﷽

In the name of Allah the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful.

Peace and Blessings of Almighty Allah(ﷻ), be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), his blessed descendants and his noble companions.

السلام عليكم ورحمةالله وبركاته○

Depressed?- Mufti Menk

My brothers and sisters!
We are human beings. It is only natural and normal that sometimes we feel very happy and sometimes we feel sad.
So when we are happy we need to ask ourselves, what is it that made us happy?

If it is the relationship you have with Allah (swt), that is something everlasting!

If it is something materialistic, connected to this world. Remember it is temporary and the day will come when Allah (swt) will test you by reversing it. It has to be.

So Allah (swt) has said clearly that if you are given and bestowed something, it is not a gurantee that that item will remain with you.

In a verse in Surahthul Bakarah Allah explains,
(Surah Bakarah verse 100)
We will definitely test every single one of you with some of fear,with some of hunger and with several different types of Loss.

Its a long verse but what I want to look at today is,

When we are sad, what exactly do we need to do?

Firstly ask yourself!

Is my relationship with the maker, the owner of happiness, good?

Is it intact?

Is it proper?

For example,

If I'm a person who has no link with Salah, no link with the qur'an, no link with Allah (swt)
How do I expect to combat the sadness that Im feeling?

I will continue feeling more sad because I have lost focus.

Lost focus from what?
From the reality, the destination, from exactly where I am.

This is Known as The World. In arabic we call it "Dunya" this life. The life on earth is absolutely temporary. It is not going to last long. We in actual fact are here to be tested. It is a testing ground. Evidence regarding the fact that this is a testing ground is that none of us has what we want in this world rather we only get What Allah has chosen for us.

So He tests us with health matters, financial matters, family matters and so many other different issues. Different types of Loss. Things do not happen according to how we want them to happen. Because Allah is telling you hang on, this is just a test. We want to see how you react,

will this bring closer to us?

Will it make you realise that it is temporary?

Absolutely temporary.

People, we found are very sad today. And some news comes to them, within a split second they can become the happiest people on earth. And vice versa. We have seen it happening. So this is Allah, He is the one who gives you glad tidings. You become so excited after you were so sad.

And you can become so sad after you believed that you had everything on earth. This is Allah's plan. Do not lose focus. It is Allah, however, like I said, when you are sad, the first question you have to ask yourself;
How is my relationship with Allah?
That relationship is connected to your salah.
Primarily your five daily prayers.
Do you read them with enthusiasm?
We are not even talking about rehularity because that is supposed to be the case anyway. But we're talking about enthusiasm, Do you look forward to the prayer? Do you realise what you are doing?

When you are reading or fufilling the five daily prayers, sit for a moment and think, it will snatch your sadness, it will withdraw. It will combat the sadness you are feeling just by thinking for a moment,
what Am I doing?
Who am I putting my head on the ground for here?
Who is it?
The one who made me, the one who owns my happiness.
The one who is in control and ultimately the one Im going to go back to.
When my eyes close like everybody elses eyes have already closed, and are closing and will close.
I'm going to go back to the supreme deity whom I've just put my head on the ground for Allahu Akbar.

It is Powerful, if you sit and ponder over it. That alone will help you to remove the sadness in your life.

Because even if everything is going against your liking, you are assured that it is going according to the plan of Allah. Nothing goes according to someone elses plan, It is Allah's plan. So it makes you happy to say,

"O Allah if this is your plan for me, Then Ya Allah, just make it easy for me to go through! Im not going to compete with you. We can never compete with Allah. But we call out to Him, He gives us the energy, He gives us various means to try and help ourselves and He expects us to use what He has given us to help ourselves. And on top of that we would be asking Allah to remove the sadness. Even the Prophet(ﷺ) was told not to be sad.

"O Messenger Do not let those who disbelieve sadden you."

Allah is telling the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ)

Dont let their statement sadden you, people will say things against you, Do you really think in this world everybody's going to be in favour of you? Uttering good words about you? If they could utter the worst words about the Prophet (ﷺ) who are you? And who am I? SUBHAAN ALLAH.

We are no body, they will probably utter even worse words about us. So Allah is saying, Dont let it stress you. Dont let it worry you and you need to remember get closer to Allah (swt).

Like Allah (swt) speaks about the sadness in the heart of Muhammad (ﷺ) regarding the disbelievers who not only did not accept Islam but they had bad words. They spread rumours, they spread false statements regarding Islam.

Allah says,
We know that their staements have saddened you. Their statements are making you sad. We know that. But we want to give you comfort by telling you they do not belie you, they know you are truthful. They know you are the Prophet of Allah. They are just denying it out of arrogance. Dont let the arrogant make you sad! Dont! Dont let those who are transgressing against Allah, who loves to spread rumours, who have bad habits, bad qualities, make you sad. No Dont.

If your link with Allah is intact or is powerful, or you are developing it everyday,
'NOTHING SHOULD MAKE YOU SAD'

You should Say Subhaan Allah, that is the praise of Allah,
Alhamdulillah, All praise is due to Allah.
ALLAHU AKBAR! Allah is the Greatest.

Those statements should be removing the sadness from your heart, if only you utter them correctly because Allah says,
Indeed those who believe and they are granted comfort by the remembrance of Allah(swt). For indeed in the Remembrance of Allah, comforts the heart. (13:28)

The Believer's Heart finds Comfort in the Remembrance of Allah.
Allah said,
﴿الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُمْ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ﴾

 (Those who believed, and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah.)

for their hearts find comfort on the side of Allah, become tranquil when He is remembered and pleased to have Him as their Protector and Supporter.

So Allah said,
﴿أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ﴾
(Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.)
and surely, He is worthy of it.
[Tafsir Ibn Kathir]

You want comfort in your heart?
you are sad?
Simple; Remember Allah!

How do you remember Allah?
I'd like to go through this, spend few moments. Because its important. Many of us, like I say Human beings. We feel sad, but a believer is given the remedy for that sadness. One of them is develop your salah. The quality of it. Take your time when you are making wudhu. Take your time. Go to Allah SWT by standing facing the qibla and when you say "Allahu Akbar" you should know what you are saying.

Note:
In Shaa Allah would continue in next chapter!
My dear readers this book is one of my draft books, where I used to save some lectures which soothes my heart and helps me to be strong when I'm broken... I often go through the lectures and build up myself and thank Allah for making me feel better.. Now its time to share my work for certain friends of mine who are going through very hard phase in Life. Hope this book will make them feel better by the Grace of Almighty Allah..

I kindly request all the readers to include my friends (your sisters) in your precious duas.

Jazakum Allahu Khairan.

"سُبْحَانَكَ اللْهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ، أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ، أَسْتَغْفِرُكَ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْكَ"

'Glory be to You O Allah, and with Your praise, I testify that there is no God (worthy of worship) except You, I seek Your forgiveness, and I repent to You.'