Health Concerns For BELIEVERS
Contemporary
Issues
(Shahid Athar , M. D.)
Back to Contents
ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE ON STRESS MANAGEMENT
While stress may be necessary for human survival, the excess of
it certainly affects our health and productivity. It is claimed that in the
United States nearly 20 million people suffer from stress in terins of
attributing their illness or symptoms to it. Stress related compensation costs
nearly $200 million per year. Loss of productivity and stress related illness
directly or indirectly amounts to $50 billion per year. Many corporations and
individuals are spending nearly $15 billion a year on the stress management of
their employee. (Newsweek 4-25-88). There is enough medical evidence to link
stress to the causation of peptic ulcer disease, hypertension, coronary artery
disease and depression. In addition, many common problems like tension headache,
insomnia, impotency (in men), frigidity (in women), are stress related. There is
now some evidence to suggest that stress is also related to the causation of
diabetes, the suppression of immune system and the development of cancer. In our
day to day life, stress affects peace at home, job performance at work, grades
in school and even our eating and mating behavior.
WARNING SIGNS OF STRESS
The earliest warning signs of stress is irritability, mood
swings, difficulty in sleeping, fatigue, lack of concentration, abdon-tinal
distress, extreme sensitivity to criticism, weight gain or weight loss, fear of
failure, poor appetite or hunger, and increase dependence on tranquilizers or
alcohol for sleep.
CONDITIONS WHICH CAUSE STRESS
Psychiatrists have identified some fifty stressors. In fact any
change, good orbad, is stressful. A change injob orjob description, in. school,
residence, financial status, loss or gain of a family member or close friend,
injury or illness, national calamity or news of riots or violence all can be
extremely stressful. Muslims living in a non-Muslim society may acquire some
additional stress. These may include such factors as preserving their identity,
practicing Islam (i.e. in food matters or timing of prayer), defending Islam on
a hostile media and settling conflicts between family members: the spouse,
parent/child, and practicing/non-practicing factions.
WHO IS PRONE TO STRESS?
Although stress spares no one including children, certain
professions get more than their share. They include the sales person, the stock
broker, the secretary, the inner city school teacher, the air traffic
controller, the medical intern, the police officer and those handling complaint
departments. It is interesting to note that qualities like being ambitious,
compulsive, high achieving, productivity oriented are looked upon as signs of
efficiency by the employer, are also the type A personality traits, so dangerous
to our health. So the art is to have these qualities, with a cool type B
personality in order to live happily and have a longer life.
COPING WITH STRESS
Although we are all exposed to stress, why can some of us cope
with it better than others? Is it the way we deal with the stressor or the way
we are built? There is some evidence to suggest that some of us may be
genetically predisposed to depression or have deficiency in the level of
neurotransmmitters, the mood regulating hormones, or just do not produce enough
adrenalin on demand.
A person's religious belief has an important bearing on his
personality and his outlook in life. By putting the trust in God, a believer
minimizes the stress on him by reducing his responsibility and power to control
his failures.
Proven ways to handle stress as being practiced now range from
meditation, sleep, exercise, socialization, biofeedback, psychotherapy and
tranquilizers. In this essay we are going to discuss how to deal with stress in
the light of the Quran and the Sunnah.
Psychologically the stress results from the following
factors.
a. Fear of the unknown, and our inability to recognize, foresee and
control it.
b. Loss of things and people in our life dear to us and our
inability to recover these losses or accept them.
c. Our inability to see
through the future. In fact we might be more stressed if we do see the
future.
d. Conflicts between the mind and reality and our failure to accept
the reality (i.e. the phase of denial). It is the lack of inner peace due to our
internal conflicts which leads to the external disturbances in our behavior and
affects our health.
Let us examine how the Quran deals with such situations. Our
losses are a part of trial for us, "Be sure We will test you with something
offear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives, but give glad tidings to those
who are steadfast, who say when afflicted with calamity, 'To God we belong and
to Him is our return.'They are those on whom (descend) blessings from God and
mercy and they are the ones that receive guidance" (2:155),
Whatever we are given is a gift from God. We are not its owner.
Everything belongs to God and returns to Him. So if we do not own these things,
why moum their loss or wax proud on receiving them.
Only God knows what our ultimate destiny is. We cannot peek into
our future. We do, however, have a limited free will. We are free to choose
between good or bad, to believe in God or not to believe in Him, but we have no
control over future not related to our ability to act in the present- whether my
wife will have a son or daughter, whether his /her eyes will be brown or black,
or whether I will have an accident tomorrow or not. Worrying over such things is
of no use.
Rejection of faith in the Quran is described as a disease. Its
cause being arrogance and reluctance to accept truth. "In their heart there
is a disease and God has increased their disease and grievous is their penalty
because they lie to themselves" (2: 1 0).
