In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. All Praise is due to Allah, our Creator and Sustainer. May the peace and blessings of Allah Almighty be on the Blessed Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), and on his family and companions.


“Verily We have created man in the best stature (mould). Then We have reduced him to the lowest of low. Save those who believe and do righteous deeds. Then they shall have a reward without end.” (Holy Quraan- Surah 95- Verse 4-6)


Introduction

If there’s one thing that most of us would agree on then it’s the fact that life seems to be getting more and more complicated. Never before have people being so connected to other people and to what’s happening in the world. Yet even though people are constantly “chatting” to someone, whether it’s on MXit, Facebook, via e-mail or through some other sort of social network, there seems to be more and more people feeling lonely, depressed, angry, stressed out, disillusioned, anxious, hopeless... and the list goes on and on!

Perhaps these are the consequences of a modern day society; maybe people will argue that we cannot get away from these things; that we just can’t help getting stressed out or experiencing road rage; that some level of anxiety, depression and even disillusionment is necessary to assist us to deal with our hectic lives. Maybe there are those that will argue that true peace and contentment is elusive. Then there might be those people who will insist that change is absolutely impossible, because no matter how one tries, nothing seems to work and their lives will always stay the same.

When I first began to study psychology I was intrigued- the various theories put forth about human behaviour on all levels, from cognitive to spiritual fascinated me. As time passed by though, I began to realize a very important thing, and this is that Islam inherently and naturally encompasses all we need to know to help us deal with things in our lives! Many of the things I learnt in psychology could also be found in Islam, even if it was put forth in a different way. The answers are all there, and the more I began to look for them, the more obvious they were. From time management to dealing with depression, anger and anxiety, the complete Islamic system provides guidance on how to deal with life!

Now I’m not at all saying that psychology is useless (I’d be quite a hypocrite if I was saying this). Psychology is very useful, but without the application of Islamic principles and means of dealing with things, it is incomplete. In my opinion, an integration of relevant psychological principles into the Islamic framework seems like the way to go.

So, that’s why I decided to start this blog- In order to shed some light on how this integrated approach may help people to deal with life better and to achieve peace (which is really not that elusive after all). So what I hope to do Inshallah is to discuss different topics (for e.g. dealing with-stress, anger, depression, relationship issues, etc). But it is not my intention to just write articles and post it here. I would really like this blog to be interactive. At times I will add relevant exercises, quizzes, practical things to do to help you deal... and so on and so forth. BUT- the more input I get from people the better it will be. So I would really like it if people posted topics that they would like to discuss (perhaps this relates to personal issues or more general ones, it doesn’t matter). I will try to address the issues people have to deal with by means of a new post on the requested topic and at the same time discussion from all individuals are encouraged and necessary so that we can all learn from each other’s experiences.

May Allah (SWT) make it easy for this effort to assist us all in achieving peace and contentment in our lives and I hope that we can also have some fun as we learn that life doesn’t really have to be so complicated after all!

Abdullah Ibn Amar (May Allah be pleased with him) narrates that Nabi Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said something to this effect; “Indeed the successful person is he that has accepted Islam, who has been granted sufficient sustenance, and whom Allah has granted contentment with that which Allah Ta’ala has granted him.” (Sahih Muslim, Vol. 1, p.337)

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) relates that Nabi (Pbuh) said something to this effect; “Wealth in essence is not defined by excessive possessions, rather it is defined by inner contentment.” (Sahih Bukhari, Vol.2, p.954).
For those of you (like me) who love taking quizzes to find out more about yourselves, I’ve added a link below where you can take different personality tests and get your results for free. There is one specifically related to this, called “Deal with It.” PLEASE BEWARE WHEN TAKING THESE TESTS BECAUSE PEOPLE OFTEN ACCEPT EVERY WORD THAT THESE TESTS SAY ABOUT THEM AND THIS CAN SOMETIMES BECOME VERY DISTRESSING. THESE TYPES OF TESTS ARE DEVELOPED TO PROVIDE SOME BASIC INSIGHT INTO AN INDIVIDUALS FUNCTIONING, BUT IT ABSOLUTELY DOES NOT DEFINE WHO YOU ARE COMPLETELY!

http://www.personalitylab.org


If you’ve taken a test, tell us what you thought of your results, or give any comment that you would like to, about this blog or anything else related. Let us know what topics you think should be discussed. The forum is open for discussion- Hope you all enjoy this! I'm looking forward to hearing your comments!

May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon you all!