 the majority of people who try to give up an addiction will fail because most individuals will relapse within the first couple of days of quitting. It often takes repeated relapse for an individual to break free of their addiction and trust me when I say that not a lot of people will get to that point. There are a number of reasons why people lose their focus with their intention into ending their substance abuse. Now, what are those reasons? And what is the solution to breaking your addiction or overcoming your addiction? The only solution to that is to deal with it. Respect the viewers, brothers and sisters in Islam. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Welcome to our show, Deal with It with me, your host Ahmed Ali. Now the show is dedicated towards analyzing and discussing some of the most controversial topics out there that affect our lives on a daily basis, whether in a negative or in a positive way. Throughout the show, you will be able to comment because we are live on Facebook and to call for we are joined with Sayyid Hussain al-Khazweeni who will talk about overcoming addictions and to answer whatever question you have. Sayyidina, Assalamu alaikum. I'm very excited to see what kind of addictions we need to overcome or are we addicted to something. But before we do that, let's kick it off with our quick ziyarah. Absolutely. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. As-salamu alaikum ya Aba Abdullah. As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Welcome back to our show. Deal with it with me, your host, Ahmad Ali. Now, as I mentioned, this show is dedicated towards analyzing and discussing some of those controversial topics that affect our daily lives on a daily basis, whether either negative or positive. We are live on Facebook and YouTube, so you can visit Imam Hussain 3 TV on both social media networks, YouTube and Facebook to leave your questions and your comments on there, for they will be answered by Sayyid Hussain al-Khazweeni. Now, Sayyidna, today we chosen to talk about a topic that really does affect our life very negatively, but some positively, I don't know, what? Addiction. Now, the aspect of addiction is skyrocketing, especially in the 21st century, and we did talk about social media in the first episode, and people are addicted to social media. Now, is it possible for someone to overcome addiction? The answer to your question is yes, of course. It is possible to overcome an addiction. And proof of that is that many people who were addicted to certain things were able to overcome those addictions. Maybe some were not able, but others were, and all it takes is one person to be able to overcome an addiction that is proof that it is possible. But first of all, let's talk about how addictions work, because it's psychological. It's scientific as well. Of course, I don't claim to be a professional in this field. I don't claim to be an expert on how addictions work psychologically and scientifically. However, what I know is this, my basic understanding of the scientific way of how addictions work is this. You try something, and you enjoy it. When you enjoy it, the brain registers that. Registers that after this experience, there were feelings of pleasure, correct? There were feelings of pleasure. When you try it again, whatever it is, and we'll talk about the examples, you try that activity again, and again there's pleasure. It gets registered in the brain that I did this once and twice, and both times there was pleasure. The brain forms an association between that behavior and pleasure, a good feeling. So whenever the brain remembers that behavior again, he associates it with pleasure. He remembers that that act, that behavior, brought him pleasure. He craves it. So basically it's psychological, everything about it. It's psychological? Absolutely. The brain works through association. Reform associations. So let's say drugs. Someone does drugs. There was a pleasure in it. The brain registered that once the person tried this substance and had pleasure. He does it again. Same reaction. Again there was pleasure. Maybe a third time. It gets registered that this substance is associated with pleasure. Whenever you remember it, whenever your brain remembers that activity, it will remember that it was pleasurable. The body begins to crave it. The body wants that experience once again. So as soon as you remember that act, your brain says pleasure. It brought you pleasure. You begin craving it again. That is why those who try drugs, if they do it once or twice or three times, they usually continue doing it. And that is why drugs are addictive. I'm sorry? I think it depends on the drug. It depends on the drug, but that's why drugs are addictive. Cigarettes as well. Smoking cigarettes. It's enjoyable once. Maybe for some it's not enjoyable. For some it is. The brain forms an association between that behavior and the pleasure. And whenever it remembers that behavior, it feels a taste of that pleasure. So it craves it. So it wants it again and again and again and again. Now a lot of people ask this is that why are cigarettes addictive? Do they have drugs in it? Because nicotine is it considered as a drug? I don't know if it's a drug, but apparently nicotine is addictive. Well, that's the addictive part within a cigarette. Nicotine is addictive. And that's why it keeps a smoker coming back. I think