Thus when a
man lies to himself, he creates an inner conflict between his heart and mind. In
order to contain that conflict, the mind sends signals to glands for secretion
of hormones like adrenalin which leads to rapid heart rate, perspiration,
tremor, the basis of a lie detector test. This conflict could be due to "small"
crimes like theft or adultery, or big crimes like rejection of God.
THREE STAGES OF SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT
The Passionate Soul (nafs ul-ammara): "I do not absolve
myself. Lo the (human) soul is prone to evil, save that whenever my Lord has
mercy. Lo, my Lord isforgiving; merciful" (12:53). This soul inclines toward
sensual pleasure, passion and self gratification, anger, envy, greed, and
conceit. Its concerns are pleasures of body, gratification of physical appetite
and ego. In a Tradition we are told, "Your most ardent enemy is your evil self
which resides within your body" (Bukhari). If this evil soul is not checked, it
will lead to unusual stress and its resultant effects.
The Reproaching Soul (nafs ul-lawammah): "Nay, I swear
by the reproaching soul" (75: 1). This soul is conscious and fully aware of
evil, resists it, asks for God's grace and pardon, repents and tries to amend
and hopes to achieve salvation. "And (there are) others who have acknowledged
theirfaults. They mix a righteous action with another that was bad. It may be
that God will relent toward them. Lo God is relenting, merciful" (9:102).
"There are two impulses within Us. One, spirit, which calls towards good and
confirms the truth. He who feels this impulse should know that it comes from
God. Another impulse comes from our enemy (the devil), which leads to doubt and
untruth and encourages evil. He who feels this should seek refuge in God from
the accursed devil" (hadith). This soul wams people of their vain desire,
guides and opens the door to virtue and righteousness. It is a positive step in
spiritual growth.
The Satisfied Soul (nafs ul-mutmainnah): "O (you) soul in
(complete) rest and satisfaction. Come back to your Lord, well pleased
(yourself) and well pleasing unto Him. Enter you then among My devotees, enter
you in My heaven" (89:27-30). This is the highest state of spiritual
development. A satisfied soul is in the state of bliss, contentment and at
peace. The soul is at peace because it knows that in spite of its failures in
this world, it will return to God. Purified of tension, it emerges triumphant
from the strug- gle and resides in peace and bliss.
WHAT SHOULD WE DO IN PANIC AND DESPAIR?
In panic situations non-believers behave differently from
believers. They have no one to turn to, to ask for mercy and forgiveness. They
know and believe not in any life other than this worldly life, over which they
have no control. Naturally they get more depressed which in turn leads them to
even more wrongdoing. If they were used to casual drinking, after drinking, they
will increase their consumption of alcohol and end up as alcoholics or habitual
criminals.
In a state of depression a believer, on the other hand, is
advised to do the following: Increase remembrance of God (dhikr): "He guides
to Himself those who turn to Him in penitence those who have believed and whose
heart have rest in the remembrance of God. Verily in the remembrance qf God, do
heartsfind rest" (13:27-28).
Be constant in prayers: "O you who believe, seek help with
steadfastness and prayer For God is with those who are steadfast"
(2:153).
Pray to God for Forgiveness: "And I have said: Seek
forgiveness from your Lord. Lo He was ever forgiving" (71:10). In addition
to the above believers are also expected to constantly struggle to better
ourselves. "Surely God does not change the condition in which people are
until they change that which is in themselves" (13:11).
QURANIC RECITATION IN REDUCING STRESS
"O mankind! There has come to you a direction from your Lord,
and a healingfor (the disease in your) heart, andfor those who believe a
guidance and mercy" (10:57). The echo of sound has a medical effect and is
now widely utilized. The recitation of the Quran or listening to the same has a
wholesome effect on the body, the heart and the mind. It is said that the
letter 'alif' echoes to the heart and the letter 'ya' echoes in
the pineal gland in the brain. Dr. Ahmed El Kadi of Akber Clinic (Panama City,
Florida) conducted and has published the effects of listening to the Quranic
recitation on physiological parameters i.e. the heart rate, the blood pressure
and the muscle tension and reported improvement in all, irrespective of whether
the listener is a Muslim or non-Muslim, Arab or non-Arab. Obviously it can be
postulated that those who can understand and enjoy the recitation with a belief
in it as the Word of God will get maximum benefit.
PROPHET MUHAMMAD'S PRAYER DURING STRESS
All the prophets, being human beings, had to undergo tests and
trials which resulted in temporary stress. They constantly remembered God and
received peace through His remembrance. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) for example,
himself used and advised his followers to use the following prayers in times of
distress.
"God is sufficient for us. He is an excellent guardian. We
repose our trust in God."
"Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return. 0 God, I
beseech you for the reward of my hardship. Reward me and compensate me for it
with something good."
