It is natural to feel anxious and worried when we face hardships in life but these feelings can become extremely harmful for us if we do not learn to manage our emotions in a healthy way.
Allah does not want us to remain sad and miserable. That is why He has taught us several duas in the Quran and Hadith, by which we can get rid of sorrow and grief.
One of the most powerful duas for removing sadness, is the one which Prophet Yonus made in the belly of the fish. In the Quran, Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala) narrates for us the whole story and then makes this eternal promise that through this dua, He will give relief to the believers.
فَنَادَىٰ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ {87}
So he (younus) cried through the depths of darkness, “There is no god but You: glory be to You: I was indeed wrong!”
فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْغَمِّ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُنْجِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ {88}
So We responded to him and delivered him from the grief and thus do We deliver the believers.
From the Hadith of our Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) we learn that this dua is not only a solution for our worries, but also gets rid of the difficulties of our life. Because any dua which we make after reading this, gets accepted by Allah. So we should take maximum benefit from this miraculous zikr. There is no proof for reading this dua in any specific number, so we can say it as many times as we want. The real thing is to understand its meaning, then to feel its intensity, and then to say it with all our heart.
What is it that makes this dua so special?
First of all, it is a declaration of Tauheed. We reaffirm our faith that we are convinced that there is no one worthy of our worship except Allah. No one worthy of our duas, no one capable of removing our stress, no one capable of solving our problems, no one having complete knowledge of our affairs, no one so concerned for our wellbeing, no one having any authority to make any decisions for us… except Allah.
Secondly we declare Allah’s absolute perfection that He is pure and free from any deficiency whatsoever. Therefore, we strengthen our faith that all the decisions of Allah are perfect. His timing for making anything happen is also perfect. If He makes us go through any trouble, then that is also by His perfect wisdom and knowledge. He doesn’t do anything haphazardly, or by mistake. All of His actions are perfect and absolutely free from any weakness or defect.
And finally we confess that we are the ones, who are imperfect, we are the ones full of flaws, it is our actions that are full of mistakes, it is our own hearts that are full of negative feelings and wrong ideas, it is our own lack of knowledge and lack of faith, which lands us into trouble. It is the constant weakness of deviating from the right way, and falling into sins over and over again, which makes our life a mess. So when we admit our mistakes, it is actually the first step of coming back into the shelter of Allah’s mercy. And this confession is actually the most important part of doing taubah… and what is taubah? It literally means to come back!! But we can come back to the right path only when we realize that the path we are currently on, is not right. So unless and until we recognize our mistake, we cannot do taubah. And if we do not come back then it means that our direction is still wrong, and so the troubles that lie on that path will continue to hit us… making us more and more miserable and hopeless.
Therefore, whenever you feel stuck in a situation from which there seems no way out, just remember this dua, that if Allah could save prophet Yonus (alaihissalam) and brought him out of the stomach of the fish, then what is my problem as compared to that?
So make a firm resolution to make your heart free from sadness and anxiety, and use this dua as the best anti-depressant.
Another thing which makes us sad is that we are constantly looking at the injustices of other people, and we assume that our lives cannot become free from problems, until and unless they change their ways. Although it is true that we get affected by other people, but instead of blaming them all the time, remember that their hearts are also in Allah’s control, so we should pray for their guidance too. But again we need to understand that the reason why we are facing any difficulty in our life is because of our own mistakes. So when we will stop looking at others, stop blaming them for our misfortunes, and take responsibility of our lives, then and only then we will get the motivation to change ourselves for the better. And only by changing our own thinking and behavior, can we bring any positive change in our lives.
So we must pray to Allah with utter humbleness, and express our grief to Him with all our heart. Surely He is the most merciful and extremely compassionate Rabb. And He has power over all things.