Quranic Strategies for Emotional Discipline
They include obeying God and worshipping Him based on a balance between Khawf (fear) and Raja (hope).
After encouraging us to form a firm belief and gain the motivation to organize our emotions, the Quran offers a series of steps to establish emotional discipline. One of the most important of these steps is to obey divine commands. According to the Quran, obeying God and following His guidance guarantees the removal of fear and grief: “Whosoever follows My guidance no fear shall be on them, neither shall they be saddened.” (Verse 38 of Surah Al-Baqarah)
The Quran also gives us strategies to organize our emotions and release them, which are helpful regarding both negative and positive emotions. One of the strategies to deal with emotions is worshipping God: “Pray to God, have fear of Him, and hope to receive His mercy.” (Verse 56 of Surah Al-Aaraf)
When one worships God, he talks about his needs and fears and asks Him to fulfill the needs and remove the fears. He also hopes for divine mercy and blessings. This attention to the two sides of the emotions (fear and hope) creates an emotional balance and puts us on the path of balance in our relationship with God and others.
The Holy Quran also urges us to avoid getting preoccupied with this transient worldly life and its passing enjoyments: “Allah amplifies and straitens the means of subsistence for whom He pleases; and they rejoice in this world's life, and this world's life is nothing compared with the hereafter but a temporary enjoyment.” (Verse 26 of Surah Ar-Raad)
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Such a belief prevents us from becoming overjoyed with worldly pleasures and helps us to gain more control over our emotions. In fact, we realize that the path to true happiness and joy is one based on God's blessings and mercy, not on temporary worldly pleasures: “(Muhammad), tell them, ‘To be happy with the favors and mercy of God is better than whatever you accumulate.’” (Verse 58 of Surah Yunus)
Thus, according to the Quran, the way to release all kinds of emotions is through relationship with God. Just as joys should be based on divine blessings and mercy, negative emotions should be released through worship of God based on Khawf and Raja.