it's this, that a smoker feels relaxed after smoking, although it's very temporary, feeling relaxed. But that feeling of being relaxed is pleasurable. So the brain forms an association. Whenever you smoke a cigarette, you will feel a bit of relaxation, although it's two minutes. There's an association. So every time you're stressed, you're angry, you're cut off on the road, at home, there's a problem, you get a nasty phone call, whatever it is that stresses you out, your brain says, remember the cigarette, they're brought you a bit of relaxation, immediately you begin to crave it. You go back to smoking. So the body begins to form an association, the body begins to form a relationship with that behavior because they bought it relaxation. They bought it temporary pleasure. So this is basically how addictions work. But does this mean that once a person is addicted to drugs or cigarettes? Addictions are of different forms. Some people are addicted to smoking, obviously, that's why they're smokers. And whatever you tell them, this will cause you heart disease, cancer, you might die, you're not only hurting yourself, but you're hurting people around you. Yeah. You're wasting money, especially in the West, where there's a big tax. Ninety percent. Ninety percent tax on cigarettes or you're wasting a lot of money, but it's an addiction. Colors. His body's telling him that you need it. His brain is telling him that this is your temporary happiness. Don't let anyone take it away from you. So they're willing to sacrifice. There's some people that are addicted to drugs. There's some people that are addicted to alcohol, because alcohol makes you drunk, makes you intoxicated, and in intoxication, apparently, for some people it's pleasurable. Well, anything that you overdose in becomes something negative. For me, I think if you overdose on water, it's... But water is not addictive. It's not addictive, but you're right. But I mean, anything that you pass... Water is healthy. The more you drink water, the body needs water. You mentioned something interesting. Social media. There's some people that are addicted to social media or their iPhones. And we talked about this. There's some people every couple of minutes they have to check. That's a form of addiction. Why? Because checking keeps them entertained. They get a message, makes them laugh and makes them... It could be gossip, it could be whatever. So again, the brain forms an attachment. There's an association. Open your phone. You'll see something nice. Open your phone. You'll be entertained. So the body gets used to opening the phone. The mind keeps on telling you open your phone. That's how the addiction works. There are some people that are addicted to certain sexual behaviors. Whether it's with someone else or by themselves. That's a sexual behavior that is addictive for some. And for some, it is very difficult to stop that behavior. It is indeed very addictive. So addictions can come in various forms. There are some people that are addicted to a kind of food. Addiction to chocolate, for example. Chocolate has components that uplift someone's feeling sad immediately when they have chocolate. It soothes the pain, so to speak. Speaking of chocolate. I'm not making any advertisement for Cadbury or Nestle or anything else. Our manager, Shad Haqani, he's addicted to this chocolate. And you're not going to get fired after the show? Hopefully nothing else. There are some people that are addicted to drinks. Coca-Cola, soda drinks, soft drinks. They have caffeine. Coffee and tea. I'm addicted to coffee and tea. Because it has caffeine. And caffeine is addictive. I think that's a good addiction. We'll talk about that later. Are addictions good or bad? Are there good addictions or addictions always bad? That's one of the questions we actually just got on Facebook. Are there any good or bad addictions? So tea is addictive, caffeine is addictive. There are some people who, if they don't drink tea, they'll get a headache. It's withdrawal. Because they haven't drank tea, they'll get a headache. And that's a common feeling. That's how the body reacts. To withdraw from an addiction. It gets a headache. You might feel grouchy. You might feel moody. You can't sleep. Loss of sleep after withdrawing from something that is addictive. Anyhow, coming back to your question, Ahmed, is it possible to overcome addictions? Absolutely. According to science and according to religion. Is it easy? And no. It's not easy. It's relative. For some people it could be easy. For some people it's not easy. But it's very much possible to overcome an addiction. There are some people that smoked for 60 years. And then all of a sudden they stopped. As they say, cold turkey. Cold turkey, they stopped. Some people were alcoholics. And they went into those programs that they have in the West. Rehabs and all that. And they stopped. They stopped alcohol. Drugs. Maybe it's a sexual behavior. Maybe it's an addiction to caffeine. I've heard some people that say, I used to drink tea all the time. Or coffee all the time. But I stopped. It's very much possible scientifically to overcome an addiction. The body won't die. You could be a smoker that smokes two packs a day of cigarettes. And you quit all of a sudden. It's not like you'll die. Yes, it'll be very difficult. Loss of appetite. Loss of sleep maybe. Fatigue. Feeling fatigue. Feeling