Coronavirus and Anxiety

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question: Assalamu alaykum

I have anxiety because I’m extremely terrified of the coronavirus as I’m both diabetic and have asthma, so I’m vulnerable. I’m constantly terrified and on the verge of crying. I trust in Allah but the unknown is scary. I think I had a panic attack at 3 am, what can I do to calm down? Which surahs and du`as can I read? Are there verses or hadiths about illnesses we should know about?

Answer: Assalamu alaykum,

Thank you for your question. I empathize with the fear you are going through because we are all fighting through it as well. Not knowing whether you will be infected and if so, whether you will survive it, is unnerving.

I recommend that you do the following:

1) Ask Allah to protect you and your loved ones. Here are some verses that you can recite for protection against illness: Protection From Disease – Habib Umar You can also recite this Prophetic du`a, “O Allah, I seek refuge in Thee from leprosy, madness, elephantiasis, and evil diseases.“

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنَ الْبَرَصِ وَالْجُنُونِ وَالْجُذَامِ وَمِنْ سَيِّئِ الأَسْقَامِ ‏

2) Ask Allah with your limbs- pray. It must very difficult for you to wake at 3 am and find you are in a panic attack. I pray that, instead, you can get up at that time, make wudu and pray tahajjud or the Prayer of Need. Ask Allah fervently to keep you safe but affirm that you will accept whatever comes without anger or blame.

This is a good time to be diligent with your prayers and make sure not to miss any sunnah prayers before and after the obligatory prayers. In general, treat each day like your last. If the inevitable does hit, then remember this hadith: The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, “Plague is the cause of martyrdom of every Muslim (who dies because of it).“ [Bukhari]

3) Take all means that are prescribed by the World Health Organization at this link. This public advice is also in line with the advice of the Prophet, who said, may Allah bless him and give him peace, “If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it; but if the plague breaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place.“ [Bukhari]

5) Take this advice from Ustadah Ra’idah to manage your worries: “There is an app called Worry Box, which I recommend that you download. Use this app as a way to limit your worry to a specific time a day, for example, for 10 minutes after you eat lunch. Try to avoid using this app before bedtime.
I hope that this strategy will prevent you from allowing worry to consume your entire day.“

4) Trust in Allah. Allah is All-Knowing and All-Powerful, and there is nothing greater than to align our will with His. Allah desired this to happen, and we know that it was going to hit us and was never going to miss. Any test that befalls us, should be seen as an opportunity to get closer to Him and to start taking our religion seriously.

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “The greatest reward comes with the greatest trial. When Allah loves a people He tests them. Whoever accepts that wins His pleasure but whoever is discontent with that earns His wrath.” [Ibn Majah]

5) Lastly and most importantly, see this article about service, generosity, and chivalry, there is no time like this one that calls for them: The Believer, Futuwwa, & Times of Crisis – Shaykh Salman Younas

If you feel that your mental state is worsening, please do see a therapist or counselor that can talk you through this. May Allah ease your troubles and give you the greatest success, to live and die as a believer. I leave you with this to contemplate:

“The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, turned to us and said, ‘O Muhajirun, there are five things with which you will be tested, and I seek refuge with Allah lest you live to see them: Immorality never appears among a people to such an extent that they commit it openly, but plagues and diseases that were never known among the predecessors will spread among them. They do not cheat in weights and measures but they will be stricken with famine, severe calamity and the oppression of their rulers. They do not withhold the Zakah of their wealth, but rain will be withheld from the sky and were it not for the animals, no rain would fall on them. They do not break their covenant with Allah and His Messenger, but Allah will enable their enemies to overpower them and take some of what is in their hands. Unless their leaders rule according to the Book of Allah and seek all good from that which Allah has revealed, Allah will cause them to fight one another.’” [Ibn Majah]

Seventeen Benefits of Tribulation – By Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Wassalam,
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafseer and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterwards, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic and other sciences. She recently moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.