How To Overcome Anxiety & Depression With Surah Al-Fatiha | Spiritual Awakening

The Crisis of Mental Health

One of the greatest crises to grip this earth is the crisis of what they call mental health. One in six people are on antidepressant medication. One in six people.

One in six young girls between the ages of 11 to 16 are practicing some form of self-harm. One in three elderly people above the age of 60, at least in this country, are facing a level of loneliness that makes them feel sick. We've all heard the terms depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts.

How on earth did we get to a point where every family, everybody here knows somebody that is struggling mentally, that's feeling sick to their core, and they don't know the way out. The greatest mistake that was made by the psychologists and the people studying the human mind is that in about the 18th century, they decided there was no soul in the human being. The human being is just blood, flesh, and bones.

When you remove the soul from the human being, and you do not acknowledge the fact that Allah created the human being with this part, this central essence, what happens? You're feeling sad. Sadness is just hormones in your head. So if you want to treat your sadness, let me give you some tablets.

We'll fix the chemicals. Sadness is chemicals. Anger is chemicals. It's all just a bunch of chemicals and hormones. And so the treatment becomes the same. What happens then? You have a whole race of people, tens and thousands of people, hooked on medication, hooked on therapy, never-ending issues, tortured mentally, and they think that the solution is to continue in this system that is rigged.

The Journey of the Soul

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, a scholar from the 8th century Hijri, in his book Madarij al-Salikin — The Stations of the Seekers — this book is about the journey of the soul, and it is about realizing that you and me, we are a soul having a physical experience. We are not bodies. Our bodies don't belong to us.

There will come a day when we will be removed from our bodies because we are the soul. That's who I really am. Before this world was created, before this universe came into existence, there was عالَمُ الأرواح — alam al-arwah — the world of the souls.

You did not have blood. You did not have flesh. You did not have eyes. You did not have ears. You did not have clothes. You did not have a job. You did not have a family. You only had one thing. You were a soul. And in this world, the universe of souls, there was nothing physical, only the souls.

Allah asked the souls, "Am I not your Lord?" They said, "Yes, absolutely. Of course, you are our Lord." This is where the journey really began. The journey, our journey began when we were really born — not born into this world. We were born as souls in the universe of souls, the realm of souls, before the heavens and the earth and all of this creation came into existence.

That's where the journey began. And the journey will end when your soul will be taken out of your body and resurrected in front of Allah. The journey is the journey of a soul. The body is just one pit stop. 60 years on the journey, you have a body. After that, it's gone. The real journey is the journey of the soul.

Surah Al-Fatiha: The Cure for All Problems

This book — Madarij al-Salikin Bayna Manazil Iyyaka Na'budu wa Iyyaka Nasta'een — its central thesis, its introduction is the idea that Surah Al-Fatiha, the surah we recite every day, has the cure for all our problems. That is the argument that Ibn Qayyim makes.

He says you've got physical problems, you've got mental issues, you've got family issues — it doesn't matter. Surah Al-Fatiha contains the cure. Believe it or not, if only you understood it well and if only you were able to implement it in depth.

How on earth are seven verses going to fix the problems of humanity? You might ask and you might wonder.

The Four Names of Allah in Surah Al-Fatiha

Ibn Qayyim starts by explaining that Surah Al-Fatiha begins with four names of Allah. And he says that all the names of Allah can come under these four: Allah, Rabb, Ar-Rahman, Al-Malik. These four names are a summary of who Allah is. And if you deeply internalize them in your life, they will erase and remove the vast majority of your issues in life.

The first name, Allah, makes us realize that the only one we should be turning to and worshipping and devoting our time and attention to, and looking to please, is not people, is not career progression, it's not this, it's not that, it's not money. It is the one who created and fashioned us and the one who we'll return to.

Ar-Rahman gives meaning to every difficulty you ever face in your life. Because you realize the one who put you in the difficulty, the one who gave you cancer, the one who gave you financial issues, the one who made you lose sleep — he loves you more than your mother loves you. It completely changes the meaning of the difficulty that you went through.

Ar-Rabb reminds you that just as a farmer plants a seed and pours water on the seed, and the sunlight and the greenhouse nurtures the seed so that it grows to its full potential, Allah, every moment of your life, was looking after you and watching your back.

Al-Malik reminds you that no matter what you possess in this world, it doesn't belong to you — it belongs to Allah.

These four names of Allah, if one truly internalizes them, Ibn Qayyim says, this will rid you and remove from you the vast majority of pain you feel in your life. The fact that you still feel the level of pain that you feel means you haven't internalized them yet. Go back to them and revisit them again.

Iyyaka Na'budu wa Iyyaka Nasta'een

He then says: "It is only You we worship and only You we ask for help." This line summarizes the entire Qur'an. And this line is the statement that every prophet was sent to bring people to and call them to. He says that "It is only You we worship and only You we ask for help" removes all spiritual illnesses from your heart — whether it's arrogance, whether it's envy, whether it's anger, whether it's ego. He said everything can be removed by internalizing Iyyaka Na'budu wa Iyyaka Nasta'een.

