Note: This is a summary and reflection based on the article “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well-Being” by Dr. Zohair Abdul-Rahman for Yaqeen Institute of Islamic Research. The original article can be read here.
The Role of Spirituality in Emotional and Mental Well-Being
Ibn Hazm, the famous Andalusian scholar of Islam (d. 1064), said, “I searched for a common goal amongst humankind, to which all would agree to strive for with excellence. I have not found anything other than the vanquishing of anxiety (hamm)1.”
As Ibn Hazm explains, the pursuit of emotional stability and removal of anxiety is a universal principle found across all societies. It knows no social status, class, or financial state. While it is often believed, even subconsciously, that wealth and material gain can lead to emotional fulfillment and happiness, the disparity we see between the developed and developing world in emotional stability doesn’t necessarily correlate with wealth and technological advancement. A research study published in 2014 has shown suicide rates to be much higher in wealthier nations, in addition to lower rates of that population’s perceived value of life2. Regardless of education, fertility, and sense of individualism, religion was found to have a substantial role in this disparity. As a nation gets wealthier, religion becomes less central to life, allowing for less sense of meaning in life3. Religion gives individuals a system that allows them to connect their day-to-day experiences with a bigger picture, and supports them in finding meanings from their hardships and adversities4.
One might initially feel puzzled given that wealth and luxury are supposed attainments that should lead to “happiness,” which is a message constantly pushed on us as consumers. While one may attempt to find emotional stability through material gain, the ephemeral nature of these material gains will not satisfy the intuitive need for balance in the way spiritual development does. In fact, Ibn Hazm points out that without spiritual grounding, the fleeting nature of this world leads one into a state of deep distress. The dreams and aspirations one works hard for are guaranteed to come to an end. Finding purpose in life through seeking Allah (ﷻ), the everlasting, relieves the anxiety of this world. “And as for their eternity, then it is paradise.”
Spiritual Intelligence and the Ability to Process Life Events
Although mental and emotional states have conventionally been defined by pure physiological terms, it is finally being recognized that spiritual intelligence is a key component of the human mind5. Spiritual intelligence is defined as “the ability of a person to process the world around them and discover meaning and significance6.” Islamically, this involves experiencing life while constantly recognizing the signs of Allah (ﷻ) and extracting lessons from them. Failing to see these signs or extracting false meanings out of them are signs of low levels of spiritual intelligence. An example of this is the story of the owner of the two gardens in Surat al Kahf.7 The man was indulged in his blessings while failing to recognize Allah (ﷻ)’s signs within them until they were eventually destroyed as a punishment for his disbelief and lack of gratitude. There were many signs for him to have considered, such as Allah (ﷻ)’s power that was evident by His ability to create such beautiful nature.
It is important to recognize the role of spirituality in mental healthcare, and it is recommended that the medical model incorporates spirituality as a part of the prevention and treatment framework8. The Islamic spiritual tradition has many practices that can potentially be incorporated into that model. The rest of this article analyzes the benefits of a specific duaa (supplication) of the Prophet (ﷺ) that can help with managing anxiety and depression.”
A Psycho-Spiritual Analysis of a Prophetically Prescribed Prayer for Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms
“اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي عَبْدُكَ، ابْنُ عَبْدِكَ، ابْنُ أَمَتِكَ، نَاصِيَتِي بِيَدِكَ، مَاضٍ فِيَّ حُكْمُكَ، عَدْلٌ فِيَّ قَضَاؤُكَ، أَسْأَلُكَ بِكُلِّ اسْمٍ هُوَ لَكَ سَمَّيْتَ بِهِ نَفْسَكَ، أَوْ أَنْزَلْتَهُ فِي كِتَابِكَ، أَوْ عَلَّمْتَهُ أَحَدًا مِنْ خَلْقِكَ، أَوِ اسْتَأْثَرْتَ بِهِ فِي عِلْمِ الْغَيْبِ عِنْدَكَ، أَنْ تَجْعَلَ الْقُرْآنَ رَبِيعَ قَلْبِي، وَنُورَ صَدْرِي، وَجَلَاءَ حُزْنِي، وَذَهَابَ هَمِّي”
“Oh Allah, certainly I am your slave, the son of your male slave and the son of your female slave. My forehead is in Your Hand. Your Judgment upon me is assured and Your Decree concerning me is just. I ask You by every Name that you have named Yourself with, revealed in Your Book, taught any one of Your creation or kept unto Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You, to make the Qurān the spring of my heart, and the light of my chest, the banisher of my sadness and the reliever of my distress.”9
The concept of duaa in the Islamic tradition is not merely the act of a worshipper requesting their desires from Allah (ﷻ). This act of worship in itself helps the worshipper navigate through chaos and tribulation. Duaa provides respite by strengthening the underlying core beliefs in Islam–complete submission through the certainty of Allah (ﷻ)’s wisdom and despite the seeming uncertainties of the difficulties that lay ahead. This duaa can be broken down into four components.
