There is no substitute for peace of mind for good health and a peaceful life, and staying free of depression is essential to it. Staying free of mental stress amid life's many obstacles and adversities is very hard, but the guidance and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) are very effective against depression, despair and anxiety. What is Islam's guidance for a life free of depression?

World Mental Health Day is being observed today in Bangladesh and around the world with various programmes to raise awareness of mental health, under the slogan "Mental health in an unequal world". The day has been observed since 1992 to reduce mental illness and distress.

In a troubled world, every moment of people's lives passes in endless restlessness and worry. Hoping to escape it, people from teenagers to the elderly take the wrong path. Many lives become entangled in life-destroying drugs and intoxicants, and finding no relief there, people fall into seriously harmful and antisocial acts. Many choose suicide.

According to the World Health Organization, someone loses their life to suicide every 40 seconds, and those who take their own lives are suffering from mental illness in one way or another. This shows how essential mental health and peace are. But how can peace of mind be found?

In severe mental illness there is no alternative to treatment under a specialist doctor first. Islam does not forbid following established medical guidance and treatment. For every kind of mental illness, including madness, treatment by a specialist is essential, alongside praying to Allah and continuing the medicine and diet the doctor prescribes.

Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) gladdens the heart, and the believer stays free of all worry and despair. Allah says: "Those who have believed and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah. Know that in the remembrance of Allah hearts find rest." (Surah Ra'd: 28)

Reciting the Quran steadies the mind and reduces depression. The Quran is a cure and a mercy for many ailments, mental ones included. Allah says: "We send down in the Quran that which is a cure and a mercy for the believers, while it only increases the wrongdoers in loss." (Surah Bani Israil: 82)

To stay well amid depression and restlessness, it is essential to be attentive in prayer. Prayer steadies the mind and removes all mental restlessness, as the Prophet himself showed. Allah says of prayer's role: "Man was created anxious: when evil touches him he is fretful, and when good touches him he is withholding, except those who pray, who are constant in their prayer." (Surah Ma'arij: 18-23)

"Seek help through patience and prayer. It is indeed hard except for the humble." (Surah Baqarah: 45)

A hadith says that whenever something troubled the Prophet, he would stand in prayer. (Abu Dawud) He would also say to Bilal: "O Bilal, call the iqamah for prayer and give us comfort through it." (Abu Dawud)

Istighfar (seeking forgiveness) is an effective practice for handling stress. Among the causes of stress are involvement in wrongdoing, financial hardship, childlessness and a lack of livelihood. The Quran and Sunnah prescribe istighfar as the remedy:

"I said: seek forgiveness of your Lord; He is ever forgiving. He will send down abundant rain on you, increase you in wealth and children, and give you gardens and rivers." (Surah Nuh: 10-12)

The Prophet said: "Whoever regularly seeks forgiveness, Allah will make a way out of every difficulty for him, relieve him of every worry and provide for him from where he does not expect." (Abu Dawud)

Sending blessings on the Prophet (durood) brings special peace to the heart, as Allah's mercy descends on the servant. Ubayy ibn Ka'b narrates that he said: "O Messenger of Allah, I want to send many blessings on you. How much of my time should I give to it?" He said, "As much as you wish." Ubayy asked, "A quarter?" He said, "As much as you wish, and if you add more it is better for you." Ubayy asked, "Two-thirds, then?" He said, "As much as you wish, and if you add more it is better for you." Ubayy said, "I will spend all my time sending blessings on you." Then he said: "In that case it will be enough to relieve your worries and to atone for your sins." (Tirmidhi)

In joy and sorrow, good and bad, the believer has faith in destiny (taqdir). People suffer stress over sorrow and despair, poverty, misfortune and childlessness, so there is peace in trusting Allah and leaving things to destiny at such times. Allah says:

"If Allah touches you with harm, none can remove it but Him; and if He intends good for you, none can repel His grace." (Surah Yunus: 107)

"No disaster strikes on earth or in yourselves but it is written in a record before We bring it into being; that is easy for Allah." (Surah Hadid: 22)

Despair is one of the main causes of mental distress, so a believer does not lose hope over anything in this world, trusting that any kind of misfortune may come at any time. Allah says: "We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and loss of wealth, lives and crops; but give good news to the patient, who, when disaster strikes them, say: 'Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un', we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return." (Surah Baqarah: 155-156)

Remembering death frees people from stress. Keeping in mind the hard realities of the hereafter makes people used to living normally in this world, and so they cannot bring themselves to do wrong. Allah says: "On the day they see it, it will be as if they had stayed (in the world) only an evening or a morning." (Surah Nazi'at: 46)

To stay free of mental distress, it is essential to trust Allah, because He alone can give people peace and relief:

"Whoever puts his trust in Allah, Allah is sufficient for him." (Surah Talaq: 3)

The Prophet said that Allah declares: "I am as My servant thinks of Me." (Bukhari)

Look past your own troubles to the worries and suffering of others, and consider that Allah has kept you better off than them. Psychologists advise patients to think this way as a treatment for despair, restlessness and mental suffering. How did the Prophet turn Khabbab's thoughts around to free him of despair?

Khabbab said they complained to the Prophet while he was resting in the shade of the Kaaba, asking: "Will you not ask Allah to help us? Will you not pray for us?" He replied that the believers before them had been seized, placed in a pit dug for them, sawn in two from the head down, and had iron combs dragged through their flesh to the bone, yet even this severe trial could not turn them from their religion. (Bukhari)

In any difficult situation, seek advice and counsel from an experienced and trustworthy person; talking about one's feelings removes distress and brings peace. A hadith says: "Whoever seeks counsel does not fail." (Ibn Hibban)

Patience in every situation also reduces depression. One must trust that ease follows hardship and that Allah is with the patient, and whoever Allah is with is freed of all worry. Allah says: "O believers, seek help through patience and prayer. Allah is with the patient." (Surah Baqarah: 153)

Give up intoxicants and drink honey regularly. In Islam honey is considered a medicine for all (mental and physical) ailments. According to the writer, honey's natural medicinal qualities flush toxic chemicals from the body, which is essential for mental health. The prophets Isa and Ayub (AS) benefited especially from drinking honey, and the Quran also calls honey a cure.

In its technical sense, ruqyah means seeking Allah's protection from a calamity, or healing from an illness, by reciting Quranic verses, the names of Allah, and supplications narrated from the Prophet or the pious predecessors. Satan sometimes turns the heart away from all good, and ruqyah plays an effective role in staying free of his harm.

Do not eat unhealthy or haram food. The writer says it is certain that haram and unhealthy food affects body and mind adversely, and that people who eat haram and seem perfectly healthy turn out, when asked, to be deeply troubled mentally despite physical health.

In any mental illness or distress, it is essential for the family to be close. Family closeness is the most effective remedy for mental distress; the love and care of family members quickly heals mental illness and depression. So try always to be among loved ones, and all the resentment and despair of the mind will go. Life's happiness depends entirely on peace of mind.

Turning to good deeds, such as obligatory and voluntary prayers and fasts, charity and helping others, also reduces restlessness and anxiety. The writer says research has shown that regular religious belief and practice ease anxiety, despair and agitation, that modern medical scientists give the greatest importance to firmly holding religious values to relieve mental suffering, and that people who regularly attend to religious matters enjoy far better mental health than others.

May Allah grant the Muslim ummah and everyone the ability to carry out these practices properly to stay free of all personal, family, social, political and workplace stress, and to build a stress-free life by living according to the Quran and Sunnah. Ameen.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.