tired. All of that. But after a while you can get adjusted. So scientifically there's nothing wrong with that. And we'll talk about ways to overcome addictions. What helps in overcoming addictions? Religiously, absolutely. In fact, Islam teaches us to overcome addictions. Why does Quran encourage tauba? Tauba is repentance. Forgiveness. From what? From sins that we're addicted to. From sins that we can't stop. You know, there are some sins. They're addictive. Like ghribah. Yeah. Ghribah is addictive. Backbiting. Backbiting. There's some people that cannot control their tongues. I know a few people who really cannot try. And they say, enough. I'm done. I don't want to backbite. I don't want to say anything. But they can't. It's addictive. They do it once. It's pleasurable. You know, there's a saying in Arabic that says ghribah is the fruit of the majlis. You know, in Middle Eastern culture when you have guests you bring fruits to make it a lively setting. You know, a way to honor your guests. Unfortunately some people they don't bring fruits. They bring ghribah. They enjoy ghribah with their friends. It's addictive. You can't stop because you find pleasure in it. Subhanallah. I don't know why it's pleasurable. Ghribah has some sort of pleasure. Gossip. So some people are addicted. That is why we have taba. The door of taba is open. That is proof that it is overcome. We are able to overcome addiction. Allah will not change a group of people unless they change themselves. Now Sayyidina, getting a bit personal, have you been addicted? Or are you addicted to something? I am addicted to Imam Hussein TV. Allah. I very much enjoy coming to this channel and I'm addicted to my presenter. I refuse to have any other presenter. So does that count? I mean, let's see what the control has to say about that. But I mean, let's take it as a no answer instead of trying to avoid the answer. Anyways, but yes, speaking of religious ways of overcoming addictions, a lot of people do say that fasting, if an individual that is addicted to a lot of things, and you mentioned sins. Now, I don't want to get to solutions just yet, but you mentioned sins. Now, is smoking a sin? Is it considered a sin, smoking cigarettes? Smoking cigarettes is, there is various opinions. According to most scholars, it's not. But there are some that do believe it is haram. There are some scholars that believe that they say the following, that if you believe smoking can seriously damage your health. To the point of death, then it is haram because it becomes a form of suicide. And the Qur'an says, so if you smoke a pack or more a day, and you know that this will cause your death, either through cancer or heart disease or whatever, then it becomes haram. But if you don't believe that it's that harmful, if you're not a heavy smoker, if you smoke two, three cigarettes a day, or two, three cigarettes a week, what's the point of doing it? I don't know. But if you smoke to a degree that is not harmful, you don't think will be that harmful. Some scholars say then it is not, it is not haram. The majority of scholars don't believe that smoking is haram. But does it mean that we should continue? Does that mean that should a person smoke? No, even if it's not haram, at least it's not good for your health. If it's not going to cause you cancer, but it will get you tired, it can, you know, it could still hurt you. It'll make you tired, you can't exercise, you can't walk fast, you can't run, you can't, right? It still damages. And it will do damage to your family members as well. So not everything that is halal or not haram should be done. To answer your question on smoking. Yes. Now, Hussam Ali from Admit in Canara, he says most of the addictions come from the people you hang out with. If they are, if they have a bad influence on you, then you must cut the ties with them or try to influence them. No. Unfortunately, some people pick up addictions from friends. For example, drugs. I doubt that a person, you know, he watches a movie and he sees actors taking drugs and he says, you know, let me go and try drugs. Or he reads about drugs on the internet and he says, let me try drugs. Usually, it's because of peer pressure. He's with his friends and he sees his friends doing it and they tell him it's so amazing and it's good and it's not harmful whatsoever and just do it once. There's peer pressure, you'll do it once and again and again and every time they get together until it becomes a formal addiction. Even cigarettes. The people who smoked for the first time, I'm sure it's not because they saw it on TV and they decided to go and smoke. Usually it's because of a friend. Usually a friend offered once, twice, three times until you finally accept it and you found it pleasurable or you might not even find it pleasurable because your friends are doing it and it's cool or they tell you, you know, don't be a baby, just do it, you know, don't be approved or whatever and they do it slowly, slowly it becomes an addiction. So, indeed, I agree that peer pressure, a lot of addictions can start from peer pressure. Yes, a lot of them. Especially in the cases of alcohol, drugs and cigarettes. Now, one of, you know, just to go back just a little bit, you did mention that, you know, according, today we're talking about cigarettes a lot. A lot of people are addicted to music, which one shall I get to talk about tomorrow? They're