FAST CURE FOR DEPRESSION
By Dr. Bilal Philips
The steps for a “Fast” cure for depression.
1. Do a complete focused fast on Mondays and Thursdays.
a) Get up Read in Arabic and English – Inna fee Khalqis samaawati wal Ard (Aali Imraan, 3:191-end) and crying.
b) Make a focused wudoo and Tahajjud followed by
c) a very light Suhoor (brown bread, olives and extra virgin olive oil + 2 table spoons full of canned tuna or one egg) followed by
d) a day of focused sunnah and Fard prayers
e) Utilize throughout the day any of the prophetic du’aas requesting ease like: “Allahumma laa sahla illaa maa ja’altahu sahlaa (O Allah, nothing is easy except what you make easy) wa anta taj’alus sa’ba in shi’ta sahlaa (And You can make what is difficult easy if You wish)
f) as well as the other du’aas for depression like: Allaahumma rahmataka arjoo falaa takilnee ilaa nafsee tarfata ‘ayn. wa aslih lee sha’nee kullah. Laa ilaaha illaa Ant. (O Allah, it is Your mercy that I hope for, so don’t leave me in charge of my affairs even for the blinking of an eye. And rectify all of my affairs for me. Nothing has the right to be worshipped except You. See Hisnul Muslim – the Muslim Fortress for more).
g) Then break the fast with 3 dates and a glass of water and pray maghrib,
h) Have a light Iftaar followed by a focused Ishaa.
The depression should begin to lift, if not go altogether from the very first day of the Fast cure. It will work if you do it believing with all your heart, strongly that this prophetic formula WORKS and the degree to which it does work depends on how seriously you take it and apply it.
30 replies on “Cure For Depression”
Beautiful!!
Asalama laykum
It is simply beautiful that Our Muslim Alim give these sunnah tips to cope with situations, few cases which asked about the classical psychologist but MashAllahiand recommending this is probably the best answer
JZK
As salaamu alaykum,
Jazakum Allaahu khair. I just have a small concern though, did the Prophet prescribe the above mentioned suhoor especially for depression, or is it just a helpful example?
I guess it’s just a helpful psychologic example, walhamdulilah derived from the Sunnah, but the whole life of our Prophpet was as light as this. This is a call also to be more focused the fasting days of the week, so we can lift ourselves Eemaanly, so inshaa’Allaah our whole week gets better, until our life gets better and we feel the sweetness of Eemaan to differ this way from those who don’t have Eemaan. Alhamdulilah!
jazakhallahu bikhair
Maa sha Allaah jazaakallahu khair may Allaah grant us good health, easy in all our endeavours and reward our scholars.
May Allah Reward sheikh abpundantly
I also want to follow this golden rule, but the problem is my mother as soon as she comes to know that I having a voluntary fast, she starts calling up people saying see how religious my son is!! he is fasting today and then I meet people on the street Mash Allah you are fasting today, this increases my depression rather than decreasing
As aslaamu alaykum
jazakum allah kheran inshaa’allah very amazing
JAZAKAALLAHU KHAYRAN SHEIK, MY QUESTION IS CAN THIS CURE BE USEFUL FOR OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS SUCH AS ANXIETY. etc.
Jazakum Allahu Khairan
Great advice, and yes the best advice but a person with depression would find it difficult to find motivation to even start this cure. Why is it that the only advice I hear from scholars and sheikhs in this day is sharia, rules, quotes? What happened to the basics of heart purification, finding yourself, contemplation? Did the prophet swws begin with the rules? I believe he had 30-40 years of trying to find himself before he was ready for the tasks set by sharia. There are so many barriers in the heart these days, advice like this is useless if we have no appreciation of others or ourselves. We live in the rule of the ego, the pressures of sharia only push people in depressive states further and further away from islam. Yes we need sharia but its useless if we don’t believe in ourselves and Allah.
Dear sis, there is no wrong in being attached to the Islamic rules, in fact that’s the only solution to the mess our world has stuck in. As you rightly said, it took the prophet (s.a.w) years to prescribe the rules and tasks but so what? How many years do u think we need to wait to talk about the rules and tasks? its already 1400 plus years since Islam started to be preached but u even want more. So, shall we let this generation go and live to see another one? just try to analyze before criticizing. Jezakillah.
Is it ur own prescription or has some
Source from Sunnah?
Jazakum Allahu khairan
the idea is great. anyone can follow this.
god is one. I believe in that.
Ameen.
my ALLAH reward you skeikh.
Sheikh, this is great wallahi, Masha Allah. however, this type of Sahuur and the iftarr is for the rich. some of us in the third world can not do afford this. I know you visited Ghana, and you saw how things work there.
so please, include people like us in your planning.
Thank you very much Sheikh. Allah richly bless you.
Mashallah!May Allah /swt/ bless you for what you are doing for Islam
ma sha ALLAH..may ALLAH reward you for this….Ameen
MashaaAllah
Masha Allah !
Masha’Allah. I try these zikr when stressed at work and it works. Alhamdulillah.
Subhaanallah. It is easy and fun. Allah is The Great Alquran is always holy and true.
Muslims must learn Islam religion TRUE Islamic and Publish the teachings of religion to the others, whether Muslims or non-Muslims The life of the Prophet Mohammed peace be upon him and his wives ,companions sahaba ,followers al tab’een .To respond to the accusations against Islam and muslims
[…] helpful (if done with absolute trust and hope in Allah). Annnd Islamic Online University‘s Fast Cure for Depression looks promising too. Here’s a snippet of […]
[…] helpful (if done with absolute trust and hope in Allah). Annnd Islamic Online University‘s Fast Cure for Depression looks promising too. Here’s a snippet of […]
I have been waking up middle of the night 3 nights now with numbness all over my body. It takes a few mins for me to walk around and feel normal again.
I have been extremely stressed as my dad passed away last month and feel that I am always anxious and stressed especiay about my health .
Is it normal for your body to be numb all over when sleeping ? Is this caused by anxiety ?
Thank you for this. I have always felt down and turning to Allah ( The most high) gave me relief, but this feeling came back to me, it returned, and I hope this helps, if Allah wills. Thank you.
[…] is a post on the Islamic Online University by Dr. Bilal Phillips, titled "A Fast Cure For Depression". The post encourages fasting, prayer and recitation from the Qur'an. By all means, pray, follow […]