1. “Oh Allāh, certainly I am your slave, the son of your male slave and the son of your female slave.”
- Creates a sense of self-awareness of one’s role in relation to Allah (ﷻ)
- Empowers through the escape from the shackles of dependency on this world in exchange for the attachment to the Eternal One, the only One worthy of worship and attachment
- Relieves through the freedom of submission and surrendering one’s will to Allah (ﷻ)
Therapeutic benefits: Researchers investigated the neurophysiological effects of salah and dhikr, acts of worship that involve surrender to and dependence on Allah (ﷻ). They demonstrated their association with increased activity in our brain’s reward system and decreased activity in our frontal lobe, which can provide symptom relief for anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder10.
2. “My forehead is in Your hand. Your Judgement upon me is assured and Your Decree concerning me is just.”
- Assures that everything occurring in one’s life is only by the decree of Allah (ﷻ)
- Allows one to move forward from mistakes and calamities through trust in Divine Destiny
- Grows the ability to find meaning in adversity and indulge in Allah (ﷻ)’s perfect plan while in a vulnerable state
Therapeutic benefits: Recognizing and trusting the justice and wisdom in what Allah (ﷻ) has written for us can shift our thought process away from questioning His decree. Confidence in Allah (ﷻ)’s wisdom assures us that there is meaning behind what is occurring. We cognitively shift from confusion to curiosity and now want to discover the lessons to learn and the opportunities to grow.11
3. “I ask You by every Name that you have named Yourself with, revealed in Your book, taught any one of Your creation or kept unto Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You.”
- Declares the solution to our anxieties and problems by seeking strength and finding solace in the One who created all, and His every name and attribute
- Represents hope and trust in what is ahead
- Inspires awe and ponderance on the Majesty of one’s Lord
Therapeutic benefits: Positive psychologists define hope as possessing two things: agency and pathways. “Agency refers to the belief that a person can affect the future, and pathways refer to the belief that one has the resources to obtain one’s objectives12.” Here, our sense of agency comes from our confidence in Allah (ﷻ)’s power to change our future, and the pathways available to us are represented by Allah (ﷻ)’s names and attributes, each of them is uniquely fulfilling our needs. From this duaa, we derive a strong sense of hope. Additionally, the sense of awe we experience in acknowledging Allah (ﷻ)’s majesty allows us to experience rebirth and enlightenment.
4. “To make the Quran the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the banisher of my sadness and the reliever of my distress.”
- Calls for replacing sadness and distress that is filling one’s heart instead with the light of the book of Allah (ﷻ)
- Extends the positive thought patterns and seeking of Allah (ﷻ) to a continuous relationship with the Quran: a source of hope, mercy, and guidance
Therapeutic benefits: The Quran is filled with powerful expressions and motivations, reminders of our ultimate purpose, and many stories that relate tales of difficult tragedies, forbearance, triumph, and recovery. The Qur’an features stories of prophets that once experienced abandonment, betrayal, isolation, and loneliness —tribulations that we sometimes experience — and then narrates the light at the end of the tunnel that Allah (ﷻ) placed for them, strengthening our own sense of hope in the recovery from our difficulties. That recovery may come from Allah (ﷻ)’s answer to our duaa in this life, or the ultimate respite of the Afterlife when Allah (ﷻ) rewards one for the patience through their struggles. The Qur’an is a book of ultimate certainty — the speech of the One who created the entire universe and possesses ultimate knowledge of its beginning and end. We have no doubt, therefore, that every promise of recompense, of reward for patience, of ease after difficulty, is guaranteed to ultimately be fulfilled, in this life or the next.
