Managing Anxiety and Depression in Islam

By Dr Abdallah Rothman It’s no secret that the struggle with anxiety and depression is real. Simplistic slogans bellow out from the minbar about how it’s due to a lack of iman or how ‘Islam is the solution’. Yet on the ground many practicing Muslims do actually face these conditions; Muslims who are in touch with their religion, who are reading Quran, praying Tahjjud and doing everything we’re told a good Muslim should do. At the same time, we’re used to hearing about these from a modern psychological lens; dopamine and SSRIs, mindfulness and CBT. Professionals in these fields are busy helping people get better, all without much God talk. However in our mosques and homes there’s another way we talk about ourselves; ruh, nafs and qalb, low and high iman, diseases of the heart and whispers from shaytān.  But we only experience life as a single soul, so how does this all fit together? How can we understand these conditions in light of Islam? Have they always existed in these forms? What can we practically do to deal with them? Dr Rothman is uniquely placed to help us navigate these questions, trained both in academic psychology and the Islamic tradition. Join us to explore how an Islamic paradigm of psychology can help us deal with anxiety and depression.

Finding Our Fitrah

By Dr Samir Mahmoud We are told Islam is for all times and places. But practicing it today seems harder than it was in simpler times in the past, with our increasingly busy working and study lives, without mentioning an ever-changing assortment of new technologies from social media to AI which seem to keep transforming our lives. New realities and questions create more confusion, whether it is gender identity or buying a house. Is it possible to actually live a fully Islamic lifestyle away without retreating from the chaos? What did the Prophet (saw) bring through the Sunnah to help us navigate all times and places, regardless of what changes? How does this involve understanding who we are and reconnecting to our fitrah? What are the practices we must hold onto while everything else is in flux?  

Becoming the Mindful Muslim: The Spiritual Toolkit for Every Muslim

By Sh Hassan Elsetohy The world of the dunya is not always a picnic, and nor is it meant to be. “And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to the steadfast” (Quran 2:155). The journey of life often involves great difficulties, where we might feel stressed, anxious and down. Sometimes we have a lot of free time, but often times we don’t. No matter what we face however, we are blessed to have the wellspring of the Sunnah which offers us essential practices to handle whatever may happen. From dawn to dusk, there are practices we can adopt to transform our lives. What are these, and how can we experience their transformative effect? Sh Hassan will cover the essential habits a Muslim should adopt to maintain spiritual well-being through life’s challenges. He will also cover how we should learn to view the challenging events of our lives so we can grow through them, as well as the true nature of dhikr, dua, prayer and other spiritual practices and how to get the most out of them.  

Halal & Tayyib: Nourishing Mind, Body and Soul

By Naimah Abdat “People, eat what is good (tayyib) and lawful (halal) from the earth, and do not follow Satan’s footsteps, for he is your sworn enemy.” Quran (2:168). “[the stomach] is the wellspring of desires and the source of diseases and disorders…” – Imam Ghazali. When it comes to eating, everyone knows about the importance of eating halal. However that’s often where it starts and ends, and we wonder after eating whatever we feel like and how much of it, why we might feel demotivated, tired or down. Not to mention why we struggle to concentrate in our Salah or why we can’t seem to get up for Tahajjud. The Sunnah and Islamic tradition have long placed a great deal of importance on nourishment, covering in detail what we should eat and drink, when and even what we should eat. The spiritual path then, can begin with something as mundane as your breakfast. What did the Prophet (saw) teach us about eating, and how can we apply that in a very different world today? How can we use this to get closer to God and achieve well-being in every sense?

Dr Abdallah Rothman (UK)

Dr Abdallah Rothman is the Head of Islamic Psychology at Cambridge Muslim College, founder of Shifaa Integrative Counseling, co-founder and President of the International Association of Islamic Psychology, and visiting professor of psychology at Zaim University Istanbul, International Islamic University Islamabad, and Al-Neelain University Khartoum. He holds an MA and a PhD in psychology and is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and a Board Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC), licensed in the United States and currently living in the UK and UAE. Dr Abdallah was a student of the late Professor Malik Badri in Islamic psychology and in addition to his academic training has studied privately with a number of traditional Islamic scholars throughout the Muslim world. His clinical practice as well as his academic research focus on approaching counseling from within an Islamic paradigm and establishing an indigenous Islamic theoretical orientation to human psychology that is grounded in the knowledge of the soul from the Islamic tradition. He publishes on this topic in books and journal articles and gives presentations, leads interactive workshops, and is invited to public speaking engagements at universities and organizations around the world.

     Dr Samir Mahmoud

Dr Samir Mahmoud is currently Academic Director of Usul Academy (www.usul.academy). He is also Program Manager of the Diploma in Islamic Psychology at the Cambridge Muslim College. Recently he was Assistant Professor at the Lebanese American University. He has a BA (Hons) in Anthropology & Politics with a focus on multicultural theory and comparative religion, and an MA in Architectural History, Theory & Urban Design with a focus on the traditional townscape from the University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. He also holds an MPhil in Theology & Religious Studies with a focus on comparative philosophy and aesthetics. He completed a PhD in Islamic Studies from the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Dr Timothy Winter (Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad).

Shaykh Hassan Elsetohy

Shaykh Hassan Elsetohy is an Australia-based professional with multiple qualifications. Hassan is an engineer, business & technology architect, Permaculture Designer/Consultant, a Shaykh, and a community leader. Hassan holds a number of qualifications, including Master of Engineering, masters of business administration, permaculture design certificate, and a bachelor of Islamic sciences and Arabic language – theology. Early on in his journey of knowledge, Shaykh Hassan completed his Masters of electronics & electrical communications engineering. He began his career at IBM Egypt, then his progression took him to the IBM United States, and finally to IBM Australia to work on exciting projects including the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. Shaykh Hassan also attained his Bachelor of Islamic Sciences and Arabic Language from the Institute of Islamic Sciences, Arabic language and Heritage Sciences – accredited by the Al-Azhar University, Egypt. Hassan studied under and taught alongside many luminaries of the Muslim world, receiving High Ijazas with sound and authentic chains of transmission in Quran, Hadith, Fiqh, & Tarbiyah.  

Naimah Abdat

With a degree in Naturopathy and over 10 years of experience, she has dedicated her time to helping others achieve optimal health. Naimah is a skin diagnostician and has studied Unani Tibb, a traditional healing system linked to Islamic physicians considered as fathers of medicine and incorporates its principles into her practice. By combining the wisdom of Unani Tibb with her naturopathic knowledge, she offers a holistic approach to healing that addresses not only the physical symptoms but also the emotional and spiritual well-being of her clients. She is also currently completing a Masters of Medicine in infection and immunity at Sydney University and believes in continuing education in all aspects of wellbeing. Her goal is to empower as many families as possible through education of what we need to thrive as humans in these modern times. She strives to do this by running online workshops available to a world-wide audience running retreats and offers naturopathic consultations in her Wellness SQ clinic in Bankstown, to her local and international community.