Alhamdulillah - Coping with Stress and Anxiety

The first thing that people who enter Jannah will say is:
 وَقَالُواْ ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَذۡهَبَ عَنَّا ٱلۡحَزَنَۖ إِنَّ رَبَّنَا لَغَفُورٞ شَكُورٌ 
And they (people of Paradise) will say, "Praise to Allah, who has removed from us [all] sorrow. Indeed, our Lord is Forgiving and Appreciative.” (35:34) 

Finally, we have no reason to worry or feel sad! There is nothing for us to ever be anxious about! Isn’t that amazing Alhamdulillah? The words 'Alhamdulillah' will be our first few words in Paradise, after which there will be no worry or distress. No anxiety or trauma. Life now will be pure enjoyment, happiness and bliss.  

There are many lessons that we can take from this verse and today we will focus on what it teaches us about hardship and stress in this world. The verse, as I previously mentioned, describes the people of Paradise and Allah tells us:
 وَقَالُواْ ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَذۡهَبَ عَنَّا ٱلۡحَزَنَۖ إِنَّ رَبَّنَا لَغَفُورٞ شَكُورٌ 
“And they (people of Paradise) will say, "Praise to Allah, who has removed from us [all] sorrow. Indeed, our Lord is Forgiving and Appreciative.” (35:34) 
 
Let us think for a moment: what does the verse teach us about stress and anxiety in this world? This verse shows that this world is associated with stress and anxiety. This verse reminds us that every day, every week, every month and year there might be something that is going to bring us some form of sorrow and anxiety. When things are good, we are worried that it won’t last for a long time. When things are bad, we are worried that it will go on for a long time. Even if we do well in one exam, we go through the anxiety and the stress of the next one. This anxiety follows us throughout our lives on this earth and we realise that no situation or scenario is truly free from it. 

Now comes the crucial question: how should we, as Muslims, deal with stress and anxiety? How does Allah the Almighty want us, His worshippers, to respond to stress and anxiety? Today we will discuss a few strategies and methods that we as Muslims can adopt to deal with anxiety and stress: 
 
1) Firstly, we must know that it is normal for us to go through a reasonable amount of stress - it is a part and parcel of being a human being. We can find relief in the belief that this stress and sorrow will be permanently erased when we enter Jannah InshaAllah. We can look upon many great examples of our prophets, Sahabas and pious people: all who have dealt with great difficulty during their lives. For example, when our beloved Prophet Muhammad  and Abu Bakr were hiding in a cave from enemies who wished to harm them, our Prophet comforted the distressed Abu Bakr by saying: 
إِذۡ يَقُولُ لِصَٰحِبِهِۦ لَا تَحۡزَنۡ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَعَنَاۖ  
 “…He (Muhammad) said to his companion, “Do not grieve. Allah is surely with us…” (9:40) 
 
Another wonderful lesson can be found from the mother of Prophet Musa. Imagine the stress and grief she felt when she placed her baby Musa in a casket to float through the river Nile. This was an extremely difficult and stressful moment as she did not know if she would ever see her son again. These great examples from the past teach us that difficulty, anxiety and stress are experienced by even the most beloved of Allah and are an important part of our life on this earth. 

2) Ask other reliable and trustworthy people to give you advice and help you move forward. So if you are struggling with your work, ask one of your friends to help you out. There are plenty of people who are willing to help, you just need to ask. If you have issues with anything, get reliable good people involved so then they can help you. Speak to your parents and doctors and get the right medical and psychological advice. 
 
3) Indulge in enjoyable activities to relieve the stress. For example, exercise by doing your favourite sports; go for regular walks. If you are into drawing then draw something new. Watch an interesting documentary on your favourite topic. Essentially, just do something exciting and refreshing and this will hopefully give you a fresh perspective and take you out of a stressful situation.   
 
4) Help others – it will give you a sense of fulfilment and purpose. For example, you might be good at maths and so you should help someone who is struggling with Maths. You might be a strong person, maybe help old people do their shopping, even if you do it just once. It will give you a sense of achievement and accomplishment. Surely Allah helps those who help others. 
 
These are amongst many ways for us to reduce our anxiety and stress in this world. May Allah give us the ability to tackle stress and anxiety in the correct manner and allow us to remember him in the good times and the bad times. 

Stress is actually a blessing of Allah. Biologists will tell you that stress is part of our survival mechanism. So for example, when you see something scary your body produces a lot of adrenaline which will help you either fight or run away from the situation. When you have to speak before an audience, your heart will tend to beat faster. This is good as the increase in heart rate is useful because more oxygen will be pumped to the brain and other parts of the body. So as mentioned before, some level of stress is good and totally normal.  

As Muslims, Alhamdulillah, we have further tools to minimise stress. One of the best ways to encounter stress in the long run is by reciting the Quran or listening to it. We all know how it feels when you listen to your favourite reciter. Sometimes it really feels like your heart is about to come out of the body. You just need to find one or two reciters that ‘click’ with you. Once you get into the habit of listening and reading, then you need to allocate a small amount of time, maybe a few minutes to start off with, to read the meaning and understand the message behind the Quran. This will help you feel a sense of calm, a sense of protection and it will give you some consolation for any losses. For example, Allah told us multiple times about the reward of those who do good deeds, even when things are hard. Allah said, 
 إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُدۡخِلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ جَنَّٰتٖ تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ يُحَلَّوۡنَ فِيهَا مِنۡ أَسَاوِرَ مِن ذَهَبٖ وَلُؤۡلُؤٗاۖ وَلِبَاسُهُمۡ فِيهَا حَرِيرٞ 
 “Truly, Allah will admit those who believe and do righteous good deeds, to Gardens underneath which rivers flow (in Paradise), wherein they will be adorned with bracelets of gold and pearls and their garments therein will be of silk” (22:23).  

So when you are going through a difficult time, you can remind yourself about Paradise, the fact that you will have a palace and beneath the palace will be flowing rivers. You will be adorned by gold, silver and other expensive materials. You will eat whatever you desire.   

Another practical way to reduce stress and anxiety is to do some form of charity work. With your parents’ permission, I am sure you can allocate a small amount of your time and do charitable deeds like visiting the sick, writing a card to those who are ill and collecting money for a charitable cause. Charity work will help you earn a lot of reward and it will give you a sense of fulfilment and value.  

In conclusion, let us all leave today remembering that difficulties, anxiety and stress are a crucial part of our life. As soon as we enter Jannah InshaAllah they will all disappear and will be replaced by true happiness and ease. When we are distressed, we should always take the right steps to reduce stress and anxiety: This begins by increasing our good deeds by remembering Allah, reciting the Quran and helping others. We should also reach out to trustworthy, reliable and experienced people to help us move forward. We can also try new and exciting activities to give us a fresh perspective and remove negativity. Finally, we should always remember that Allah tests all of us, especially those that He loves.  

May Allah give us the tawfeeq to overcome the difficulties of life and make them a means for us to be closer to Him. May Allah reward our patience and worship with the highest of Jannah: Jannatul Firdaws. Ameen.