addicted to music and, you know, they can't relax right until they, you know, hear a beat or exactly hear that drum within their ear. That's also an addiction. That's also an addiction. Why? It's because of the association that we've talked about. Maybe they were feeling sad. They listened to a song. It cheered them up. The brain formed an association between listening to a song and cheering up. So the brain will always remember that. So whenever hears similar beats, it'll want to listen to it because it'll go back to that association. The listening to music cheered you up. So you want to do it again and again and again to feel cheered. So absolutely, it's an addiction. And tomorrow night we'll talk about, you know, the harms of music and the pros of music and try to weigh them out and see why does Islam say that music should be avoided? Now, a lot of people, when you do get to know them for the first time, people are addicted to, as you mentioned, gossip, but people are addicted to never sit at home, you know, to always be out. Now, is this a good or bad addiction? I know after the break we have a couple of minutes, but just introduce it so we can continue after the break. Right. But, you know, this is very simple. Right. That is an addiction, for example, shopping. Yeah. Some people are addicted to shopping. Maybe some people are addicted to going to museums and art galleries. I think that's a good addiction though. Some young men are addicted to Shisha smoking. Of course, that's a category of smoking, but some people don't smoke cigarettes, but they're addicted to Shisha smoking. They have to go to a cafe, have a friend, or has to go to a cafe every night. I tell them why every night to a Shisha cafe. You know how bad that is for your health? One Shisha is equivalent to, God knows how many cigarettes. Is it true? It's very heavy. Is it true? Yeah, absolutely. Read about it scientifically. The amount that you inhale from a Shisha is a lot more than cigarettes. What about vapes then? There's the new trend of the vaporizers, the vapes. What about it? You mean halal or haram? Not halal or haram, but you know. Is it harmful? In a way. Is it smoke or? It's vapor. It's vapor. It's, you know, something that is vaporized. So is it harmful, harmful or is it not harmful? What do scientists say? It depends. I mean, the brand that you buy your vapes from. Again, it's the same answer what scholars would say. If it's dangerous and harmful to the point that it could lead to death, you know that it could lead to death, it's not allowed. But if it's, you know, it's not that harmful, it's just as harmful as eating too much or it won't kill, let's say. If it doesn't kill, then most scholars would not say that it's halal. Now before we go into a break, I want to mention something that a lot of people when, that are addicted to something, and you tell them why you're addicted to this or why addicted to that, they give the lamest answer you can ever hear. They say, well, YOLO, you only live once. So why not, you know, try whatever we want. Right. You know, as long as it's, you know, some people don't even care as long as it's been a bunch of religion. But they say that, you know, YOLO, I want to try whatever is out there. So I can, yeah, this is my body. I can do whatever I want to. Well, this is good. It's good. No, I mean, relatively compared to those who try to make even worse justifications. This is not good. But I'm saying relatively to those that, you know, they're in denial. You tell them why you're addicted to cigarettes. They say, I'm not addicted. Who told you I'm addicted? I could stop right now. But they continue smoking for another 20 years. There's some people that are in denial. Yeah. They're offended when you tell them that you're addicted. Or there are some that will flat out tell you who tells, who said smoking cigarettes is harmful. They'll twist it. Who said smoking is harmful? Then why didn't they say on the park the main, the main cause? They say it could cause cancer. It doesn't say that it will definitely cause cancer. Or people that are addicted to alcohol. So what? Who said alcohol is addictive? Who said it's harmful? It's just like drinking water. So on. So they're in denial. Yeah. And although they do know that it's destructive, it's harmful to the health, they'll flat out tell you it's not. And I wonder, are they just trying to fool others? Or are they trying to fool themselves? Are they trying to fool themselves? I highly doubt that they can fool themselves. Yeah. Maybe they could fool others, but they can't fool themselves. Right? Yeah. And some actually say they are addicted to doing good things, which the break is all about now. The blood drive, which happened in London, where people gathered to donate blood for the sake of Hussain on his auspicious occasion. Now this thing is really addictive for the people that, you know, that initiate and put hard work to it every year or every season they have to do this. So respected viewers, do stay tuned for after the break for you will, inshallah, be presented with a short report from a blood drive donation from London, UK. After that, we'll talk about overcoming addictions. Salaamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa rahmatullahi wa rahmatullahi. Mubaraki on this auspicious occasion of the birth of our holy Imam, Imam Hussain alayhi salam, giving great