Finding Verities: #3. Being Sad For No Reason?

*inspired post*

I wanted to write upon ‘being sad for no reason’ but turned out the other way around.

And before I begin, let me acknowledge, until you read the last word you won’t be able to comprehend the truth of this blog post.

Sometimes it happens that whatever you think of turns out to be true by the teachings of Islam. And this happens only when you are twenty-four-seven into Islam. When you are so much concerned about Islam, then Allah removes the unwanted from your heart.

I realized the above because of this:

You are not meant to be five a times a day Muslim. You are destined to be a Muslim for 24 hours a day.

But, then I came to be wrong one day; and I realized I am getting away from Allah. The love in my heart has lessened for some reason which I knew not.qw
This is what Prophet Muhammad Sal’lal’lahu_a’laihi_wa’sal’lam once said when asked by a companion, ‘what Imaan(faith) is:

“If you feel happy after doing a good deed and if you feel sad after doing a bad one, then know that you are a believer (i.e. you have Imaan).”

 

And so I felt I had been wrong somewhere, but knew not where.

And it’s a pity that we try our best to transform the Haraam(i.e. forbidden) into Halal(i.e. which allowed). What’s wrong is wrong. It’s as simple as that.

A believer mate once asked me:
“Why is watching pictures Haraam(forbidden) in Islam?”
I wanted to give him the exact answer which I had learned from a scholar of Islam. But, then I pondered over the fact that not everyone has the same level of understanding; and this is not the best use of wisdom unless a person is satisfied upon understanding and believing a fact. Wisdom is in explaining a person to best believe it; and obviously without deceiving that person with anything less than the truth.

I said to him only this:
“Dear friend, if Allah has forbidden something for the believers then it definitely is the best for us and we can’t go beyond that because Allah knows what we know not. And as far as the term ‘why’ is concerned then there are a lot of psychological facts concerned with watching pictures.
It’s hard to forget what we see, is just one of those.

We need to understand this simple example: “watching pictures are as bad as eating the flesh of a swine” for a believer; both being Haraam(forbidden).
And its a truth that you cannot do the good if you are involved with something forbidden. Making mistakes, or committing smaller sins is a part of our belief. But, we cannot be called true believers if at one moment of time we are doing Haraam and then we think of doing the good to overcome this Haraam.

The reason why I said the above is that what we fail at is doing Haraam considering it a Halal. This prohibits the only hope to return back to the path of righteousness. Doing this leaves no chance to be corrected because we already believe ourselves to be correct.

There’s nothing as such average in Islam. It’s either this end or the far end.

It’s either you love Allah or you hate Him. There’s no mid-way.
It’s either Jannah(paradise), or Jahannum(hell); there’s no mid way.

And if we look down upon ourselves we would start to believe in this for sure. The reason why we fail to be firm and steadfast upon Deen(Islam) is this alone.

Facts vary; truth don’t.

It’s not that being always right creates a sign of excellence or perfection in Islam, but Allah shows us in His way by taking us astray and then bringing us back to the path of righteousness to make us believe that no one is perfect in this world or hereafter, but He alone. And the same happened to me.

He showed me that to err is human; and for the angels, to not.

From the day I started writing about Allah and Islam, I felt a leap in my writing skills. I felt a drastic change in my heart after my life changed completely. The impact my words created upon my heart was growing with every word I penned.
That’s the sole reason I never dropped writing though at some point I wanted to.

A life change is easy.
The heart change is what takes time.

And my thoughts about how to be closer to Allah all the way, and Islam, proved to be true by the principles and teachings of Islam. That was when I realized how much Allah loves me.

You see. How beautiful it is to imagine that out of all the billions of multitudes upon this planet, Allah’s gaze is upon you in particular. Will anyone ever go astray if one remains this way?
Leaving this you to answer.

But, then one day, He eloped my wisdom with my arrogance. That was His wisdom that guided me to the clauses of stratifying happiness and satisfaction me with whatever I had received in this life.