How is that possible? He says half of all the spiritual diseases that you can imagine can be removed by "It is only Allah that I worship, I devote my time to, I devote my attention to — only He can reward me, only He can give me, only He can take from me." Because the vast majority of people put their trust and their hopes and their anger and their investment in people, in outcomes, in wealth, in things. But إِيَّاكَ means you're fully invested only in Allah and you're expecting everything only from Him, and you see nothing but His actions — nothing else.

"It is only You we worship" removes from you the most dangerous of all diseases of the heart — the desire to be seen by people instead of being seen by Allah. For me to stand up and pray but to pray because I want someone to watch me pray. For me to give sadaqah because someone is watching me. To be addicted to the eyes of the people — this is the greatest of all diseases, because this takes you one step away from making these other people or these other things equal to Allah. And that is the unforgivable sin, and you are on the edge at this point.

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ fixes riya' — it fixes this idea of needing the eyes of others, the intention, the validation of others — because you are trained and focused and thinking about only one thing: the one I devote myself to is the one who created and fashioned me, only He can reward me and take from me.

Arrogance — this is the other most dangerous spiritual disease. Ibn Qayyim says the two most dangerous diseases are the desire to be seen by people and arrogance and pride.

إِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ rids you of arrogance and pride because you realize and you internalize that no matter what happens, you are dependent upon Allah. From the day that your nappies were being changed and you could not even do that yourself, to the day you are old and will need help to walk — you will always remain dependent. And that is what Iyyaka Nasta'een means: "Oh Allah, I will always need You, no matter who I am, where I am, or what I am — I am always and constantly in need of You."

Ibn Qayyim says if you only internalized this and if you only understood this, you would stop venting to people.

"They fear people and they don't fear Allah."

"I only vent and complain of my distress to Allah."

He says if you look back at the prophets before you, you will realize their strength did not come from bodybuilding — their strength came from: "I'll only complain to Allah, I only turn to Allah, I know I only need Allah."

The Du'as of the Prophets: Living Iyyaka Nasta'een

From the du'a that Musa makes when he arrives in Madyan:

"Oh Allah, I need You — just whatever You give me, I need You." That is Iyyaka Nasta'een.

What does Ibrahim say when he is inside the fire?

"Allah is sufficient for me and He is the best Disposer of affairs." That is Iyyaka Nasta'een — "Oh Allah, I need You, I'm stuck, where will I go?"

What does Yunus say in the whale?

"There is no deity except You; exalted are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers."

لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ — that is Iyyaka Na'budu. سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ — that is Iyyaka Nasta'een. You will see the same formula repeated again and again and again. It is the acknowledgement that I have no objective, no interest in nothing, in nobody except Allah. And that I need Him, I depend on Him, I'm helpless without Him. And if you really digested this, your whole life would change.

The Journey of the Soul and Loneliness

Ibn Qayyim then mentions something interesting. He says the real journey, the real path is the path of the soul — from the day Allah created the soul and announced, "Am I not your Lord?" until the day the soul will return to Allah. The real journey is the journey of the soul.

However, the journey of the soul can feel very lonely. Because the vast majority of people are not living the life of the soul — they are living the life of the body. The vast majority of people are eating, sleeping, reproducing, defecating. That's their life. It's a physical life, it's all about the body. There's no acknowledgement, no approach, no attempt to fulfill anything greater, anything deeper than that.

Ibn Qayyim says the vast majority of people are living the life of animals. And so sometimes when you're trying to feed the soul, you feel very lonely. I'll give you an example. One day you meet up with a bunch of your friends. You're in your late 20s, you're in your 30s. Your friends have progressed in their careers. One's talking about buying a house. Another one's talking about cryptocurrency. A third one's talking about the football match they watched last week. The fourth one's talking about the movie that they want to watch on the weekend. Everyone is obsessed with some worldly desire they want to fulfill, or some kind of progression they've been sold as a kind of progression.

And you're sat there thinking: I don't have a house, I don't have a car, I haven't progressed materially, I don't have a fancy this or a fancy that — but I just finished Surah Al-Ahqaf last week, and these guys don't know the buzz that gives me. You feel alone because you're on a different journey. You are on a very different journey — the journey of the soul.

And this is why Ibn Qayyim says — when Allah says: "Oh Allah, guide us to this journey of the soul, guide us not to be obsessed with the material world and the body, but guide us to the journey of the soul" — when you feel lonely, you then say: "The path that all those people You blessed, they are all on — there are loads of people on the same path as me. Even if I don't see them, I'm not alone."