Reflection on the Article
In the study of Tibb al-Nabawi, Prophetic Medicine, it is said that the prophetic prescriptions work the best depending on one’s tawakkul, or reliance and trust in the wisdom of the Prophet (ﷺ) that they will cure. Purely with trust in the Prophet (ﷺ)’s wisdom comes the benefits. A scientific understanding of prescriptions of prophetic duaa is worth an appreciation and continued reflection in the wisdom of the Prophet (ﷺ) and his profound ability in encompassing the most wisdom within the fewest of words. These benefits can be appreciated and discussed, particularly in academic or clinical settings, while asserting that this is not from which the confidence in the prescriptions is derived–that confidence is reserved purely by the fact that the Prophet (ﷺ) is the one who bestowed them. It is important that a purely benefit-based analysis of Islamic prescriptions is avoided. A benefit-based analysis can imply that supplication is transactional in nature, that the fulfillment of duaa is found only when the answer is granted in the worldly life, or that scientifically proven benefits are their most crucial validator. Our opportunities for duaa, and for the prophetic prescription of duaa, are first and foremost an act of devotion. We don’t require a psychological analysis or the scientific method to prove that. Upon making duaa, the purpose of that duaa is already fulfilled, and it is that you have actualized your neediness in front of the One Who needs no one. You have actualized your dependence to Him as your Master.
It is also important to appreciate that the duaa goes beyond asking for God to remediate one’s difficulties: it seeks a change in priority in what fills the heart of the believer. The believer not only wants relief from sadness, but for the humum, the worries, to be replaced by a love of Allah (ﷻ) and His Divine Words. One shifts from a self-centric to a God-centric state of mind.
The Beloved (ﷺ) said, “A strong believer is better and dearer to Allah than a weak one, and both are good. Adhere to that which is beneficial for you. Keep asking Allah for help and do not refrain from it. If you are afflicted in any way, do not say: ‘If I had taken this or that step, it would have resulted into such and such,’ but say only: ‘Allah so determined and did as He willed.’ The word ‘if’ opens the gates of satanic thoughts13.”
The Prophet (ﷺ) here advises us to adhere to what is beneficial for us, and that is in spite of whatever difficulties we are experiencing. The believer’s seeking of help from Allah (ﷻ), while being in a state of acceptance of His decree and continued worship of His commands, allows them to uphold a God-centric attitude in the resolution of their worries. Their asking for His help are in acceptance of their dependence on Him and in appreciation of His wisdom in His decree on them. This is what the prophetic duaa discussed above seeks to do: the believer declares their state of ultimate need for their Lord, they are in acceptance of His Decree over their fate, and they seek to adhere to that which benefits them by filling their heart with His book.
Our difficulties and tribulations within themselves serve as means to finding Allah (ﷻ). The devotional acts we are prescribed help us to establish an intimate relationship with Him, allowing us to seek Him and for His light to enter through the wounds of our broken or bruised hearts. Heartbreak and difficulty can be His means of reminding us of Him, connecting us back if our ties had begun to weaken. We seek Him to guide us through our difficulties and returning to Him becomes the healing we needed all along: the source of healing that we perhaps would not have sought out had the difficulty not led us to His door.
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1. Ibn Ḥazm. Al-Akhlaq Wa Siyar Fi Mudawat Al-Nufus: Etiquettes and Approaches to Treating the Ego. p. 76.
2. Oishi, Shigehiro, and Ed Diener. “Residents of Poor Nations Have a Greater Sense of Meaning in Life Than Residents of Wealthy Nations.” Psychological Science, vol. 25, no. 2, 2013, pp. 422–430.
3. Baumesiter, Roy. “Meanings of Life.” American Journal of Sociology, vol. 98, no. 1, 1992, pp. 186–187.
4. Diener, Ed, et al. “Purpose, Mood, and Pleasure in Predicting Satisfaction Judgments.” Social Indicators Research, vol. 105, no. 3, 2011, pp. 333–341.
5. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.
6. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.
7. Quran (18:32-44)
8. Chiesa, A., and A. Serretti. “A Systematic Review of Neurobiological and Clinical Features of Mindfulness Meditations.” Psychological Medicine, vol. 40, no. 8, 2009, pp. 1239–1252.
9. Hisn al-Muslim 120
10. Newberg, Andrew B., et al. “A Case Series Study of the Neurophysiological Effects of Altered States of Mind during Intense Islamic Prayer.” Journal of Physiology-Paris, vol. 109, no. 4-6, 2015, pp. 214–220.
11. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.
12. Abdul-Rahman, Zohair. “Islamic Spirituality and Mental Well Being.” Yaqeen Institute, 2007.
13. Riyad as-Salihin 100
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