Coping With Fear In The Pandemic Era

Coping With Fear In The Pandemic Era

By Muhammad Javed

We clear see how fear is affecting decisions globally in an unprecedented way as the world, governments and individuals are trying to deal with the covid-19 crisis. People feel constrained by the shrinking economy and fear engulfs many on how they will feed their families or keep their businesses afloat and pay the salaries. A health worker notes that “many are facing a greater amount of stress related to psychological, emotional, health and income issues as a result of the pandemic. This consists of financial constraints, movement restrictions, loneliness, helplessness, drastic change in their plans and some could also be dealing with domestic violence,”[1]. Look at some of the shocking statistics: Kosmo! Reported that in Malaysia a total of 266 people committed suicide nationwide during the movement restrictions between Mar 18^th and Oct 30^th.[2] In many countries that keep a close watch on suicide rates, they have noticed a significant uptick, since the onset of the pandemic. In Japan and Nepal, they noticed a 15% increase from the previous year and in Thailand, it is even higher at 18% increase.[3] Center For Disease Control in the US asked young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 if they had contemplated suicide over the past month. An alarming one in four (25%) said yes in Aug 2020 compared to 11% 2 years back.[4]

 “And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient,” [2:155]

It is interesting how Allah Azzawajal points out that He will test with fear, as it is one of the most powerful emotions. Fear drives people to do many strange things and can completely hijack our decision-making prowess. We need to realize that ultimately any crisis is a test from our creator and we need to realize that He is the ultimate provider of provisions (rizk) and that with every hardship comes ease, sooner or later as guaranteed in the Quran: “For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease.” [94:5]

Fear of poverty causes man to do unimaginable things – for instance the age old practices of burying daughters or killing children, fearing that one would not be able to handle the expenses, continues up to this day. Allah (swt) condemns this horrific practice and addresses the fear saying:

“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Indeed, their killing is ever a great sin.” [17:31]

Allah (swt) also redirects the fear of poverty in this world to the fear of being questioned and taken to account in the akhira for the grave sin of killing the child:

“And when the girl [who was] buried alive is asked”

“For what sin she was killed” [81:8-9]

Not recognizing that Allah is Ar-Razzaq (The Provider of Rizk) and that he is the One who provides for all His creatures just as he provided the food for the birds when it sets out in the morning looking out for provision and comes back with a mouthful of worms, every day, sufficient for her and her kids.

Prophet (saas) eloquently described this reliance upon Allah (swt) in the following hadith:

Umar ibn al-Khattab reported that The Messenger of Allah (saas) said, “If you were to rely upon Allah with reliance due to him, he would provide for you just as he provides for the birds. They go out in the morning with empty stomachs and return full.”[5]

“And how many a creature carries not its [own] provision. Allah provides for it and for you. And He is the Hearing, the Knowing.” [29:60]

In our contemporary times, many people find themselves working in jobs or in business with haram elements in them, but fear reduction in their profits or loss of source of income. They do not realize that Allah (swt) is the ultimate provider and by engaging in what displeases Him (swt) they would lose the barakah in their earning. Many Muslims working in traditional banks recognize it is haram to work in institutions dealing with riba or interest, yet procrastinate giving up their well-paying job. One may own a gas-station or restaurant and sell alcohol, desiring the high profits, despite being haram. If we find ourselves in such a situation, we should fear Allah’s punishment not poverty, put our reliance upon Allah, quit immediately and work on finding an alternate halal option.

Fear also prevents us from saying or doing the right thing at times. For instance, our supervisor many be asking an employee to modify some numbers so that the report looks more appealing. He knows this is clearly wrong, but fearing losing his job and having to feed his kids, he complies with the unethical demand.

So we see that fear is a powerful emotion and a lot of our decisions, especially in crisis times are driven by fear. Fear also impedes us from doing or saying the right thing and checking evil and corruption. As our faith in Allah increases, we are able to better redirect that fear and fear Allah more than any mortal being, knowing that all will perish except The Ever-Living The All-Powerful Lord of the Universe, who controls all things. We are able to better handle the concerns and our faith reinforces us that the reward in akhira far outweighs the challenges one may face, while clinging on to the truth.

We also see that courage and bravery is a universally admired and recognized trait. Courage inspires and motivates people and cowardice is a sign of weakness and lowness. Also, bravery wins the hearts and minds of people and instills awe for generations; Be it how Ibrahim (as) broke the idols and confronted the idolatry that his people delved into or how he debated the mighty ruler Nimrod and vanquished his arguments, or how Musa (as) confronted Pharaoh despite the possibility of being executed. These incidents of the prophets bravely confronting falsehood and defending the truth are so inspiring that Allah (swt) immortalized them in the Noble Quran as an example for mankind.