pleasure in donating blood in the name of our holy Imam. And I'd recommend it to you all. Do something today. Donate blood if you can. As sandal. Congratulations on the anniversary of the birth of Imam Hussain alayhi salam. We are donating blood today on this event, and we encourage everyone to do so. On this beautiful day, the Milad of Imam Hussain and Milad al-Fullah Abbas and Imam Sajjad. Obviously, Imam Hussain is Imam al-Hayat, Imam of giving, Imam of life. He's the one who gave everything for the sake of humanity. So today we are giving our blood in a good cause, inshallah, and to represent who we stand for, Imam Hussain. And for what he stood for, inshallah, is what we're giving today, inshallah. And it's a small thing that we can do for the Khidmah of Imam Hussain. I would like to congratulate all brothers and sisters on this amazing celebration, and it's the birth of Imam Hussain. It's a great day. We've all come into the blood donor centre, but we've given blood in the name of Imam Hussain. We ask for Imam Hussain and Allah to accept it from us, and I send all the best we've used to all friends and family. I thank Allah, I thank him, I thank him in Salam, for once again granting us the opportunity to serve them, and to serve humanity as a whole. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the organisers for this event, and I also want to thank the staff who have dedicated their time to this blood donation in the centre here. Everyone's doing a very excellent job. The reason we're doing this is because of the blood of Imam Hussain, alaihi salam. We share our blood to make a point that Imam Hussain, he was the Imam of the life. He sacrificed his life for the sake of humanity. We are here today to stand and show our solidarity and to show our stand and cooperation with the brothers here who have organised this blood donation session. Respective viewers, brothers and sisters, once again, welcome to the second part of today's episode. Now, before the break, we began our discussion around being addicted, and one of the addictions of is being addicted to be presented by me. Say the welcome back to our show. You love these personal questions and you want more, but we'll kick it off with a comment from a brother named Ali Rullah from Sudbury, Ontario, very close where I used to live. He says, I really like today's topic, not saying that the other topics weren't nice, but I can relate to this discussion very much. Three years ago, I was addicted to cigarettes and I tried so many things from pharmacies and non-nicotine cigs, but the way that really worked for me is that I kept on motivating myself and brought toothpicks and used them instead of cigs. Hopefully, he didn't smoke the toothpicks, but... No, no. That's very good. It's been three years since I had my last cig. Hope this works for the rest of the smokers who want to quit. Now, this is a very nice solution for someone who wants to quit smoking. We do thank you, brother Ali Rullah from Sudbury, Ontario. Now, this is being initiative, taking the initiative of something that no one does you do one of the ways, but trying pharmacies and non-nicotine cigs probably doesn't work. So, Sayyidina, the second part of today's episode, or the second half of the show, we want to talk about how do we overcome addictions. Now, the first part, we said, is it possible to overcome addictions? Now, how can we overcome addictions? As-sant. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. We reached this conclusion that it's very much possible to overcome an addiction, scientifically and religiously. I think the first step for anyone who wants to stop an addiction, an overcome an addiction, and as we said, addictions are of various types. So, for our dear viewers, if you're not a smoker, it doesn't mean that this won't apply to you, no, because addictions are of various types. It could be addicted to smoking, or drugs, or alcohol. And of course, I don't mean to put them all in one category, because drugs and alcohol are haram, smoking is not haram in the opinion of many scholars. But it's nevertheless an addiction that many people want to stop. It could be a sexual behavior. It could be a sexual act that is addictive. It could be an addiction to social media. It could be an addiction to shopping. It could be an addiction to a specific type of food or a behavior. For example, you know, it's interesting you asked me, are you addicted to something? Cracking your nails. There's people that are addicted to- I crack my nails, my thumbs, like my fingers, but not like that. There's people- I have this problem of cracking nails, and I know that it's not very healthy, and I've been told it could cause arthritis. It's an addiction, right? But, you know, addictions are different. There are some addictions that are not a big deal. There are some addictions that could kill you. There are some addictions that won't kill you, but could drive you to hellfire. So how do we overcome addictions? Number one. The number one law is to acknowledge you have a problem. It's to acknowledge that you have an addiction. There are some people that want to acknowledge. You cannot find a solution and a problem if you don't acknowledge that you're ill. Yeah. If a person does not know that he has cancer, is he going to go seek treatment for cancer? Definitely. No. If a person does not acknowledge that he has a, you know, an