Why so sad?
30 September 2009
8 Comments
Image by Mac-xime/Flickr
Joker’s question “why so sad” (serious) haunts me. I’ve searched over three years trying to answer it and finally I have found an answer worth sharing with you:
“Contrary to common belief, it is not true that depression occurs as a result of any weakness in one’s faith or religion. This erroneous conclusion could increase one’s depression and make matters even worse, when it is not necessarily true” (Al-Khater, 23).
How often do we hear this from a Muslim who is competent in fiqh (legal knowledge) and psychiatry? Very rarely.
Dr. Abdullah al-Khater (1955-1989, may Allah have mercy on him) was appointed as the psychiatry consultant at the Faculty of Medicine, King Faisal University. He was competent in his field of psychiatry and well versed in Islamic jurisprudence.
His book “Grief and Depression: From an Islamic Perspective” was published after he passed away since he was suffering from angina pectoris for many years.
He answers the “why so sad” question very nicely. Here is a summary of what Dr. Abdullah’s lists as the cause of depression.
External Causes
1. Natural Causes: loss, major property damage
2. Medicines: some medicine list depression as a possible side-effect
3. Street drugs
Internal Causes
1. Heredity factors: some people have a predisposition to depression
2. Organic diseases like deficiency in the thyroid hormone or in Vitamin B12
3. Unknown reasons
These causes are found in other books as well. So what’s worth highlighting is his commentary. He says that we are not punished for the sad feelings and thoughts we have. What we are responsible for is our voluntary actions. And if we are in a temporary state of insanity where our judgement is impaired, we are not held accountable by Allah.
The Prophet sallahu alayhi wasalaam said “Did you know that Allah doesn’t punish because of weeping or grief, but he punishes or forgives because of this,” and he pointed to his tongue. Al Bukhari The Book of Funerals, 2/85.
Next week, we’ll continue the depression series and answer:
Whats the difference between grief and depression? What happens to you when a loved one passes away?
More from our series on Depression:
Causes of Depression: Why so sad?
You Don’t Have to Be a Psychiatrist to Understand Depression
Marriages thrive best when depression becomes “our problem”
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. Can you clarify the hadeeth you quoted at the end. 
.
Good points though.
Can’t wait!
30 September 2009 at 1:25 am