Gratitude
Ann enormous principle of wellbeing is gratitude.
Allah says:
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
“If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more.”
(Surah Ibrahim, 14:7)
And Allah leaves that increase open. It may be an increase in the blessing itself, or in our ability to recognise it. Sometimes the circumstances have not changed at all, but we have changed.
From a medical and psychological point of view, gratitude is also interesting. We have a substantial body of psychological research showing that gratitude practices can improve aspects of mental wellbeing. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of 64 randomised trials found improvements in mental health and reductions in symptoms of anxiety and depression among people undertaking gratitude interventions. That does not surprise me. Gratitude changes what you repeatedly pay attention to.
It does not mean denying hardship. Sometimes Allah’s gifts do not arrive in beautiful wrapping paper. Sometimes they come in a brown paper bag and you do not recognise them as gifts at all. It may take years before you understand what something taught you.
But shukr asks us not to become blind to everything that remains good simply because one part of life is painful.
Kindness
The Quran gives us this beautiful image:
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاءِ
“Do you not see how Allah compares a good word to a good tree, whose root is firm and whose branches reach into the sky?”
(Surah Ibrahim, 14:24)
A good word matters. How you speak to somebody matters. How you behave at home matters.
There is research suggesting that deliberately performing acts of kindness can improve the wellbeing of the person doing them as well as benefiting the recipient. I would not put an exact figure on how many people one kind act will eventually reach, but we all know from experience that behaviour spreads through families and communities. One person changes the atmosphere of a room. One patient interaction affects the next. One parent’s way of speaking becomes a child’s way of speaking.
And Islam repeatedly brings us back to those nearest to us. When the Quran speaks about spending, it mentions parents and relatives before moving outwards to others in need:
قُلْ مَا أَنفَقْتُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ فَلِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَابْنِ السَّبِيلِ
“Whatever good you spend should be for parents, close relatives, orphans, the needy and the traveller.”
(Surah al-Baqarah, 2:215)
The Prophet ﷺ similarly said:
وَابْدَأْ بِمَنْ تَعُولُ
“Begin with those for whom you are responsible.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)
Sometimes it is easier to be lovely to everybody outside the house than to the people who actually live with us. So start there. Your spouse, your parents, your children, the people whose rights Allah has placed closest to you.
Letting go
Another part of afiyah is learning to let go of resentment and grudges.
Human disease is complicated and carrying hostility around is both harmful spiritually, and it can keep us psychologically locked into something long after the event itself has passed.
The Prophet ﷺ said that the gates of Paradise are opened on Mondays and Thursdays and Allah forgives His servants, except for two people between whom there is rancour. It is said:
أَنْظِرُوا هَذَيْنِ حَتَّى يَصْطَلِحَا
“Leave these two until they reconcile.”
(Sahih Muslim)
That is a serious warning about what we allow to settle in the heart.
Forgiveness does not mean pretending that harm never happened, and it does not require you to put yourself back into an unsafe situation. But there is a difference between having boundaries and allowing another person to occupy your heart indefinitely through bitterness.
Purpose
Allah tells us the larger purpose very clearly:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
“I did not create jinn and human beings except to worship Me.”
(Surah al-Dhariyat, 51:56)
That is the overarching purpose. But within that, we do not all have to live identical lives.
Allah has given people different abilities, temperaments, interests and circumstances. We each need to ask how those can be used in His service. I do not mean that everyone has one hidden career or life mission which they must discover or they have somehow failed. I mean that the things Allah has placed in you can become routes through which you worship Him.
For me, health has fascinated me since I was a child. So medicine, preserving health and helping people recover became one of the ways in which I could connect my work to that greater purpose.
Somebody else may care deeply about the environment and spend their life working with the land. Another person may teach. Someone else raises a family, builds a business, cares for vulnerable people or creates something useful. The outward forms are different. What matters is the connection back to Allah.
And there is something very powerful about living with purpose. Even outside a religious framework, observational research has repeatedly found that people reporting a stronger sense of purpose tend to have better health outcomes. A meta-analysis of prospective studies found an association between greater purpose in life and lower all-cause mortality, although of course an association cannot prove that purpose itself is the cause.
