The Believer and Mental Illness

Taken from the book "Guidelines and Fataawa Related to Sickness and Medical Practice" by Ibn-Taymiyyah, Ibn-al-Qayyim, Shaikh bin-Baaz, Shaikh 'Uthaimeen, And the Permanent Committee on pg. 250 - 252


Question:
Does a believer become affected by mental illness? What is the cure for mental illness, considering that modern medicines and chemicals are only present day theories to cure it?

Answer:
For sure, man is often beset with worries regarding the future and sadness regarding the past. Some forms of mental illnesses are more detrimental to the body than physical aliments are. The cure to these diseases are better achieved by what the Shari'ah prescribed - the Ruqya [Reading over a sick person, usually a portion of Qur'aan is used] - much more so than by the use of modern medicine. Among its cures is what is mentioned in the authentic Hadeeth related by Ibn Mas'ud, may Allaah be pleased with him.

No believer says the following invocation when suffering anxiety, sadness, or worry, except that Allaah will give him a way out of his worries:

"O Allaah, I am Your servant, son or Your servant, son of Your maidservant, my forelock is in Your Hand, Your Command over me is forever executed and Your decree over me is just. I ask You O Allaah - by every name belonging to You which You named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or You taught to any of Your creation, or You have preserved in the knowledge of the unseen with You. That You make the Qur'aan the life of my heart and the light of my breast and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety." [Ahmad 1/452, 391]

One should say:
None has the right to be worshiped but You (O Allaah); how perfect You are! Indeed, I have been from the wrongdoers.} [Surah Al-Anbiya :87]

If one desires more than this, he may refer to the books of the scholars on the topics of remembrance. Examples include Al-Wabil As-Sayyib, by Ibn Al-Qayyim; Al-Kalim At-Tayyib, by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah; Al-Athkaar, by An-Nawawi; and also Zad Al-Ma'ad, by Ibn Al-Qayyim.

But when faith weakens, so weakens the self acceptance of Shari'ah cures. People nowdays place more trust in physical remedies than remedies prescribed by the hari'ah. When a persons faith is strong, the Shari'ah remedy is more effective and faster in results than other cures.

We all know the story when the Prophet (sallAllaahu alaihi wa sallam) sent a man to lead an expedition, the expedition arrived at a Bedouin tribe of people, and received no hospitality from them. Then Allaah Almighty willed for the leader of the tribe to be bitten by a snake. The people of the tribe, after consulting one another,
decided to go the newcomers, hoping that there is a person who can make Ruqya among them. The Prophet's Companions, may Allaah be pleased with them, refused to help them unless they gave them a number of sheep, a proposal which they thought cceptable. One of the Companions read Surat Al-Fatihah over the leader of the tribe,
who in turn became active and normal, as if he was never bitten in the first place. This is the effect of reading Surat Al-Fatihah, but we must remember that it was a man whose heart was replete with faith who read it. When the expedition returned, the Prophet (sallAllaahu alaihi wa sallam) said, "How did you know that (Al-Fatihah) was a Ruqya?" [Bukhari no.2276 and Muslim no. 2201]

In these times, weakness in religion and faith are common, and people place their full trust in apparent matters only. Contrary to them, another group has emerged who by magic and playing with the minds of people, have managed to swindle and dupe many of those who are gullible. Thus are people separated by two extremes, but then
again there are still those who are in the middle. [Shaikh Ibn 'Uthaimeen]