
the attributes of Allah that speak to
00:17:28
you when people think about Allah if
00:17:30
they only think about
00:17:33
Hellfire or Vengeance they are losing
00:17:36
sight of the very important aspects of
00:17:38
Allah the names that he calls himself
00:17:42
the most merciful the most compassionate
00:17:45
when you think about names of Allah that
00:17:48
remind you of how it is that you're able
00:17:51
to get through any of the difficulties
00:17:53
hold on to those because that is going
00:17:56
to really help you through your
00:17:57
struggles number two
00:18:00
robot having acceptance of the decree of
00:18:04
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala here too we
00:18:06
find important narrations where the
00:18:08
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam is
00:18:10
teaching us that Allah has already
00:18:12
predetermined for us our life yet we
00:18:15
have to we don't know what that is and
00:18:17
so we strive and struggle to be able to
00:18:19
do our very best and it's very important
00:18:22
this narration where the Prophet teaches
00:18:24
us
00:18:25
that of all the people of the world were
00:18:28
together to harm us they cannot except
00:18:31
by the will of Allah and if all the
00:18:33
people of the world were together to
00:18:35
hurt to help us they also cannot accept
00:18:38
by the will of Allah the Pens have been
00:18:42
lifted and the ink has dried when you
00:18:44
think about it from that perspective it
00:18:47
doesn't matter if that person in your
00:18:48
life or that boss or that neighbor or
00:18:51
whoever it may be that's giving you a
00:18:53
hard time it does not matter who they
00:18:55
are exactly because ultimately Allah is
00:18:58
greater than them and every person who
00:19:00
is has a around a person like a pharaoh
00:19:03
like who's so difficult there is Allah
00:19:06
above them and so when you put things
00:19:08
into perspective it shrinks down our
00:19:10
anxieties and troubles back to real size
00:19:13
and that is really important because you
00:19:16
realize that no one can harm you except
00:19:18
by Allah's decree and if it happens it
00:19:21
was written and if he brought you
00:19:22
through the struggle he'll bring you
00:19:24
through it as well and if good is coming
00:19:26
to you it's also coming to you from
00:19:28
Allah in addition to your own good works
00:19:31
as well
00:19:34
nothing will befall us except that which
00:19:37
Allah has decreed that having that that
00:19:40
contentment that knowledge is going to
00:19:42
help you through and thirdly
00:19:44
Helm or forbearance this ability to know
00:19:48
that all of the difficulties that have
00:19:50
come your way not only were decreed and
00:19:52
you have the acceptance of that not only
00:19:55
were they ones that are part of your
00:19:57
journey and struggle but having the
00:19:59
forbearance to to deal with that and to
00:20:02
go through life knowing that you're not
00:20:04
alone to remind yourself
00:20:06
that Allah will never give you more than
00:20:09
you can bear he will never test you more
00:20:11
than you can bear or burden you more
00:20:13
than you can bear and so with that
00:20:15
you're able to say if Allah brought this
00:20:17
to me he's going to bring me through it
00:20:20
on the other end and having the
00:20:21
forbearance to be able to push through
00:20:23
becomes part and parcel of your healing
00:20:26
Journey insha Allah what should a person
00:20:28
do if they have friends or family that
00:20:30
are struggling with mental health issues
00:20:32
being a friend or family member to a
00:20:34
loved one who is struggling with mental
00:20:36
health conditions is very difficult
00:20:38
oftentimes there is a certain level of
00:20:40
Taxation on wanting that loved one to
00:20:43
get better and seeing them go through
00:20:45
difficulties sometimes it's even more
00:20:47
difficult because our loved one is not
00:20:49
willing to get the help they need and
00:20:51
we're seeing them struggle how do we
00:20:53
help them this is such an important
00:20:55
question because part of the story as a
00:20:58
Believer as a movement as a Muslim is
00:21:00
actually that push to get help whether
00:21:02
it be physical or mental health
00:21:04
conditions we always are told to be able
00:21:07
to get help for ourselves and our loved
00:21:09
ones I remind us of the Hadith of the
00:21:11
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in
00:21:13
which he reminds us and says
00:21:17
seek out treatments o Servants of Allah
00:21:20
because Allah has not sent down an
00:21:22
illness except that he also sent a
00:21:25
treatment or cure and in that case we
00:21:28
are told we must be able to get that
00:21:30
help we need
00:21:31
but how do you do so if your loved one
00:21:33
isn't willing I remind us that one of
00:21:35
the very first rules
00:21:37
in therapy is that you cannot help
00:21:40
someone who doesn't want to be helped
00:21:43
and I know friends and family members
00:21:44
are listening to this thinking how what
00:21:46
a terrible thing to know that you can't
00:21:48
actually push someone to get that help
00:21:52
true you can't because they themselves
00:21:55
have to want that help for themselves
00:21:57
and you will burn out trying to push
00:21:59
them in that direction and they're not
00:22:01
willing but you know what you can do a
00:22:03
couple of things one you can Inspire
00:22:06
them to get help how do you do that
00:22:09
sometimes you need some extra help in
00:22:11
doing so maybe there's someone who's
00:22:13
willing that they're willing to listen
00:22:15
to I think of some of the Elders of our
00:22:17
community when a younger person is
00:22:19
speaking to them maybe it's their child
00:22:20
or someone younger they're not really
00:22:22
willing to listen but maybe when you
00:22:24
find someone who's of their same age
00:22:26
background that they will listen to that
00:22:28
they honor and respect their opinion
00:22:30
you're able to get some leverage so
00:22:33
leverage the older person who is able to
00:22:35
