My Personal-Lesson with Opioid-Addiction

Allah states:

“And don’t be led to Destruction, via your own Hands.”

(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.2, V.195)

The Year is 1426, A.H./2005, C.E.: I’m 24/23-Years Old…just came back from making al-Hajj/Pilgrimage. Prior to Hajj I tried to get my Khitān/Circumcision, but I had to wait until I came back to the U.S.

Reasons I didn’t get it circumcised sooner:

a. I wasn’t Muslim-Born.

b. My Parents let some Goofy-Ass Nurse “convince” them to not get me circumcised when I was born, claiming that circumcising a Baby would be “too painful/traumatic”.

c. I Found-Out Years after becoming a Muslim, that al-Khitān is a Mafrūdh/Islāmic-Mandate for All Muslim-Men.

The Pain-Of-Khitān

Undergoing al-Khitān & its Subsequent-Pain thereafter, as a Grown-Ass Person, is about the closest any Man will ever get to experiencing any Woman’s Labor/Birthing-Pain. So, of course, Post-Surgery I get prescribed the Good-Shit: Vicodin.

Lemme tell U Mothafuckas bout Vicodin

Vicodin will put you rite on yo Ass & stop you rite in yo Tracks. Taking Vicodin is like getting Sucka-Punched by Mike Tyson in their Prime: you’re going to hit the Floor…Straight-Up. It’s a “Nite-Nite” Type of Situation. Which is how/why Vicodin is classified as a Narcotic&Opioid and is exclusively a Prescription-Only Medication.

My “Near the Edge” Dance with Vicodin-Dependency/Addiction

I was literally in so much Pain Post-Khitān: my Vicodin-Prescription said 2-Pills every 4-Hours…I was poppin dem Shits 4-Pills every 2-Hours. And…I felt every Drop of that Medical-Misuse. It was like I was High off of Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin, etc. all at the Same-Time. And, it donned on me: if this is supposed to make me Healed and it gets me High like this, I can’t/don’t even want to experience how High the Harām/Forbidden-Shit gets People. I’ve smoked Weed before (the Only-Intoxicant I’ve ever used). But, that Vicodin-High my Nigga…that’s some “Outra This-World” Different-Shit.

My “Fork in the Road” Ijtihād/Decision

When my Vicodin-Prescription ran-out: on the Prescription it read, “2 More Refills”. I said to myself: Nah…I’d rather go through the Pain…Fuck dem Pills. This is not what I signed-up for. Fortunately, via the Rahmah/Mercy-Of-Allah, I was never a Fan of Medication anyway. So, it was a lot easier for me to say: Fuck It…Imma Thug it out & deal with the Circumcision-Pain. But, everyone isn’t built like that.

What my Experience did to help me

Such an Experience actually helped me to be more empathetic/understanding, as per how/why Certain-Persons become Feinds via Substance-Abuse Addiction. Obviously not in All-Cases, however, it’s more often than not. Certain-People don’t necessarily want to get High, but rather they simply want their Pain to die. It’s just that ash-Shaytān/Satan is capable/able to convince Certain-People, that the Only-Way to kill the Pain is to stay High. And, the Pain isn’t necessarily Post-Surgical. The Pain can be the Results of: Domestic-Abuse, Child-Abuse, Sexual-Abuse, Human/Sex-Trafficking, Depression, Death, etc. and All-Types of Other-Shit which drives People to at-Tahzīn (Sadness/Hopelessness).

Since working in my Filed of an-Nasīhah/Chaplaincy

My Personal-Experience, as per the Subject of Self-Medicating, via al-Khamriyyah/Substance-Abuse: it’s equipped me with the Capabilities/Abilities to truly see Things from the Side of the Khamir/Substance-Abuser. Not simply analyzing/assessing the Trauma they either self-impose, but equally the Asbāb/Reasons how&why the Trauma even exists in the 1st-Place. Addiction via any/all it’s Sifāt/Manifestations: that’s actually a Significant-Portion of my Professional-Work as a Nāsih/Chaplain.