I am writing it straight here. I don’t need to hide authenticity of why it happened what had happened.
I believe in the fact that:

Life is too short to learn from our mistakes. We must learn from other’s mistakes too.

He showed me the way to wisdom and reality through a friendly stranger upon Instagram.

I don’t believe in coincidence. So, yes, it was by the sole choice of Allah that I got tagged to a post where it was acknowledged that the word ‘sadness’ is mentioned in Quran only as a sign of forbidden and nothing else; and that Allah wants us to remain happy in any state of time.

Realization is important. Flawed is every creation upon this land.

I have been a lot wrong. But, this I believe is the first time my thoughts went completely astray to Islam. I used to ponder that we must always remain sad.

I’ll be giving my reckless and withered views so as to why I thought about this thing. But, its true that I don’t stand to my thoughts anymore because what’s wrong is wrong.

There’s never a wrong way to do a right thing and there’s never a right way to do a wrong thing.

“Being sad for no reason.”

This is what I actually scripted earlier on as a principle of living upon this planet.

You know when a person is sad, he definitely needs help. He would do anything to resolve his issues. When a person has a heartbreak, he tends to fall where his heart can be jolly again.
But its a pity upon us, today’s Muslim generation, that when we are sad we switch to sad music and we are happy we switch to rock.
Alas. What a joy!

A drop of tear can bring you closer to Allah. And a moment of happiness can escort into being ungrateful to Allah.

I believed in this because of experiences and mistakes of people, and of mine too. A merry person tends to forget everyone around and amalgamate with the lie that he needs no one now.

Nothing seems wrong in this. Right?
Wrong. Well to be more precise, the above is partly right and mostly wrong.

Now, Quran will reveal what this mind knows not. I try being logical and reasonable at most of the instances that require a deeper say. But, then we know not what Allah knows.

Allah’s wisdom is beyond our intellect. We can’t know everything in this world.
We can not know how water first existed.
We can not know how the wind came into presence.
We cannot know how mountains stand so tall and strong.
We cannot know why so many stars and galaxies.
We cannot know how we became we from a drop of viscous liquid.
We can’t even comprehend why the eight other planets.
This mind of ours is like a spoon-faded baby.
It understands so little and thinks so much. It evolves so little and tries so much.

And so we can not know the hidden truths.
And everything that’s needed to be known is already mentioned in the Quran.
So, Allah knows and we know not.

Quran mentions that:
“Verily, in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest.” (Quran 13:28)

Here I am taking a particular Surah in which Allah clears all the stances of being sad and then bouncing back to Him.

Surah ad Duha

Surah Ad-Duha was revealed to the Prophet (saw) to relieve him of these negative feelings and to give him hope, positivity, and the assurance that Allah is with him no matter what. From it we too can find peace, hope, and a renewed faith in Allah when we go through similar states of depression, sadness, and hopelessness.

So what does this surah say?

Wad duhaa— By the morning brightness

This is the first thing you need to hear when you’re depressed: Wake up, look at the sunshine! Everything in life is not doom and gloom– you just have to look up!

Wal laili iza sajaa— And [by] the night when it covers with darkness,

Why is this aayah immediately talking about darkness? As a reminder to us that the night is meant to cover and give us comfort and rest.

Generally when we’re depressed, we tend to get into a very bad sleep pattern by staying up at night and sleeping all day, thereby worsening our state of mind. This aayah reminds us to use the night as a comfort to ease our distress.

Ma wad da’aka rabbuka wa ma qalaa— Your Lord has not taken leave of you, [O Muhammad], nor has He detested [you].

This is a very powerful verse from Allah telling us that He doesn’t hate us and hasn’t forgotten us– reminding the depressed person that He is always by his or her side!

Walal-aakhiratu khairul laka minal-oola— And the Hereafter is better for you than the first [life].

Many times when we’re depressed we think: Is this all my life is going to be? Is it never going to get better?

