How to Overcome Sadness and Pain in the Light of Islam
By the Name of Allah, praises be to Allah, prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. Allah has created human beings with several feelings and emotions through which he passes by. These feelings significantly affect a man’s life. Among these feelings are pain and sadness, which are the subject of this article.
Pain and sadness are two negative feelings. When they afflict one’s heart, they make him be in a state of depression, unable to enjoy anything around him. Moreover, they may cause physical diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and headaches.
Pain and sadness cause depression and illness
Therefore, psychological pain is often more severe than physical pain.
Humans’ hearts are different; what appears trivial to you may be great for someone else and cause him to suffer. So, no one should belittle another’s feelings. Someone may enter into a state of depression due to getting poor grades on an exam, while this matter means nothing to another person.
Islam respects man’s nature of passing by several feelings, including pain and sadness. In addition, this feeling may be a means of forgiving your sins.
Sadness is natural, even felt by the Prophet, who stayed patient, praised Allah, and saw hardship as atonement
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “No Muslim is afflicted by difficulty, continuous pain, anxiety, sadness, injury, or care, or even by a thorn with which he is pierced, without God thereby making an atonement for his sins.” When afflicted by anything terrible, you must say, “Al-alhamdulillah” or “To Allah, we belong, and to Him, we do return.”
Sadness is a natural feeling that almost afflicts all human beings. For sure, everyone has passed through a difficult situation that has grieved his heart, even the Prophet, so peace be upon them. When the son of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, died, the Prophet got sad and shed tears over him, saying, “The eye weeps and the heart grieves, but we say only what our Lord is pleased with, and we are grieved over being separated from you, Ibrahim.”
However,
Islam warns against sadness, urging trust in Allah and treating it like a disease to overcome
Islam teaches us not to yield to such feelings and not to let them control our souls. Sadness weakens the heart, makes the body lose its strength, and the soul loses resolution. So Allah the Al-Mighty has commanded his Prophet Muhammad not to feel sad, in His saying: “And grieve not over them (polytheists and pagans), and be not distressed because of what they plot.” He also commanded Mariam not to be sad in His saying: “Grieve not: your Lord has provided a water stream under you.” He also commanded Moses’ mother not to feel fear or grief in His saying: “And fear not nor grieve.”
All these verses indicate that sadness is a profound feeling, so man shall do his best to get rid of it. He should consider this feeling as a malignant disease that he should eradicate; otherwise, it will overwhelm his soul. But how?! How do we overcome sadness and pain, which mostly result from involuntary matters, such as the death of a loved one, missing a job and so on?
Rely on Allah, seek comfort in faith, accept hardships, and express feelings without being overwhelmed.
After realizing that sadness and pain are normal feelings that anyone can pass by, the man should then act upon getting rid of them. The first thing to do is to depend on Allah and ask him to remove your pain and sadness. Practice much remembrance of Allah, recite the Holy Qur’an, and read the Sunnah, which is full of many stories of the Prophet and Companions, showing the hardships they passed by and how they dealt with them. Realizing that you are not alone and that many people, even the Prophets, have experienced these feelings of sadness and pain will relieve you.
After that, try to accept the incident that caused your sadness. If it is due to the death of someone, say to yourself that we all are going to die, and this is the ultimate end for everyone. If it is due to losing a job, consider it a chance to look for a better job and so on. So give yourself an opportunity to express your feelings without yielding to them, without indulging in ill thoughts.
Seek help if needed, stay patient, and trust that hardships bring benefit through faith.
If you see that you are still not able to deal with sadness and pain alone, you can talk to someone close to you or go to a psychologist. Then, you should practice patience. Say to yourself that what happened to you is good; what causes your sadness and pain is the best for you, even if you do not know the wisdom behind it. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Indeed amazing are the affairs of a believer! They are all for his benefit.
If he is granted ease, then he will be thankful, and this will be good for him. And if he is afflicted with a hardship, he preserves, and this is good for him.”
Stay active, resist Satan, accept trials, and overcome sadness with faith to grow stronger.
After that, you have to indulge yourself in work and not leave your time free. Empty your time with good deeds. Fill all gaps from which Satan may enter to you to remind you of your grief. Satan loves to see you sad and suffering, so he exploits every chance to get you back to your sadness. Could you not allow him to win? Finally, sadness and pain may be an affliction or a trial from Allah; accept it as it is and do your best to overcome it to succeed in this test and to get out of it with your sins being forgiven and your degrees being raised in Paradise.
In the end, by applying all this advice, you will get out of your trial with a heart whole of faith. So be a firm believer who overcomes all hardships he passes by, and do not be a weak believer who yields to his feelings and blames the circumstances. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “A believer who is strong is better and dearer to Allah than the weak believer.”
May Allah free your heart from pain and sadness and fill it with faith and happiness!