Among the means of warding off anxieties arising out of nervousness and the preoccupation of the heart with some sorrowful things: occupying oneself with one activity or another, or with some useful knowledge. This is because doing that will distract the heart away from being immersed in its anxieties. It might even make him forget the things that caused him grief and worry, and he may even experience some happiness and become cheerful. This is also something that is common between both the believer and the non-believer. But the believer is different; because when he occupies himself with the knowledge that he is seeking or giving, or with the good action he is doing – whether it be an act of worship, or worldly act in which he has a good intention of doing it to seek strength in worshipping Allah – when he does that, he does it out of his belief in Allah, sincerity and seeking the pleasure of Allah. This in itself has the additional effect of warding off grief, worries and anxieties (by a Divine intervention).
We have seen many people afflicted with sorrows and permanent anxieties, to the extent of making them very ill; their only cure was to make them forget the cause of their sorrow and misery, and be preoccupied with their normal activities. The activity to be preoccupied with should be something pleasing to the self, and one that it yearns for. This makes it more effective in achieving the desired goal, and all knowledge is with Allah.
Among the things that ward off worry and anxiety is to concentrate one’s attention and concern oneself with the affairs of the present, and to stop being anxious about the future, or grieving over the past. This is why the Prophet, SallAllahu Alayhi Wa Sallam, sought refuge in Allah from anxiety and grief (this is in ahadith reported by Bukhari and Muslim). Grief is usually over past events that you can neither bring back nor rectify.
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