This aayah serves as a perfect answer to those questions, reminding us that life of this world is temporary and that Aakhira is certainly a better, more permanent place for us than this world could ever be.

This makes us look forward to attaining our place in Jannah and helps us look at any problems in our lives as temporary tests of our faith from Allah.

Wa la sawfa y’uteeka rabbuka fatarda— And your Lord is going to give you, and you will be satisfied.

A promise from Allah that very soon he will give us a massive reward (Jannah) and we will be happy! Subhanallah!

Isn’t this the best thing to hear when you’re depressed and fed up with this worldly life and the problems you’re facing?

Alam ya jidka yateeman fa aawaa – Did He not find you an orphan and give [you] refuge?

From this verse onwards, Allah gives us reason to believe His declarations and promises in the first half of the surah.

Now many of us may think:  how would this aayah about orphans relate to the majority of us? Think about it– weren’t there many times in your life when you were sick or lonely and felt like you had nobody who cared about you? Who was the only one by your side at that time? Allah! It was He who took care of you and guided you out of that stage in life.

Wa wa jadaka daal lan fahada— And He found you lost and guided [you].

How many of us, despite being born Muslims, have found ourselves misguided and straying away from Islam in the past? It was Allah who gave us that hidaayah and brought us back to the straight path and to Him and made us practicing Muslims. Alhamdulillah!

Wa wa jadaka ‘aa-ilan fa aghnaa— And He found you poor and made [you] self-sufficient.

Many of us have probably gone through many periods in our lives when we have been short of money and wealth. Now when we look back we realize that it was only Allah who gave us that rizq in some form and got us through those tough financial times.

When a person is depressed, giving him or her examples of how Allah has helped them in the past will strengthen their conviction and belief in the promises Allah makes in this surah for their future.

Fa am mal yateema fala taqhar — So as for the orphan, do not oppress [him].

This aayah is the ultimate antidote to depression!

Depressed people are mostly consumed with their situation and feel that nobody could be in a worse situation.

This aayah reminds us to look at people who are in far worse situations than ourselves when we’re feeling hopeless and depressed— Look at the orphans,who have no family or loved ones and nobody to care for them. We have families and parents who love us, a roof over our heads and food on the table and we still think we’re in a bad situation? Subhanallah!

Wa am mas saa-ila fala tanhar— And as for the petitioner, do not repel [him].

Another example is of the beggar – to once again remind us of the many material blessings that Allah has given us that we take for granted – food, clothing and shelter. How many of us have ever gone to sleep hungry? How many of us don’t have clothes to wear? Or don’t have a home to go to?

These examples of the orphan and the beggar are ones we should constantly remind ourselves of to be thankful for the numerous blessings Allah has given us, get over our depression and feel connected to Allah again, out of gratitude.

Wa amma bi ne’mati rabbika fahad dith – But as for the favor of your Lord, report [it].

This final aayah is about maintaining that renewed faith and bond with Allah – by pondering, glorifying and talking about the blessings of Allah! Either in terms of halaqas, discussions with family and friends or even da’wah! Dhikr, reading quran and listening to lectures are also great ways to keep the remembrance of Allah close to your heart!

So the next time you feel disconnected, disheartened or depressed with your level of Imaan and your connection with Allah – read Surah Ad Duha and ponder over its meanings – Inshallah it will restore your faith and increase your belief in the greatness and power of Allah.

——————————–
@Credits- Excerpt of above Surah is taken from UnderstandQuran.Com
———————————

So, being sad is a part of our lives. But, it’s we to choose: to drop a tear in front of Allah or to go on to being a depressed, eventually getting away from Allah.
And happiness constitutes a greater part of our lives. But, again it’s we to choose if we want to be grateful to Allah or ungrateful to Him.

There’s a power in His name.
That can break every chain.

Thank you very much. Thanks for reading. And thanks for your time.
May Allah guide us all.

_Saiz_