illness, he's not going to seek a cure. So number one, you have to admit that you have an addiction, and it's a problem. It's not something that you enjoy and you do once in a while. No. It's a problem that you can't stop. You've tried. People have told you to stop. You've told yourself to stop. You've made a decision or you've wanted to stop, but you can't. That is called an addiction. We have to call it as such. You can't fool yourself and say, no, I could quit whenever I want. This is not a big deal. It's not a, it is an addiction. And you have to admit that you're addicted. This is one. This is the first step because if you don't admit, you're not going to seek help. You're not going to go to step two, step three, step four. That's the first step is to say, yes, I am addicted and I need help. You don't necessarily have to go to a person. Even if you admit to yourself, even if you admit to yourself that you are addicted, that's the first step. This is one. Two, you need to develop a strong will and a determination. Don't fool yourself. If you really want to stop, you have to be determined. You have to have a strong will. Not a weak will that, you know, you say, yeah, yeah, inshallah. I'm going to stop. You can't fool yourself. If you really want to overcome an addiction, you say, tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow is a new beginning. I'm going to put cigarettes behind. I'm going to put this problem behind me. This sexual act, this addiction to something or something. I will put it behind me. You have to, you know, make a firm decision. That's step number two. Yes. Go ahead. Motivate you. But Hamid Amiri, he says there's a new addiction. How about being addicted to love? How do you overcome this? How do you overcome being addicted to love? Can you be addicted to love? Yeah, you could. What kind of love? Since you're a specialist of love. Addicted to love. I assume this person is speaking about worldly love, you know, love for someone. Why? It makes perfect sense because feeling in love gives you pleasure. You're being loved. You're wanted. That's pleasure. Association. We're back to association. We're back to association of the brain. So that person breaks up with you. Or that person no longer wants you. So that sense of pleasure that you gained from being in love, you want it back. So you find someone and immediately you profess your love. I love you. Even though you might not really love that person, but you want that sense that you want that feeling again of being loved and showing love to someone where you had with person number one, you want it with person number two, you want it with person, you formed an attachment. Well, person number two and three. Yeah. If you keep on getting into breakups, you'll always be in search of love. It's an emotional attachment. So yeah, absolutely. It could be an addiction. In fact, you could be addicted to a person. You could be addicted to a person. If you feel this person, it's not love really. It's an addiction. If that person makes you feel good, flatters you, tells you the things that you only want to hear. Never tells you things that you don't want to hear. You'll be addicted to this person. We have two people from the cameraman. We have Hassan Alaa Qansalmad who are too addicted to each other. Right. If you see one, you have to see the other one with them. Especially the one on the crane right now is addicted to all three of them. Right. You know what I mean? I'm assuming you're going to be in trouble after this show. So good luck with that. So yeah. I'm leaving right away. But yeah, speaking of being addicted to someone. Absolutely. When you see someone with this one, yeah. They make you feel good and happy. You're going to want them all the time. You feel addicted to them. So number one, admit the problem. Number two, develop a strong will and a sense of resistance and determination. You have to. It's like being attacked by someone. You put your guards up right away. You resist. That's the form of resistance we have to have with addictions. Yeah. When someone jumps on you, you don't just sit there and say, yeah, go ahead, take a punch. No, you resist. It's a natural reaction. When someone jumps at you, whether it's an animal or a human or a gang or whatever, you resist. You fight it off. That's the picture that we have to have in our head when it comes to addictions. If you want to really get over it. If you're fooling yourself, that's another issue. Number three. Can we just read this comment and then we can go to number three? Absolutely. Keep that in mind. Now Ja'far Hamoud from Florida, he says, I'm a specialist in a rehab and I get asked this question a lot. What's the best way to quit smoking and how do I put an end to my addictions? Now, to be honest, the best way to fill the best ways to fill your time with useful things like playing sports or nice walks early in the morning. Positive social interactions can stimulate the release of neurochemicals, which brings out the feelings of happiness and satisfaction without the need of drugs. Good. I will talk about that in number four. I will talk about that. Well, I think this is, thank you Ja'far Hamoud for that. Number three, in order to overcome addictions, avoid triggers. Avoid triggers. What is it that triggers you to want that act or behavior? For example, what triggers you to smoke? Stress, anger, a