An Islamic and Community Perspective on Mental Health
Nadeem Ahmed, Trustee of Heaton Muslims Community Trust
Nadeem spoke about the ‘5 steps to wellbeing’ and the role of the Heaton Muslims Community Trust. This is a summary of the main points of Nadeem’s talk. A copy of his powerpoint presentation is available by clicking on the link at the end of this section.
The Heaton Muslims Community Trust (HMCT) set up in 2003 to address community needs. They are a registered charity and now have their own building in Heaton Mersey. Their aim is to meet the needs of the wider community according to the Islamic principle that you are accountable to God for your life and as such have an obligation to the wider community as well as your family – the rights of your neighbour are so important that there is no distinction between Muslims and non Muslims in terms of caring for each other. The Quran acknowledges mental illness – it states that a person who is not mentally stable is not accountable for his deeds. It also states that the greatest cure is belief and that a love of God is central to recovery. Even the prophets all went through a mental state of sadness and distress but they did not stop, because they had a divine message, a greater purpose to serve.
The 5 steps to wellbeing
On 15th January, Elysabeth Williams from the PCT ran a session at HMCT about how people can play a part to support people with mental distress. She used the ‘5 steps to wellbeing’ which were developed by the New Economic Foundation (nef) as ‘a set of evidence-based actions to improve well-being, which individuals are encouraged to build into their daily lives’. These steps were developed in 2008 from the work of over 400 scientists from across the world and are widely acknowledged as a reliable method of improving mental wellbeing. This model is very close to the principles of faith based organisations.
Taking each step in turn, Nadeem gave some illustrations from Islam on how to put the step into practice:
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