And this is why Ibn Qayyim says one of the therapies of Surah Al-Fatiha is removing your feeling of loneliness by making you realize: you may feel lonely on this path of the soul. You may be saying no to your friends, no to your colleagues, no to so many things — and instead prioritizing the Qur'an, prioritizing the worship of Allah — and you feel so lonely on this path. He says: don't worry, you are not alone. Do you know how many prophets have walked your path? Do you know how many righteous people have walked your path? They too felt alone, but they were with Allah. And so He rid them of their loneliness.

Al-Yaqzah: The Spiritual Awakening

The first station on this journey to Allah is what Ibn Qayyim calls the spiritual awakening — Al-Yaqzah. Many of us have experienced this feeling before — those of us who converted to Islam, your first year post-conversion, and those of us who discovered Islam after being brought up culturally, or being distant from Allah, not knowing anything about this religion.

There is a moment in which you feel: Today I'm alive. I just realized why I'm here on this earth. This moment, this exact precise moment, Ibn Qayyim calls Al-Yaqzah — the true awakening. You know what that means? The day you realize why you're here and where you're going. Today your life began. Today, really — today is the day your life began, not before.

Ibn Qayyim says that the vast majority of people on this planet are fast asleep.

"You think they are awake, but they are fast asleep."

The idea is this: the vast majority of people that we live and work with and are befriended in our lives are living their lives like zombies. The moment they wake up, they check their smartphone, and before they sleep, they're doom-scrolling. But despite all that information, all those videos, all those — maybe even reminders — that they're watching and Qur'an they're listening to, they feel empty inside. These are people who use distraction as a coping tool. Whenever they feel something — anything — fear, sadness, love, loneliness — whatever they feel, they use distraction of some kind.

Many of us can relate to some of these feelings. Some of us realize that we are one of those dead people inside — we are spiritually dead. And now the question is: how do you wake up if you are spiritually asleep?

Many people have this question: when my iman is low, I feel like my iman is lacking, something is off — how do I refresh my iman? You can answer both questions by understanding this point.

Two Things That Awaken the Heart

How do you awaken somebody who is heedless of Allah, distant from Allah, constantly distracted, over-stimulated, empty inside, whose salah has nothing in it? To wake up the heart of a human being, you have to have two things — two realizations. If you don't have these two realizations, you will forever remain in the darkness of distraction, emptiness, sadness, and melancholy. And you will be on drugs and you will be tortured in this life until two things make you realize you have to wake up.

The first is realizing the blessings of Allah. Allah deserves my praise, He deserves my attention, He deserves my worship. What He has given me, I can never count. I put my hand on my chest and I feel my heart beating and the blood pumping through my veins — I could not count the number of blood cells He created in me. How can I ignore Him? How could you turn away from Allah — and you are dead and He raised you to life?

Allah, how He describes Himself, His blessings, His in'am, His beauty — the beauty of what He gave us. If we don't realize how indebted we are to Allah, you will forever remain sleeping in the depths of distraction and emptiness. That's why Al-Fatiha begins with Al-Hamd.

Now, if you have realized the blessings of Allah — that's just the first step. There is a second step: you have to realize how many shortcomings you have and how far you are from fulfilling and being thankful and being grateful to Allah. And so the second part of waking up — once we have realized how much Allah has done for us — is feeling al-haya' min Allah — feeling ashamed, feeling the shortcoming.

And if you want to understand what it means to feel ashamed in front of Allah, you have to see and reflect on this moment. One day the Prophet ﷺ is standing and praying, and he's crying in his salah, and the water is dripping from his beard like someone poured a bucket over his head. And after he finishes his salah, he's asked by his wife Aisha: "Why is it that you are praying till your feet swell and till your beard is dripping, and Allah has forgiven your past and your future sins?"

("Should I not then be a grateful slave?" — Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1130; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2820)

That much to pray till his feet are swollen, and to pray till his tears have wet his beard — because he just wants to say thank you to Allah. And he knows even after he says thank you, he has still fallen short in front of Him.

To feel shame from Allah is the same feeling that Nuh felt when his son drowned and he stood there asking Allah: "Oh Allah, my son is from my family and Your promise is true." He was so shy he couldn't even ask Allah to save his son or to forgive him.

To feel shy in front of Allah is what Allah describes in the Qur'an when He says: people who worship Allah but when they put forward their worship to Allah, they are trembling — "We don't know — will Allah accept it from me?"

To feel ashamed in front of Allah is to stand like Ibrahim building the house of Allah, but to stand there and say: "Oh Allah, please accept this deed" — not knowing if He will accept it.

To be ashamed in front of Allah is the feeling that Umar ibn al-Khattab feels when he runs to Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman — who had just been informed by the Prophet ﷺ of the secret list of the munafiqeen, the hypocrites — and Umar says: "Don't tell me who's on the list, but please tell me — am I on the list? Because I don't think I've done enough."

When you experience this feeling, you will have truly woken up on this day. And every day before this day you were dead. Because the Prophet ﷺ said: