Pain And Faith
Think about the most painful day of your life.
Chances are, you will say a day in which you were emotionally hurt by people. The kind of pain that may perhaps have never healed. The kind of pain that changed you forever.
Our Prophet Muhammad s.a went through so many emotional pains. He lost his father, his mother, his grandfather, he grew up an orphan. He got ridiculed, rejected and betrayed by his own people. He lost his beloved wife Khadija r.a, his uncle, Abu Talib, who had raised him. He buried so many people he loved, including five of his six children. The Prophet (sa) was asked by Aisha Ra, “Ya RasulAllah, what was the most painful day of your life?”. Expecting him to say the battle of Uhud, as that was the day in which he was most physically wounded. But he did not say Uhud. The Prophet (sa) said “The day of Taif”. In which he beared the emotional wounds that pained his heart deeply. It was the year of sadness, in which he had lost his beloved wife Khadijah ra and his dear uncle Abu Talib. In the hopes of finding those who would accept the message, he went to Taif and was met with stones and more pain. If Prophet Muhammad s.a did not have emotional intelligence, the ability to face and grow with his pain and sadness, how could he have gone through it all and come out so gracefully? How else could he have conquered the hearts of so many and united the ummah.
So many people, almost a majority of the planet, try to seek the treatment in the pleasures of this dunya, whether that be, in other people, in their careers, in money, in drugs, or antidepressant pills. But none of those will ever treat their internal pains. It will only delay the treatment for temporary relief. It’s like putting a bandaid on a gushing wound. The healing is deeper, and needs spiritual stitches. The healing lies within the mind and the heart, and in remembering Allah swt alone.
Mental health has become a topic that is stigmatized and misunderstood in our ummah today. People have confused “insane” with “mental health”, when mental health really just means the health of one’s mind, one’s thoughts, and one’s emotions. When someone has a cut, or a wound, they can see that. They know to get treatment from a doctor for it. But no one can see inside their minds. No one can see inside their internal wounds. And as a society, we have learned to not confront internal pain. We have learned to run away from it, when we should have learned to embrace it, and to grow through it. We haven’t been taught what it takes to be an emotionally intelligent person. Yet, it’s the most important skill to have as a human being.
The wounds that are unseen, the ones we can’t cover with a band aid hurt the most. Because nobody ever taught us how to heal the wounds within, how to heal our hearts. Yet, the whole world is crying with wounded hearts, begging for help. The cries of the ummah have reached our ears. But also were heard deep within our hearts. Which is how we realized the necessity of healing and guiding the hearts. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The parable of the believers in their affection, mercy, and compassion for each other is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.” It is way past the time to heal the wounds within the hearts of the Ummah through Islamic holistic healing of the heart and the mind. It is time to nourish and heal the hearts of the ummah.