Gareth Bryant

The Anatomy of Quitting on one’s Self

https://www.islamestic.com/i-am-feeling/

https://www.euronews.com/next/2023/03/31/man-ends-his-life-after-an-ai-chatbot-encouraged-him-to-sacrifice-himself-to-stop-climate-

This-Article is almost exclusively based upon the Following-Works:

a. al-Bahr-ur-Rā’iq/The Calm-Ocean (a Trilateral-Compilation of the Works of: Abī-Hāmid al-Ghazālī, ibn-il-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, ibn-Rajab al-Hanbalī), Ahmad Farīd

b. “Hierarchy-Of-Needs” (a Psycho-Analytical Theory), Abraham Maslow

https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/nervous-breakdown#What-is-a-nervous-breakdown?

As a Chaplain (Counselor/Therapist): I’ve personally encountered Various-Persons either expressing/verbalizing that they no longer see the Point of Life and/or express/verbalize their Contemplations/Desires, Motives/Intents, etc. to commit Suicide. My Niyyah/Motive is to thoroughly decipher the Difference between being Unlively & being Suicidal. Now, is there Correlation between Unliveliness & Suicide…Absolutely. However, does this mean that both are exclusively a Causation of one another…Absolutely not.

al-Hazan/Unliveliness

This results from any Human-Experience which triggers and/or reminds us of Negative-Times, Challenging-Happenings via our Existence within ad-Dunyā/the Mundane. If/when any Person loses what’s known as the “Will to live”-Naturally, Most-People will in fact think/feel that someone just wants to hang it up & end their Lives. It’s not always like this. There’s truly an Abundance of Complexities/Complications via someone’s Life-Experiences which cause Unliveliness. More often than not: a Person may simply not want their Life as is and/or they may want to live the Lives of Others whom they know, know of. It’s very probable that they don’t view who they are individually as valuable, meaningful, purposeful, important, etc. They very often may actually fantasize and/or become addicted to whom they see/view via T.V., Film, Entertainment, Porn, Online, Social-Media, etc. Then, they may wish to live the Lives they’re stimulated by as if intoxicated with wanting to be anyone/everyone externally of themselves. This-Concept “Living my Best-Life” is literally one of the Culprits of Personality-Addiction/Worship: it’s actually a Grave-Facade. Whenever Most-People conceptualize That-Mythos, it’s exclusively pertaining to Mundane-Gains & Material-Pleasures…as Allah states: “And the Mundane-Life is only the Matā`/Enjoyment of al-Ghurūr/Illusion.”. None of Those-Things will ever yield as-Sa`ādah/Happiness…as-Sa`ādah can never be externally acquired, rather, it must always be introspectively/interally fostered&cultivated: as-Sa`ādah is a Personal-Responsibility. Ironically, one of the Major-Reasons how/why so/too man Human-Relationships are negative, toxic, etc. and/or fail is because as Humans we audaciously/arrogantly expect Other-People to make us “happy”. But, it’s humanly impossible to make anyone happy, except ourselves…like I always tell People: No one can make us happy, but anyone can make us miserable. And, when they continuously see Person-After-Person disappointing them, worse yet making them miserable (because they refuse to find as-Sa`ādah intrapersonally) they delve further into a Spiritual/Psycho-Emotional Abyss. This is precisely how/why Allah states: “Those whom believe pay attention: Upon you are yourselves.” & “Verily, Allah doesn’t change what’s within any People unless/until they change what’s within themselves.”.
(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.5, V.105; Chpt.13, V.11; Chpt.57, V.20)

at-Tahlukah/Suicide

As per what I’ve aforementioned, via the Pic  concerning “wanting to die”: in All-Truthfulness/Honesty, it’s a Misnomer. I’ll explain what I actually mean. Even if/when anyone becomes and/or is Suicidal: they don’t actually want to die…they really only want their Suffering, Life-Challenges, etc. to die. However, Suicidal-Persons (for Various-Reasons) allow ash-Shaytān/Satan to convince them that the Only-Way to end their Suffering/Life-Challenges are to end themselves. Speaking of Suicide, as per my Professional-Experience: there exists a Strong-Correlation between Suicide & Sexual-Abuse. At least 98% of Persons I’ve counseled regarding Suicide were sexually-abused (at least once via their Life-Times). Being Suicidal is literally a Person’s Last-Call for Help…it’s actually a Spiritual/Psycho-Emotional S.O.S.-Signal. This is the Reason how/why the Average-Suicidal authors what’s known as the “Suicide-Note”. They do this to catch they Attention of at least 1-Person who actually cares enough to reach-out to them, to stop/prevent them from committing Suicide. For example: the Famous-Series “13 Reasons Why”, which is literally based on a True-Story/Actual-Events by the way: I’ve literally seen almost all the 13-Reasons manifested via Other-People I’ve actually counseled. I mean, via the Nasr/Help-Of-Allah: I’ve literally been able to physically prevent People from threating/attempting Suicide rite in front of me via Real-Time & via Real-Life.
(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.2, V.195; Chpt.7, V.11-25; Chpt.114; Muslim)

This is the Logic of Sad/Depressed-Persons. This is neither normal nor healthy.