We see exemplary bravery from Prophet Muhammad (saas) and his followers on how they confronted the Quraysh for 13 long years and challenged the status quo and very fabric of Qurayshi society and economy, having to face the brunt of their retaliation, leaving no stone unturned to extinguish the light of Islam – be it character assassination, defamation, slander, verbal and physical assaults, torture, economic blockade, starvation to full-fledged war. The Prophet (saas) stayed resolute, displayed exemplary leadership and courage, put his firm unshakable belief in the promise of Allah (swt), inspired the sahabas who were more than ready to lay down their lives for the cause and the promise of Jannah, and until the mighty Quraysh were defeated and idolatry was eliminated from Arabia.

In front of us is the example of Rasoolullah’s (saas) successors, Abubakr and Umar (ra). With many Arab tribes apostatizing as they refused to pay zakath and false prophets propagating their falsehood after the death of the Prophet (saas), Islam faced an existential threat at this critical juncture. The Caliph, Abu Bakr (ra), demonstrated remarkable bravery and resoluteness, despite the other companions’ initial hesitation, went forward to crush the dissent and lay the foundation for the rapid spread of Islam to the East and the West.

Umar (ra) is the personification of bravery as his coming to Islam proved to be huge boost to the believers and a terror for the Quraysh. Ten years of his rule as Caliph of Muslims saw remarkable instances of courage and wisdom in leading the Muslims to defeat the Roman and Persian empires.

We see many examples in history when a comparatively very small army has overpowered a mighty army once fear crept in, despite the latter being much bigger and technologically advanced. Consider the incident, when a large crusader army of 200,000 came to conquer Grenada from the Muslims. The Muslim rulers of Spain were at constant fights with each other at the time and none came to the aid of Sultan Abul Waleed of Grenada. He was able to gather a meagre force of 5500. With a clever strategy, however, he ambushed the Crusader army in the battle of Albirah, attacking them from four sides, killing many of them. This strategy created a big panic in the army and the Crusader forces started to flee. The small Muslim force landed up taking advantage of the disarray and killed all the leaders of the troops and took many captives by the help of Allah, landed up being a miraculous victory.

As we go down the list of marvelous Islamic personalities from the time of the companions, successors, and down the centuries of Islamic History, we observe that the most impactful, most remembered and influential personalities were those that not only possessed knowledge but acted upon it and had the courage to stand up to evil and stick firmly to the truth despite the consequences.

Controlling fear helps us make rational decisions. It is one of the key components of Emotional Intelligence: To Self-Regulate our emotions. Emotional Intelligence is the x-factor that successful people usually possess that helps propel them into bringing out the best in themselves, while inspiring and motivating others to become great leaders.

Emotional Intelligence can be simply described as ‘thinking before acting’. It is the ability to think and choose the appropriate response instead of just acting on impulse. It is a skill, an art, a key ingredient found in the lives of successful leaders and individuals. Although some may argue that certain people are natural leaders – they are born with EI, just like IQ; however, research has shown that it is a skill that can be learned, internalized to become habits, empowering us to become better individuals, parents, spouse, friends, professionals, leaders and most important of all, earn the pleasure of our Creator by becoming better Muslims.

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to be self-aware, to regulate our emotions, to be self-motivated and push ourselves to do our best in good days and bad days. These are the intra-personal or inner dimensions of EI. The inter-personal or external dimensions include social skills or the art of being social aware and communicating effectively with different types of people in different contexts as well as the ability to empathize with others to understand others’ viewpoints and feelings.

If you are interested in learning more about the topic of Emotional Intelligence and how you can apply this crucial skill to help curb your fear and deal with the numerous challenges of the pandemic, then there is an opportunity coming soon. The following free online webinar will be conducted by a world-class management trainer who specializes in Emotional Intelligence.

“How You Can Manage Stress and Emotions in the Covid Era And Learn To Thrive Without Worrying About Job-loss, Virus Infections or Economic Strain”

It is scheduled on Feb 8^th at 5AM Makkah/KSA time. In this webinar, you will discover three secrets to managing your emotions and confidence through the covid crisis:

Secret 1: The effective strategies successful Muslim professionals and leaders are using to control anxiety and stress to get unbelievable results even in the pandemic era.

Secret 2: The key to effectively regulate fear and other emotions and why Covid-19 crisis is not a barrier to your success. Plus, we will even share how Prophet Musa (as) overcame his fears.

Secret 3: Invaluable insight into how Prophet Muhammad (SAAS) and Sahabas (RA) reacted under crisis situation and how you can apply them to thrive and turn the crisis to an opportunity.

This will change the way you think about the Covid crisis in sha’Allah. In order to register for the free webinar, please click this link: https://www.muslimlaunchpad.com/registerme

[1] https://themalaysianreserve.com/2020/11/11/suicide-cases-on-the-rise-amid-pandemic/

[2] https://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news/161783/266-commit-suicide-during-movement-restrictions-one-everyday-/

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/23/covid-pandemic-rise-suicides/

[4] https://www.cdc.gov/

[5] Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2344; Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani