It's Not About the Burqa: Muslim Women on Faith, Feminism, Sexuality and Race

by Mariam Khan

Many of the elders in the British Muslim community are first-generation immigrants who had to struggle every day just to make ends meet, and many refuse to see mental health illnesses as legitimate because of the prevailing attitude that the best thing to do is to ‘get on with things’.

It is easier to ascribe mental health issues to black magic or the supernatural rather than look at entrenched problems. The solution? Extra prayers or more fasting.

While religious practices may offer help in some ways – be that as distraction or a space to practise mindfulness and meditation – they often do not combat the root of the issue, and in some situations they can exacerbate the problem.

if a Muslim has an eating disorder such as anorexia, then encouraging them to fast, even during Ramadan,...

Religious leaders and mental health practitioners need to understand the complexity of mental health disorders in terms of the sufferer’s religion; a one-size-fits-all approach does not work.

Most young Muslims in the UK are the children or grandchildren of immigrants from South East Asia, Africa or the Arab world, and we still have family or connections in those countries. Many of these nations are experiencing war, famine or disaster, and the consequent worry about what our family, friends and fellow Muslims are going through has a huge impact on our mental wellbeing.

Muslims are constantly being reminded that we are all one ummah – that we are of one body, and when any limb aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever. Therefore, the trauma of one Muslim community is felt the world over, by each and every Muslim.

We live in the most deprived areas of the country and make up over 13 per cent of the prison population.2 There is a high number of Muslims in social housing and we have low levels of full-time employment. We have less money and less access to services than the general population...

When there is a Muslim perpetrator of a terrorist attack, anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobic attacks increase, and the consequences of those attacks can be felt throughout the Muslim community, resulting in conditions such as agoraphobia, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. These stresses may not be understood by the non-Muslim population, but it is something that impacts Muslims on a daily basis, and that’s why mental health needs to be taken seriously in the Muslim community – because there is an increase in conditions exacerbated by societal factors.

A frequent sentiment we hear in regard to mental health issues from many in the Muslim community is that someone is experiencing depression, or suicidal thoughts, because their faith is low.

Not only are these arguments dangerous, but they are also invalid in Islam. There is a hadith about someone who asked the Prophet (pbuh) whether he should leave his camel untied and trust in Allah that it would not be stolen or run away, or if he should tie his camel (Sunan at-Tirmidhi). The Prophet (pbuh) replied that he should tie his camel and trust in Allah. So, Islam encourages us to take both practical and spiritual approaches to problems.

The sentiment that mental health issues stem from a lack of faith is in fact both incompatible with Islamic thought and practices, and historically inaccurate. Muslims have a rich history in contributing to psychology, or, as it is often referred to in Islamic thought, ilm an-nafs, which translates as the knowledge or science of the self.

It is about the psychological concepts rooted within Islam, which have been fostered by the knowledgeable within Muslim history. Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Al-Ghazali and Al-Kindi were all pioneering Muslim thinkers who paved the way for mental health treatments and aimed to remove the stigma surrounding them.

Prayer for Muslims is personal, and everyone has different experiences and a different relationship with it.

Before each prayer, one must be ritually clean, and a process called wudu (ablution), which involves washing certain sections of the body, is undertaken. It means being absent of physical impurities as well as a spiritual ritual of preparation. But to define prayer as simply a ritual would be to ignore the connection that many feel when talking to, and thanking, God.

To find the motivation to pray – or to do anything – can be difficult when you are suffering from mental illness. But when other Muslims see that you are not praying, regardless of the reason, they can be extremely judgemental.