So, what’s to be done…what can be done…how can anyone help People dealing with either Unliveliness, Suicide, or both, etc.?!!!

Excellent-Questions…Answers:

ar-Ruqyah (Healing/Treatment)

The Following is a List of Discussion-Topics which I use via my Life-Coaching. It’s geared towards facilitating Self-Awareness, in light of honing one’s own Maturation/Advancement of Intrapersonal & Interpersonal Intelligence/Communication. The Responses to these aren’t “One&Dones”. The Responses are meant to evolve with any whom chooses to use this. The Person’s-Responses may be completely different an Hour, Day, Week, Month, Year, Decade, Score, etc. from rite now as we speak. As I always tell People: People are just like the Weather & Weather changes everyday. It’s exclusively discretionary. So, if a Person wants to answer these everday, evert Week, Month, Year, etc. then that’s completely up to them.

1. (Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.51, V.56)

Explain what your Existence means to you personally.

2. (Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.13, V.11)

Detail what Potential/Purpose means to you.

Detail your Personal-Goals in Life.

Detail your Personal-Roadblocks which hinder your Personal-Goals from becoming Reality.

3. (“Oh, Allah: just as you’ve perfected my Physique, perfect my Character also.”
[Fortress Of The Muslim])

Tell how you view yourself in the Present.

Tell how you want to be viewed in the Future.

Relate how much you genuinely like yourself (on a Scale from 0-10).

Relate how much you genuinely dislike yourself (on a Scale from 0-10).

4. (Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.2, V.286 & Chpt.5, V.28)

Compare/Contrast: Strengths vs. Weaknesses…”SWOT-Analysis”:

S.trengths

W.eaknesses

O.pportunities

T.hreats

5. (Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.64, V.14 & Chpt.80, V.33-36)

Describe your Relationships with your Family.

6. (“A Person is upon the Path of their Friend. So, beware concerning whom you befriend.”
[Abū-Dāwud, an-Nawawī])

Describe your Relationships with your Friends.

Discuss how influential you are amongst People.

Discuss how influential People are over you.

From Then to Now: Life-Review concerning what you’ve learned about yourself.

Daily-Affirmations

Gareth Bryant

ar-Rifq/Compassion via at-Tadabbur/Introspection

Me suffering from an Ear-Cyst Post-Treatment.

This is how/why I look like somebody’s Mummified Baby-Abī/Daddy:

For sometime now my Left-Ear just kept feeling Red&Raw…I initially thought it was simply Insect-Bites, like a Mosquito catchin me slippin. But, then, my Ear began to swell-up. My Ear was looking like a Dajjāl/Anti-Christ Eye…Shit was Crazy. So, upon that, I was like: I gots to get This-Shit checked-out. All the while though I learned something significant about myself. This Ear-Swelling of mine actually made me feel “Ugly”…I literally felt “Deformed”. It had a Serious-Affect on my Psyche. And, moreover, it reminded me how People from All-Walks of Life…there’s Persons whom deal with
All-Kinds/Types of Deformities, which can’t just be resolved via an Emergency/Urgent-Care Visit. It compelled me to at least get some Type/Kind of Glimpse/Lens into what Other-People (with Conditions astronomically more severe than I can ever imagine) go through on a Daily via their Individual-Challenges/Struggles. This in Totality was a Valuable-`Ibrah/Lesson which Allah chose to impose upon me. Plus, as Muhammad (Peace be upon them) mentioned that any/all Suffering which any Muslim is challenged/tested by Allah with: it serves as a Mechanism to remove Untold-Amounts of Sins from one’s
Hisāb/Record…as Allah states: “It’s They whom created both Death&Life, challenging which of you do best.”.
(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.67, V.2; an-Nawawī)

Gareth Bryant 1443, A.H./2022, C.E.