Prayer and Worship Are Not Enough to Cure Mental Illnesses
By Anmol Irfan
Mar/Apr 25
There is no question that Islam places great importance in holistic health and emotional wellbeing. However, in the last 1,400 years, some Muslim communities replaced that focus with spiritual bypassing, the idea that we can simply pray or worship enough to fix mental health issues. While a strong spiritual connection and trust in God is helpful to one’s emotional wellbeing, it is not a magic cure-all.
Fatima Khan, a Muslim therapist from Maryland, said spiritual bypassing is a common occurrence with her clients. “I’ve talked to people and seen that they’ve had experiences where they’ve focused on mental health and instead are being told to pray more,” she said.
Islamic scholars and academics are attempting to change this narrative. Institutions like Maristan and the Muslim Mental Health Lab address key issues that are often brushed under the rug, including mental illnesses, abuse, and faith based counseling. These institutes work with North American Muslim communities that face rising levels of Islamophobia, More Muslim youth have been reporting mental and emotional struggles.
At the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition Mental Health Conference in 2021, Dr. Sameera Ahmed presented data showing that at least 13% of Muslim youth are dealing with anxiety, and almost 30% have digestive disorders, mood disorders, ADHD, trauma, or have experienced sexual abuse.
“For many people who are Muslim, it can be an everyday experience,” she said. “55% of Muslim youth, one in two Muslim high school students, and 78% of Muslim college students have experienced religious discrimination. And that’s direct experience. It doesn’t even include perceived experiences.”
There is a gap in how these studies are understood by everyday Muslims, especially teenagers and children, in the context of faith. At a time when Muslim youth in North America have to face so many different challenges, including exposure to non-Islamic perspectives, it’s crucial that their emotional wellbeing is cared for from a young age.
Islamic education institutions and platforms can play a huge role in making these topics accessible for children and teenagers and help them connect with themselves better. Khan, a former counselor in an Islamic school, said she’s seeing the shift where Islamic educational institutions are creating space for these conversations. But overall, the community does have work to do.
“Sometimes I’ll get clients who are adults who are getting therapy, but their parents don’t know about it or don’t believe in it,” Khan shared.
Studies show that Muslim youth often struggle with identity due to differing information they consume at home, abroad, or online. A sense of not belonging and not feeling connection with their faith is often a reason for emotional distress and disconnect. Mosques, educational programmes, and schools can play a role in building that emotional connection amongst youth.
“Now masjids are doing things on halloween to still do something fun on that day, doing stuff to show kids we can still be fun in religion,” said Canada-based social worker and therapist Faizah Latif.
But education has to go deeper than just events, and it has to happen in all aspects of young Muslim lives. “There’s so many layers to this, and I think that to talk about emotional wellbeing is so important because at the basic, foundational level, we forget that Islam is also about character and mannerisms and how we see people,” said Latif.
She said that Islamic educational institutes can help young Muslims in these aspects by placing equal importance on teaching emotional tools as they do on other religious teachings such as reading the Quran and praying.
Khan pointed out that while more Islamic schools employ counselors now, they can be doing more to increase awareness and education around emotional wellbeing. “Islam is holistic and it covers all these things for us. Something I’ve learned that works in my pursuit of Islamic education is learning the Prophet’s stories and understanding the emotions they were feeling.”
Fairuziana Humam, a community educator and researcher on Islamic psychology, also emphasized that stories and books can be a great way to get young Muslims involved in such conversations.
“Children need to understand that Allah is loving and there for us, and from there, open more conversations, instead of growing up with a fear-based perception of Allah,” Humam said.
Humam also pointed out that language and communication play a big role in helping Muslim youth understand these topics in relation to their everyday lives. It can be as simple as starting with concepts they are already familiar with tauheed or salah.
“[Salah is] an example of the benefits of mindfulness being applied to practices we already have,” Khan said. She stressed the importance of discussing emotional wellbeing as a part of faith rather than a separate topic.
Anmol Irfan is a freelance journalist and the co-founder of Echoes Media, a slow news platform based on the global south. Her work focuses on marginalized narratives within global discourse including topics such as gender justice, mental health, climate, and more.