Surah al-Duha الضحى Antidote to Depression

a relatively short surah but one of the most inspirational and you're going to see why and you'll fall in love with it let's just put that there for a moment it's from the symphony of life that we will face ups and downs that we will all experience at times some sadness some depression in life we will inevitably find ourselves falling but what's important is that we rise each time we fall yet we might know someone who is feeling the blues and they seem to be stuck or where maybe personally somebody's going through this

they can't seem to get out of it it's a bit like a car stuck in the mud the tires are spinning but it's not getting out so how do they how do we unstuck this situation what do we do an incredible antidote to depression the first verse straight away and it is 11 verses they're very brief memorize them and what we're going to do very quickly is take away 10 points that are so beneficial to our daily lives so this person's on a downer they're depressed straight away it goes in what waddaha

and what is that the morning after sunrise beginning with inspiration you catch their attention because allah swears by what does it signify new beginnings opportunity but then go straight to the actual problem doesn't beat around the bush well night why because darkness this person that's depressed the depression looms over them like this heavy dark cloud that one lane the night and people find it intimidating they're vulnerable they're insecure terrible things may happen at night

either the night as it becomes calm and tranquil so the night but it's taking your focus to a point you didn't expect wow that okay i didn't think of it like that you know this opportunity in every difficulty every cloud has a silver lining so the second step is changing the focus so it's grappling it by the horns but changing the focus either okay now people that are in this state of depression they feel abandoned they feel incredibly lonely

go console them do not give up on god god has not given up on you it consoles them and what's to come and one way to understand this is what's to come after this event or this this stage of depression is much better than what has been before and this what's to come after is also the way uh the the scholar from muslim spain even from or approximately 900 years ago understood it and interpreted it he's a contemporary of the maliki dons

like all the other nova criminal authority that what's to come yet after this event wow is much better this that it's it's so after the consolation it's gone in with a strategy trying to because you and you will be so pleased but are you prepared to take the steps are you prepared to strategize you need a strategy okay and then straight with that

takes you straight to a child see childhood something one way to understand this we've all experienced childhood incredible vulnerability dependent on circumstances that in this state and an incredible trauma is experienced for many people in childhood and repressed yet you made it through allah resilience that there is resilience it is in each and every one of us reminding us of this that there is resilience in each and every one of you

and has it not taking you to have you not ever been off the path and yet he guided you to the path and one beautiful way of looking at this is as if nothing said that we're in love allah he said the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was in love with the concept of god and allah showed him the path amidst the pagan arabs and you look in yourself this this passion this love for the objectives in your life your goals the thing and has not aligned the past showing you a path you see you've had this passion to to you

and you know you've got the resilience and the passion then taking it to a real life example that did he not find you were you not ever in um were you not ever destitute or struggling whether it was with health or finances and he gave you in abundance think back a real life example where you overcame you see and this is incredibly fascinating studies show that when people are depressed that they become incredibly lonely isolated they don't

mix and and we find in sociological studies that people who are more social tend to be more happy and that's just the way it works because we are al-insan madrid we are social creatures and sometimes you can you can kind of forward you can force yourself to kind of mix and you see the quran could have said that get out more your social creep be with people but look at the language

that hey when you're out there amongst people allah think about children it could have said get out more but you see you might find yourself defensive despondent hey when you're out there amongst people think about children allah why children it evokes emotion in all of us so it's not just being social but with compassion and positivity you see you smile the world smiles back at you you see you find that that's that's so you are now social you've got this compassion what do you do then

you see you give forward allah people giving is living it is you have no idea what fortune and what amazing blessings allah is hidden for you behind certain doors if only you will open them giving is living you have to give forward whether it's any kind of support financial or assistance helping people maybe you've been through this difficulty you now help somebody else and then it comes to the icing

you see what he when all of these steps yes you've you know the person you've given inspiration hope you've given there's been you've you've changed the perspective you've given a strategy you've highlighted all of these you've highlighted resilience you've highlighted actual this passion this actual real life example of overcoming social positivity compassion giving forward then gratitude you see the the blessings say them loud and proud don't be arrogant but be proud that

you see you are great now the person may think but i'm struggling i'm in this i'm stuck in this horrible what do i have to be grateful for but then you look at other people you look at this you may think i've lost a job i've i've i'm going through a bad patch i've lost a relationship i've you you may think about all of these things yes and i've lost money but then you look at somebody else they've lost a loved one they've lost a parent they've lost a sibling a partner a child in nalily you look at somebody else who's who's become paralyzed you look at somebody who's been given a short notice to live

weeks or months terminal illness you look at somebody who's who's quadriplegic that's paralyzed completely neck down and surprisingly if you read the studies on quadriplegic people that how they find meaning and happiness and you think wow all of a sudden you have so much to be grateful for you are you have an ocean of opportunities in front of you of health you're surrounded by people that love you and you have so many blessings from allah so you say them loud and proud all of a sudden you're so full of life allah and it goes full circle to

the morning straight after sunrise which is so full of life for you to rise with that there's an urdu poet wasim he says [Laughter] people that if he says that if your beliefs become compromised or challenged you have to stand for them and it is not enough just to be alive you have to appear full of life people may allah bless you

allah