talk to your older family member for
00:22:38
example sometimes it's very helpful to
00:22:40
talk about Islam maybe they're
00:22:42
islamically inclined and so you bring
00:22:44
out the religious conversations related
00:22:46
to our history and our tradition of how
00:22:49
advanced we were in the understanding of
00:22:51
mental health and sex ecology and at the
00:22:53
Forefront
00:22:54
maybe they are somebody who actually
00:22:57
needs extra help because they're feeling
00:22:59
so down and depressed and unable to
00:23:01
actually take the next steps so you
00:23:03
could help in making the simple phone
00:23:04
calls over to the doctor's offices with
00:23:07
their permission to be able to get to
00:23:09
that next step and maybe you're able to
00:23:11
bridge that Gap
00:23:13
sometimes it's none of the above and
00:23:15
rather it's that they're not willing to
00:23:18
do any of these things despite your best
00:23:20
efforts so what do you do
00:23:22
what you do is you get help for yourself
00:23:26
at the end of the day you're willing and
00:23:28
wanting to get that person help so you
00:23:30
should be willing to want to get help
00:23:31
for yourself why do we say this because
00:23:34
a loved one and a family member goes
00:23:36
through a lot in carrying the illness or
00:23:40
difficulty of their loved one so get
00:23:41
help for yourself learn the techniques
00:23:44
to be able to heal and cope with the
00:23:47
difficulty that's happening in your
00:23:48
household and by doing so you very well
00:23:51
may Inspire that person to break the ice
00:23:54
and get the help that they need to
00:23:55
inshallah how can parents develop good
00:23:58
mental health practices for their young
00:23:59
children when we think about how
00:24:01
children are dealing with mental health
00:24:03
struggles it is true in fact the
00:24:05
statistics show that children and young
00:24:08
adults are actually having a more
00:24:09
difficult time with mental health
00:24:11
especially in this era that we're in now
00:24:13
we are still not fully emerged from a
00:24:16
global pandemic and when we think about
00:24:17
what that has meant in terms of mental
00:24:19
health for all people of all ages of all
00:24:21
backgrounds it's definitely been much
00:24:23
more than it ever has been before in
00:24:25
fact now we see this that's showing that
00:24:27
young adults and children are
00:24:28
experiencing mental health conditions
00:24:30
six times more than previous
00:24:33
also we're finding that if you compare
00:24:36
from 2019 right before the pandemic till
00:24:39
today that the rates of depression and
00:24:41
anxiety have nearly doubled from
00:24:43
pre-pandemic times till today so the
00:24:46
question definitely must be asked what
00:24:48
do we do to help the mental health of
00:24:50
our children the answer to that actually
00:24:51
lies in what do we do for the mental
00:24:53
health of ourselves
00:24:55
it's very important to know that
00:24:57
children model
00:24:59
exactly what we teach them
00:25:01
and so when we ourselves are not taking
00:25:03
care of our own selves as adults how can
00:25:06
they take care of their own mental
00:25:08
health if we're not doing that same for
00:25:09
ourselves this is very important point
00:25:11
because in order to make sure that we
00:25:14
are healthy one of the prerequisites of
00:25:17
Islam one of our mahasid as Sharia one
00:25:20
of the actual foundational principles is
00:25:23
the preservation of our intellect the
00:25:26
preserving of our intellect and making
00:25:28
sure that we optimize it the
00:25:30
preservation of our body and making sure
00:25:32
that we take care of it the preservation
00:25:34
of ourselves and one of these these
00:25:37
being the foundations of Islamic
00:25:38
understandings means that it becomes an
00:25:41
obligation to do so and anything that is
00:25:45
also a prerequisite to that in and of
00:25:47
itself becomes a thought this is also
00:25:49
one of the rules in our Islamic
00:25:51
understanding so back to children and
00:25:53
how we take care of them we take care of
00:25:55
their mental health by taking care of
00:25:56
our own as well one of the Islamic
00:25:58
understandings is that you can't give
00:25:59
what you don't have
00:26:04
the person who does not have something
00:26:05
cannot give it so if you are not healthy
00:26:07
and well how do we expect those who are
00:26:10
in our care
00:26:11
to be healthy and well today I find that
00:26:13
many young people are actually
00:26:15
interested in getting mental health help
00:26:17
and care they actually are interested in
00:26:18
seeking out therapy they know that
00:26:20
something is not quite right and now the
00:26:22
discussion on Mental Health nationally
00:26:24
globally is really increased quite a bit
00:26:27
it's becoming less stigmatized yet when
00:26:30
they go to their families or go to their
00:26:32
parents oftentimes that becomes the big
00:26:34
barrier the family says no no no what is
00:26:37
this therapy that you are talking about
00:26:38
what is this need for mental health and
00:26:41
so not only is that adult in that
00:26:43
child's life or that young adult's life
00:26:45
taking care of themselves they're also
00:26:46
becoming a barrier for the younger
00:26:48
person to get that help and so I go back
00:26:51
to the point I made earlier in order to
00:26:53
take care of our health children's
00:26:54
mental well-being we need to take care
00:26:56
of our own mental well-being and to make
00:26:58
sure that we're not standing in the way
00:27:00
of their ability to heal nor are we
00:27:03
standing in our the path of our own self
00:27:05
in healing and to know that this journey
00:27:07
of healing is actually one that is
00:27:09
absolutely Islamic in its Origins
00:27:11
because of the foundational Islamic
00:27:13
principles on preserving the mental
00:27:16
intellect and preserving our bodies and
00:27:18
our health
00:27:19
if you look at it from the core Islamic
00:27:21
value realize that this is part and
00:27:23
parcel of our tradition