Awe
For us there is another dimension as well, which is awe. Looking at the creation of Allah and knowing that there is something infinitely greater than ourselves can pull us out of the very narrow world of our immediate worries.
Charity
Allah gives the example:
مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فِي كُلِّ سُنبُلَةٍ مِّائَةُ حَبَّةٍ
“The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is like a grain which grows seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains.”
(Surah al-Baqarah, 2:261)
Giving is not simply about what happens to the person receiving. It does something to the giver as well. It loosens our attachment to what we own and reminds us that our wealth was never entirely ours in the first place.
Zakat is so central that when some tribes refused to continue paying it after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) insisted that salah and zakat could not simply be separated. He said:
وَاللَّهِ لَأُقَاتِلَنَّ مَنْ فَرَّقَ بَيْنَ الصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ
“By Allah, I will fight those who differentiate between prayer and zakat.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
Social connection and good company
We are not designed to live in isolation. Islam places enormous weight on maintaining family relationships. The Prophet ﷺ said:
مَنْ أَحَبَّ أَنْ يُبْسَطَ لَهُ فِي رِزْقِهِ وَيُنْسَأَ لَهُ فِي أَثَرِهِ فَلْيَصِلْ رَحِمَهُ
“Whoever would like his provision to be expanded and his life to be prolonged should maintain his ties of kinship.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
Thus afiyah (wellbeing) is not simply about what is happening inside your body. It is also about the way you live before Allah and among other people. Your prayer matters. Your food matters. Your sleep matters. The state of your heart matters. So do the people around you and the relationships you choose to nurture.
That is why I keep coming back to this idea of wholeness. We cannot isolate one little piece of ourselves, fix it and assume everything else will automatically fall into place. The Quran and Sunnah give us a much broader picture of what it means to live well.
There is now a huge amount of research around social connection and health. Loneliness and social isolation are not simply unpleasant feelings; they are associated with poorer physical and mental health and a greater risk of premature death. The World Health Organization now treats social connection as a significant public health issue.
And Islam has always placed enormous importance on company. Who we spend time with affects us. The Prophet ﷺ gave this wonderful example:
مَثَلُ الْجَلِيسِ الصَّالِحِ وَالسَّوْءِ كَحَامِلِ الْمِسْكِ وَنَافِخِ الْكِيرِ، فَحَامِلُ الْمِسْكِ إِمَّا أَنْ يُحْذِيَكَ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ تَبْتَاعَ مِنْهُ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ تَجِدَ مِنْهُ رِيحًا طَيِّبَةً، وَنَافِخُ الْكِيرِ إِمَّا أَنْ يُحْرِقَ ثِيَابَكَ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ تَجِدَ رِيحًا خَبِيثَةً
“The example of a good companion and a bad companion is like that of the seller of musk and the one who blows the blacksmith’s bellows. The seller of musk may give you some, you may buy some from him, or at the very least you will enjoy a pleasant fragrance. The blacksmith may burn your clothes, or you will come away with an unpleasant smell.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim)
That is such a vivid image. Even if your friend does not actively teach you anything, something of them rubs off on you. Their priorities, habits, language and attitudes become part of the atmosphere you live in. Good company affects our emotional and spiritual health, and often our physical health as well because the people around us influence the way we live.
And there is another dimension to good company which goes beyond this life. The Prophet ﷺ said:
أَنْتَ مَعَ مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ
“You will be with those whom you love.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
So choose your company carefully. Love good people. Spend time with people who remind you of Allah and who make it easier to become the person you want to be.
Family
Family is really the bedrock of a healthy society. And the bedrock of a healthy family is sakinah, that sense of peace and safety within the home.
Allah says about marriage:
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً
“And among His signs is that He created for you spouses from among yourselves so that you may find tranquillity in them, and He placed between you affection and mercy.”
(Surah al-Rum, 30:21)
That idea of sukun, of being able to come home and settle, is incredibly important. Home should not be another place where your nervous system has to remain on guard.
That means remembering Allah in the home, but it also means treating people properly. Kindness, fairness, justice, communication, knowing when somebody is struggling and being aware of what you yourself are bringing through the door.
