Sadness is plaguing us at a time where we live in abundance. It’s a phenomenon that is afflicting so many people regardless of who they are and what amount of wealth, safety or security they have. Sadness turns into frustration and then depression.
So, what’s the cause of this Sadness? Allah response in the following verse with a precise solution. In this verse of Surah Al Baqarah, we learn that the greatest solution is found within. You can solve your sadness, even when you have things that are making you sad. Depression is a deep state of sadness. Understanding this will help bring this problem into a manageable state.
When people make depression something that is chronic, its almost as though it’s been made into something unmanageable and untreatable. You can definitely deal with your problem one step and a time. Allah addresses sadness from one of the most important angels.
The Quran on Sadness and a Solution
Allah-subhanahu-wa-tala says:
يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَنِّي فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ
“Oh Children of Israel, remember, my favors which I bestowed upon you, and that I favored you over the rest of the world.”
Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 122
First, it’s important to understand this verse so you can see where Allah is directing you for a solution.
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So, in this verse Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says, Oh Bani-Israel, remember the blessings, Allah is reminding them of the blessings immediately. Then He says that He preferred you over the rest of the world, and this is at the time that the Children of Israel had come out of the most terrible persecution from the hands of Pharaoh.
Allah informs them that he had raised them in rank, giving them preference over the rest of the world because the rest of the world were entrenched in shirk (worshiping other than Allah). The people of the world entrenched in disobedience to Allah subhanah wa ta’ala, and associating partners in worship.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala had revealed the guidance to the Children of Israel and so they had the scripture that was revealed to Musa (AS) to guide them through their problems.
So that’s like us Muslims right now. Allah has preferred you by guiding you this faith.
The Solution for Sadness found in Gratitude
Allah says remember the Blessings اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ
You see no matter what you situation is you will always find that you are blessed in your life, all you have to do is look hard enough. Being grateful leads you to thank Allah, but when you don’t remember all of the blessings in your life, you’re not going to be grateful.
If you’re not grateful you will not feel blessed. That’s where the solution is found. Gratitude is an active exercise that you must purposely do. By looking for things you are blessed with, you will recognize that you actually have good things in your life.
When you don’t recognize or see those blessing that are already in your life, you then focus on only those things that are making you sad and thus find yourself in a state of sadness, frustration, and despair.
When a person doesn’t see the blessing in their life, it’s easy to become sad or even depressed because you feel like everything in your life is going wrong.
It’s essential for your own peace of mind and happiness that you begin to take the advice Allah gives in this verse, remember your blessings.
That’s ultimately what we learn in this verse of the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is reminding the children of Israel because they forgot all of the favors that Allah bestowed upon them. When they were being persecuted, Allah saved them. When they needed food, Allah nourished them. When they needed anything in their lives, Allah gave it to them.
How many times, in your life, have you been in a bad spot and Allah has saved you, where Allah pulled you out of that situation. When you felt the problem is never going to end, Allah pulled you out of that situation.
How many times have we been in intense situations, where we are afflicted with worry, we’re afflicted with sadness, and we’re afflicted with things that we feel we have no control over in our families, our friends, our communities. Where you feel a state of intensity, or intensely sad or intensely angry. These negative emotions harm us.
We turn to Allah and Allah pulls us out of these problems. Sometimes we don’t even turn to Allah, yet he saves us from these situations. Maybe Allah gives you a solution through your friends, or through your family, saves you through a kind word from someone. Sometimes it’s by giving you an increase in wealth of some sort which came to you when you least expected it to.
How many times in your life have you been in a bad spot and Allah has got you out of that situation? No one could help you but Allah got you out.
We forget very quickly and that’s why Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says to Bani-Israel here, “remember the blessings that I bestowed upon you”.
These blessings, I guarantee you have them now, you don’t have to wait to get to the hereafter to feel blessed in your life. All you have to do is start looking and imagine how terrible life would be if some of these blessings were to vanish from your life.
Our lives are full of blessings and ultimately Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is saying that remembrance of the blessings is what’s going to give you happiness. Because if you’re not grateful for what’s in your life, you’ll never be happy.
This is something we’ve discussed many times in these Quranic lessons, and we continuously address this as Allah continually brings us back to this in the Quran. Gratitude is the essence of worship.
How do you worship Allah, if you’re not grateful to Allah-subhanahu-wa-tala? The worship, it leads you to the recognition of all the goodness in your life if you actively recognize the blessings of your life.
And when you recognize the goodness in your life and the fact that you didn’t have a hand in it, you don’t have the ability to bring these things into your life, you will recognize that Allah gave them to you. That is the Rizk (sustenance) from Allah and when you realize that, you become grateful.
Recognizing the blessing in your life will make you thankful to the one that gave it to you. That’s human nature, it’s the way Allah has built us. However, I’ll repeat this again as it’s so important…
If you don’t recognize the blessings in your life, you’ll never be happy. The connection between your happiness and gratitude is permanent.
Look throughout the Quran, and you’ll find Allah-subhanahu-wa-tala talks about this over and over again. Reminding us, because we are a people who naturally forget, we incline towards our desires for the things that we want and then we forget about all the things that we already have in our lives, all those blessings that Allah has already given to us. Don’t forget the favors of Allah.
Don’ forget your happiness in this life, depends on remembering the blessings that Allah has given you. Ask yourself are you grateful? Are you looking for the favors of Allah in your life right now or are you always looking at what you want?
How to become Grateful
Remembrance of Allah and recognizing your blessing is key to a happy state. So the easiest way to do this is to remain in constant connection to Allah. You can do this by connecting with Allah-subhanahu wa ta’ala through the Quran on a daily basis. Study the Quran, understand it and apply it in your life.
Learn the lesson the Quran is teaching and start to take small steps towards living it. This is the solution to all problems.
It’s important you understand what that means? If you don’t connect to Allah on a daily basis, and I don’t mean just the Salah because we pray our five daily prayers and still have these problems, so you have to take the actual steps of purposely remembering Allah, remembering the blessing you have right now.
I say active because this is something that you need to do by willful action otherwise it won’t happen. Just as easy as it is to do it, it’s just as easy not to do it.
You need to make your whole life a connection to Allah because that’s what life is all about. Allah-subhanahu-wa-tala says:
“We did not create the jinn or humanity, except to worship us.”
Surat Dhariyat, 56
To worship Allah is to connect to Allah, to understand and know who Allah-subhanahu-wa-tala is.
If you are connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala, then that is your safety line. We need this connection to Allah because without it life becomes very difficult.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is telling us, remember the Blessings of Allah, and if you remember the blessings of Allah, you are in the beginning stages of forming that connection with Allah. You will become grateful in your life, which will make you happy.
I pray that Allah bless us all with this connection so that we feel supported through the ups and downs of life.
So Insha’Allah, I’m going to leave you with that. I’d like to hear how you’re benefiting from these verses. Insha’Allah Tala, leave us a comment or your thoughts.
Jazakum’Allah khair
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