Letters to the Editor
Mental Health, Effects of Prayer & Fighting Stigma
If someone is experiencing symptoms of psychosis at a level where medical help is required, this often means that their mental health symptoms are causing significant distress. Prayer can be very useful in times of distress however, they should still seek help from conventional medical means and not delay treatment. Delay in treatment is well known to be associated with alleviated long term outcome and medical help should be sought as soon as possible.
Stigma is a potent force in patients with mental health illnesses where mental illness is seen as a mark of shame. There can be many facets to this stigma: it can be enacted such as through discrimination, perceived (where the individual perceives that they are victims of stigmatising behaviours) or there can also be self-stigma where the individual feels they have less of a right to have an equal share of society than others due to their mental illness. The discrimination itself can be through individuals or structure such as through the use of discriminatory policies against people with mental health conditions.
Prayer, no doubt, is a means to cope and seek the blessings of Allah. But medical treatment should always be sought for mental health issues.
Letters to the Editor
Spiritually Charged Audience
Dear Sir,
Like many University graduates I had dreams and expectations to land an amazing job after graduation, as this is what I was led to believe. I ended up with a 1st class degree from a good university. However, when I actually started looking for a job, my degree didn’t help me much and the realities of life hit me. Like many people I ended up in a job not related to the field I studied. I was constantly depressed and unhappy. By the grace of Allah, I had a personal audience with Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih Vaba. I told him about how I felt and all my problems. Beloved Huzooraba listened to my struggles and advised me to “study ICT or Computing”. At first, I was reluctant to go back to education again, but I finally heeded his advice and did a conversion course in computer science. By the grace of Allah, that has been the best decision of my life, I managed to secure an amazing job even before I finished my degree and then have gone on to work with some amazing companies. By listening to Huzooraba, I discovered that software engineering is my passion and now I am in a job and field, which I love. I find it amazing that such advice which came from a meeting of only a few minutes was so spiritually charged that it really did change my life.
Yasir Khan
Upper Mitcham
Letters to the Editor
Financial Services
Dear Sir,
I have been following the whole debate around the stock market: taking money back “from Wall street to Main street”. Recently, we saw small investors invest in stocks which sent certain stocks shooting through the roof, however, as they quickly fell many people lost out. Unfortunately, it became quite evident that it wasn’t as simple as people hoped it would be. I am certain some of us, who have been following this saga, will ask were these actions just? According to the House Committee on Financial Services, the answer is no. This whole episode reminded me of the chapter of the Holy Qur’an which pertains to being just in all matters. Perhaps it’s now time to stop running our entire financial edifice on cash that does not exist.
Sharjeel Sajid
Balham
Letters to the Editor
The Spirit of Sacrifice
Dear Sir,
As you are aware, MKA UK has been covering the security shifts for Islamabad (whilst adhering to social distancing guidelines). Before the pandemic, these would be covered by Khuddam from across the country as each region took turns to bring a dozen Khuddam who would perform their voluntary duty for an entire day. As lockdown began, this responsibility fell to those Qiadats around Farnham and Muqami region as a whole. Khuddam have been much lifted by the manner in which Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih Vaba has shown his love for those performing these duties (see article in January 2021 edition). Recently, I learnt of a khadim in my Qiadat who walked nearly 1 hour to Islamabad so that he could cover his voluntary post. Though we have not really been offering prayers at the Mosque for over a year now, I believe the spirit of the second aspect of Islam—rights owed to humanity—is ever alive and growing.
Sabahat Cheema
Qaid Farnham
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