If you have a very stressful job, recognise that. Ask yourself whether everybody at home is receiving the residue of your working day. Sometimes we become very conscious of managing our own stress while almost outsourcing family life. We need to be honest about that and have conversations before things reach breaking point.
Truthfulness
Truthfulness is also part of the framework of wellbeing. I would not say that failing to speak your truth literally creates inflammation in the body. That is too simplistic. But it is exhausting to live in a state where what you say, what you do and what you know to be right are constantly at odds with one another.
Allah says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا
“O you who believe, be mindful of Allah and speak words that are right.”
(Surah al-Ahzab, 33:70)
And the Prophet ﷺ said:
عَلَيْكُمْ بِالصِّدْقِ، فَإِنَّ الصِّدْقَ يَهْدِي إِلَى الْبِرِّ، وَإِنَّ الْبِرَّ يَهْدِي إِلَى الْجَنَّةِ
“Hold fast to truthfulness, for truthfulness leads to righteousness, and righteousness leads to Paradise.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)
Of course, truthfulness does not mean saying everything that comes into your head. Wisdom matters. Timing matters. How you say something matters just as much as having the courage to say what needs to be said.
The Prophet ﷺ was given jawami al-kalim, the ability to convey a great deal through very few words. I think many of us could benefit from that. We sometimes talk and talk because we are anxious, angry or trying to prove a point, when a few careful words would have been much more effective.
And then there is the purification of the heart, which really brings us back to where we began. The Islamic tradition speaks extensively about diseases of the heart: envy, pride, uncontrolled anger, greed, excessive desire, gluttony and resentment. These are spiritual problems, but they do not stay neatly in a spiritual box. They shape our behaviour, our relationships and the way we experience the world.
So the work of healing includes looking inwards as well. What am I carrying? What do I need to let go of? What habits of the heart have I allowed to become normal?
Our environment and our health
I watched Interstellar with my son recently, which made me think about dust, famine and what happens when human beings damage the environment they depend upon.
We are living with climate change, extreme heat, drought, air pollution and environmental degradation. These things are not separate from health. The environment in which we live shapes the air we breathe, the food we grow, how much we move and increasingly the temperatures our bodies have to cope with. WHO identifies urban heat, air pollution, noise and lack of space for physical activity as significant health concerns.
The Quran gives us a very striking principle:
ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ
“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what people’s hands have earned.”
(Surah al-Rum, 30:41)
Whatever wider meanings the verse carries, it should at least make us conscious of the consequences of human action. We have a responsibility not to behave as though the earth has been given to us without limits.
And this does not have to turn into another consumer project where we buy hundreds of expensive products labelled “eco-friendly”. Often the simplest things are exactly that: simple. Can I walk rather than drive when it is practical? Can I waste less food? Can I reuse something rather than throw it away? Can I make tomorrow’s lunch from tonight’s dinner?
We have become so used to disposability that even small acts of restraint feel unusual.
Farming is part of this conversation too. I like the principles behind regenerative, sustainable and lower-input farming, particularly approaches that protect soil, biodiversity and animal welfare. But I would correct something I said earlier about organic food. It is too sweeping to say that organic food is simply “much more nutritious” than conventionally grown food.
Some studies have found differences in certain antioxidants, pesticide residues and cadmium levels, while other systematic reviews have found little evidence of a large or consistent nutritional advantage. So if you can afford organic food and it matters to you, that is fine. But I would never want somebody with a limited budget to think that an ordinary apple, carrot or bag of frozen vegetables is somehow not worth eating because it is not organic. Eat the vegetables. That matters far more.
Air pollution
The evidence here is much stronger. Air pollution has well-established effects on respiratory and cardiovascular health. There is also growing evidence linking long-term exposure to fine particulate pollution with an increased risk of dementia, although the precise size of that effect is still being worked out.
There has also been research into air pollution and Parkinson’s disease, but I would be more cautious there because the evidence is less consistent. Some reviews have found associations with certain pollutants and others describe the overall evidence as weak or mixed.
Noise pollution
Noise pollution matters as well. Chronic environmental noise is associated with sleep disturbance, stress and cardiovascular effects, and WHO also recognises mental-health-related consequences of excessive noise exposure.
