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Depressed After Giving Birth and Considers Suicide

Question

I have been blessed with Baby boy two months earlier. After one month of delivery,my wife started to suffer postpartum depression due to which thoughts of suicidal as well as harming the baby started. We know that its a medical problem.But she is adamant that its a curse from Allah ,may be due to some past mistake , She started to think in this order and the vicious cycle started to succumb her. Please advice her.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

We ask Allah, The Almighty, to bless your wife with full recovery, good health and wellness. We advise you to supplicate Allah, The Exalted, for her, and we also advise her to supplicate Allah, The Exalted, frequently. Verily, Allah, The Almighty, answers the supplication of the distressed one and relieves suffering; He Says (what means): {Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate one when he calls upon Him and removes evil and makes you inheritors of the earth? Is there a deity with Allah? Little do you remember.} [Quran 27:62] This is our first advice.

Second: What happened to her was not necessarily because of a sin that she had committed, especially if she repented of it; Allah, The Almighty, is vast in forgiveness and accepts whoever turns to Him and repents, aspiring to His forgiveness; Allah, The Almighty, Says (what means): {But indeed, I am the Perpetual Forgiver of whoever repents and believes and does righteousness and then continues in guidance.} [Quran 20:82]

Abu Hurayrah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "He who repents before the rising of the sun from the west (i.e. before the Day of Resurrection), Allah accepts his repentance." [Muslim] Therefore, she should have good expectations of her Lord for, verily, He will be as His slave expects Him to be.

Third: She should recite Thikr; Allah, The Almighty, Says (what means): {Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured."} [Quran 13:28] She should keenly recite the reported Thikr in the morning and evening in particular to shield herself against evils, and also recite the Ruqyah (Quranic healing), as it is a source of both protection and healing.

Fourth: She should preoccupy herself with what is beneficial for her in matters related to the worldly life and religion; she may go out for recreation, visit some of her relatives or righteous friends, or attend gatherings of Thikr and virtue.

Fifth: If she needs to consult some specialist physicians, you should seek the trustworthy and experienced ones.

Sixth: We strongly warn her of merely thinking about suicide or giving any consideration to such thoughts, let alone actually committing suicide for it is not a treatment; rather, it is a transition to a worse misery and to the loss of religion and the worldly life altogether. Abu Hurayrah, may Allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Whoever kills himself with (an instrument of) iron, his iron will be in his hand to continually stab himself in the abdomen with it in Hellfire, dwelling in that state eternally. And whoever kills himself by drinking poison, his poison will be in his hand to continually sip it in the Hellfire, dwelling in that state eternally. And whoever kills himself by throwing himself from a mountain, he will be continually throwing himself in the Hellfire, dwelling in that state eternally." [Muslim]

Allah Knows best.

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