Sadness, that state of soul that invades the heart, drains the body of its energy and floods the face with tears, causes believers to slip toward a more serious illness called depression. The confusion between tears caused by affliction and those caused by a state of devotion can be bewildering for some. Reflecting on the consequences of such a state and on what Islam says about it is therefore more than necessary. Seeking peace through our reading of the Holy Quran is a path we invite everyone to take and to understand. Here is a humble reflection.
Sad and feeling down?...the Quran is here!
There is no positive consequence to letting oneself sink into sadness. That is why the greatest scholars of Muslim history have described it as something evil from which the believer must keep away.
To support this prohibition, the scholar Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, said that the word sadness is used in the Holy Quran only in the negative form, as in these examples:
Surah 41 Verse 30
« (…) Do not fear and do not grieve(…) »
Surah At-Tawbah Verse 40
« (…) When they were in the cave and he said to his companion: « Do not grieve, for Allah is with us. » (…)»
The Prophet even passed on to us a supplication to make in order to guard against sadness, worries and their harmful effects:
"O Lord! I seek Your protection against worry and sadness, against incapacity and laziness, against stinginess and cowardice, against the burden of debt and the domination of men."
Worries and laziness are mentioned first in this supplication. And we must reflect on the reasons for warding off this disease of the heart. When sadness invades the heart of a person it takes it over and leaves it no other choice than to lament instead of to act. And that is the thing most beloved to the devil. These are the reasons for this prohibition, the reasons why the believer must do everything to avoid falling (and remaining) in a state of sadness: for it paralyzes the human being just as fear does.
Doing everything to protect oneself against worry and sadness means, on the contrary, choosing positivity and action. In this state of mind, the believer seeks what the Lord wants from him and does not wait passively for a miracle solution. He fills his heart with Tawakkul ‘ala Allah, full trust in Him, and thanks to that nothing can afflict him for too long. Indeed the heart is fragile but trust in Allah is its remedy, with the permission of Allah, the Almighty.
This is what we all seek, or what we should seek throughout our existence.
Healthy tears to recognize through the reading of the Quran
Yet there are tears that are beloved by God and that are even meritorious! Tears too that one cannot hold back and whose absence would indicate a lack in our faith. When we learn of the death of a loved one, we are seized by an overwhelming feeling and shed tears. Thus when the Prophet lost his young son Ibrahim, peace and blessings be upon them, he wept and the Companions were astonished. Yes, weeping must be understood here as a mercy:
«The Messenger of God went in to his son
Ibrahim while he was in his death throes. Tears began to flow from his eyes and
Abdurrahman Ibn Awf said to him: «You too (weep), O Messenger of
God?» He said to him: «O Ibn ‘Awf, this is a mercy». Then he
added: «The eye weeps, the heart feels grief, but we say
only what satisfies our Lord. O Ibrahim! Your parting fills us
with grief indeed».
Reported by Al-Bukhari
Likewise, when good news comes to us, tears flow and they are not to be held back or forbidden. We often weep from joy, from laughter, from emotion or from relief. And there is nothing wrong with that, quite the contrary.
And there is another kind of tears that every believer has experienced at least once in their life or hopes to experience. When we remember our Lord, and our whole being seeks closeness with the One who created it, tears of devotion stream down. These tears are a source of forgiveness from the Great Forgiver, as written in this hadith:
According to Abu Hurayra, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
«A man who has wept
out of fear of God will not enter Hell, just as milk never returns into the
udder. Never will the dust raised in the service of God mingle with the
smoke of Hell».
Reported by At-Tirmidhi
These tears of devotion increase the believer in humility, as Allah said in this Verse:
"And they fall down upon their chins, weeping, and it increases their humility. V109 Surah 17
One must therefore not confuse a healthy emotional state, not to be repressed, which drives the believer to shed tears such as the reverential fear of the Almighty, with the tears of sadness itself, which bear within them no healthy fruit worth seeking.
The one is a healthy (holy?) and passing state, whereas the second is an abyss into which one must above all not settle!
How not to sink?
To avoid giving in to sadness, the best thing is to know what drives it away from us. Among the elements that allow us to remain confident in Allah, Glory and Purity to Him, and to become happy over the long term, here is what follows:
- Fortify your heart with Tawhid, the Oneness of Allah (having a solid belief). Believing in Allah and in His Names and Attributes but above all bearing witness to His Oneness in every part of our lives strengthens our bond to His Greatness, our certainty in His Wisdom, and helps us avoid complaining for too long when something befalls us. We know that everything comes from Him, and that He is the One who opens all doors. And there is no better way to draw closer to Him than by reading His Word, the Holy Quran.
- Learn your religion, for knowledge closes to the devil the doors through which he tempted us. Knowledge is also the best way to precisely maintain our Faith in the Creator. How can one believe in something one is ignorant of, how can one love and listen to someone one does not know? And to Allah belong the best examples.
- Be grateful to your Creator. Gratitude toward Allah is the key to patience in every trial. If everything suddenly darkens during a calamity, the believer remembers that Allah tests only the one He loves. And in proportion to our faith, He will test us. How can one not be grateful for His Love? Repeating the well-known formulas of gratitude such as Alhamdulillah is an excellent reminder for the heart, the seat of the best as well as the worst inclinations. The best inclination is that of good conduct, especially toward one's Creator. There are so many beautiful things that happen to us every day, so many treasures that we still possess when a single thing goes away.
- Have a positive attitude at all times and smile: an act considered by the Prophet to be a charity. The gratitude mentioned above is a state of mind, a state of the heart that will also bear its fruit in terms of good conduct toward those who surround us. If sadness weakens the heart and the body, isolates us from everyone and makes every action insurmountable, gratitude, on the contrary, makes us joyful, smiling, and inclined to do good around us. It is Sunna, go ahead, smile!
- Forgiving traces for us a path toward happiness. This virtuous circle to which Islam calls the believers improves the situation of the believers within themselves, and with their peers. Forgiving the one who has wronged us seems in certain situations impossible, and yet if we give time for forgiveness to illuminate our heart, the first effects that will be felt will benefit the forgiver and not the forgiven. Indeed, grudges and negative memories darken the heart and sink the one held by torment into a sustained sadness or even depression, whereas forgiveness brings gentleness to relationships, lightness of the soul and reconciles the heart with the love of the Great Forgiver. Do we not love that He forgives us? Why not forgive one another?
All these tips come from the Word of Allah, the Noble Quran, and urge us, both ourselves and those around us, to avoid sinking into sadness, for it is obvious that it has repercussions not only on our health but also on our relationships with our loved ones.
May Allah preserve us from such an emotional state and draw us closer to Him through the reading of the Quran to make it the springtime of our hearts. Amin
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