We often underestimate how much our surroundings affect us because we adapt to them. You stop noticing the traffic outside the window or the constant noise, but that does not necessarily mean the body has stopped responding to it.
Spaces
On the other hand, there is increasingly good evidence for the benefits associated with access to green and blue spaces, meaning parks, trees, natural environments and areas around water. They create opportunities for physical activity, relaxation and social connection, and reviews have found an overall positive relationship with mental health.
I think for us there is also a spiritual dimension to being outdoors. Nature takes us back to fitrah. You see the signs of Allah everywhere. You see where food actually grows. You touch soil. You watch seasons change. It gets you out of the small, enclosed world of your own thoughts.
If you have an allotment or garden, you also move without necessarily calling it exercise. You bend, lift, walk and carry things, and perhaps you speak to your neighbours while you are doing it. Health does not always have to come in the form of a gym membership.
There are even studies looking at whether improvements in urban green space are associated with reductions in violence or crime. Some have reported encouraging associations, although the relationship is complicated and it would be far too simplistic to say that adding trees automatically makes people emotionally regulated and crime disappears.
The broader point is that our environment matters.
Community
Within that environment, perhaps the most important thing is community. Not everybody has a large family around them. Somebody may have embraced Islam later in life. They may be a refugee and have left everybody they love behind. They may have lost their parents, become estranged from relatives or simply feel incredibly isolated.
That is where community has to become real rather than just a word.
Come to the masjid. Volunteer. Notice people. Ask where somebody has gone when you have not seen them for a while. Visit the sick. Feed people. Attend the funeral. These very ordinary acts are deeply embedded in the Sunnah.
The Prophet ﷺ once asked his Companions who among them had fasted that day, followed a funeral, fed a poor person and visited somebody who was ill. Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه had done all four. The Prophet ﷺ said that when these qualities come together in a person, he will enter Paradise. (Sahih Muslim)
Community is something we make. It cannot always be something we wait to receive.
And Allah reminds us that human difference was never supposed to become a hierarchy of human worth:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ
“O humanity, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may know one another. Surely the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is the one with the most taqwa.”
(Surah al-Hujurat, 49:13)
So racism, class prejudice, nepotism and exclusion are not merely unpleasant social problems. They affect who gets opportunities, whose pain is taken seriously and, at times, the healthcare people receive.
For example, large US data have shown that Black and Hispanic people experiencing an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were less likely than White people to receive bystander CPR, even when the collapse was witnessed. In the UK, the COVID pandemic also exposed major health inequalities, with Black and South Asian communities experiencing higher risks at different stages of the pandemic, shaped by factors including occupation, housing, geography and existing health inequalities.
Health therefore cannot be reduced to individual willpower. Yes, we have personal responsibility, and I have emphasised that throughout this talk, but the environment around a person can make health easier or much harder.
Which brings me back to the home. Build sakinah there. Build safety. Build kindness. Make it somewhere people can recover from the strain of the outside world rather than somewhere they have to brace themselves for the next battle.
Conclusion
So if I had to summarise the topic of healing in the Quran and Sunnah in a few principles, the first is that health and illness are under the decree of Allah, and Allah alone is al-Shafi, the Healer. Doctors, medication, food, therapy, ruqya, rest and every other treatment are means. We use them properly, but we do not confuse the means with the One who gives the cure.
The second is that the final aim is not perfect physical health. None of us has been promised that. The aim is to meet Allah with a sound heart.
يَوْمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٌ وَلَا بَنُونَ إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى اللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍ سَلِيمٍ
“The Day when neither wealth nor children will benefit, except the one who comes to Allah with a sound heart.”
(Surah al-Shuara, 26:88–89)
And finally, I would like us to see tibb al-Nabawi as something much broader than a collection of remedies. It is an embodiment of the prophetic way of living.
It is how we eat and sleep, how we move, how we deal with hunger, how we respond to illness, how we manage our desires and how we treat other people. It is our relationship with Allah, with our families, with our communities and even with the earth beneath our feet.
Looking after the mind, body and soul is not separate from worship. Done with the right intention, it becomes part of worship itself.
Delivered by Dr Saania Bhatti to the Al Manaar Convert Club on 11th August 2026.