crazy driver on the road that cuts you off. Is it your kids? Is it a boss? Things that cause you stress and the need and desire for what? To smoke. Avoid those triggers. Avoid those triggers. To the best of your ability. You might be saying, we'll say, what do you want me to do? Go live on the moon. Wherever I live, there's stress. True. But there's a lie that you could avoid and reduce. For example, if it's driving on the highway and someone cuts you off, don't take the highway. Take the streets. It's a possibility. For some, for example, it's a billboard. A billboard could trigger them. It's an advertisement for cigarettes. Or, it's a billboard of a half-naked female. It triggers a desire for sexual behavior, sexual act. Don't take that street. Avoid those triggers. What if you work on that street? You change your work. My point is, we could avoid triggers. Yeah. If it's friends, for example, you're fine. If you're at work, you don't need to smoke. If you're at home, you don't need to smoke. But as soon as your friends come over or you go over your friends, because they smoke, you're going to want to smoke. Avoid those friends. Yes. You have to avoid those friends. The same comment we had in our first break. Yeah. If it's music, you're addicted to music. But what triggers it is when you're with friends. When you're in the car, you turn it on. Avoid. Avoid those friends. Avoid certain places. This is one of the keys. There are certain things that trigger. They trigger the addiction. You could start by avoiding those triggers. Number four, find a replacement. And the brother that... Yes, brother Ja'far Hamoud. Ja'far Hamoud. And I think this is what he was trying to say. Finding a replacement. Yes. Go for exercise. Go for something lawful. Go for something halal. He'll give off those chemicals of happiness. The neurochemicals. The neurochemicals of happiness. The same chemicals that go off when performing the addicted act, addicted behavior. You could get those chemicals, but from another behavior, but from another act. It's possible. You have to find a replacement. For example, the brother that messaged us first for smoking. His replacement was toothpicks. That's genius. That's genius because it kept him busy. See the mind will play tricks on us. The mind will constantly say smoke, smoke, smoke. Do this, do this, do... You know, whatever the behavior it is, whatever the sexual... It's a sexual behavior. It's addiction to social media. It's whatever it is. The brain keeps on saying do it, do it, do it. You have to keep the mind busy. And the body busy. So it's a... Is it a toothpick? Is it a siddha that you have in your hand you keep yourself busy with? Is it talking on the phone? Is it those nicotine patches? Whatever it is, you find a replacement. If you're addicted to music, for example, you find a replacement. You listen to Anashid, for example. It's not music. It doesn't have beats. It doesn't have musical instruments. There's a nice voice. Twenty-first century Anashid. Right, right. Are worse than music. Right, that's why I say avoid those ones and go for the lawful Anashid. It's a form of replacement. Your ears want to listen to something. Provide a replacement. Social media. Social media is entertainment. You're talking to someone. You're chatting to someone. Instead, put your phone away. Speak to someone in person. Social media is giving you pleasure because you're chatting, you're texting, you're speaking to someone. Speak to someone in person. You have to find a replacement. Otherwise, the addiction will come back. You'll stop a day or two or three and then you'll come back. You have to keep your mind busy. And you have to keep your body busy as well. And finally, number four, ask Allah Azza wa Jalla for help. Allah Azza wa Jalla will not abandon us. Whatever the addiction that you have, especially if it's an unlawful addiction. Especially if it's an addiction that Allah has not pleased with. Yes. And Allah dislikes. You make an effort. You admit what the problem is. You confront yourself. You avoid the triggers. You find a replacement. You do what you have to do. And at the same time, finally, you ask Allah Azza wa Jalla for help. You tell him, oh, Allah, I'm doing my best that I can. And Allah does not change the people. He even changes himself. Yes. Once Allah sees that you've made a struggle, you've made an effort to give up that addiction, whatever that addiction is, He will put the final touches. And He will assist us in overcoming that addiction. So asking Allah for help and the Ahlul Bayt for their intercession will also definitely help in overcoming those addictions. Now, one of the comments that we got is from Fais Zazada from the UK who says motivation is key to overcoming. Always motivate yourself to overcome your addictions. You don't motivate yourself by your friends, by your family members. Just keep a motivated company around you. You know, a good way, I think, and that's interesting, is to read about those who overcame addictions. For example, if you would like to overcome smoking, and, you know, maybe the dear viewers are saying, why this overemphasis on smoking, especially if you're saying it's nahra, I'm using smoking as an example. An example. It's a major example of addictions, otherwise addictions are many. For example, if you want to stop smoking, if you know a person who used to smoke and stopped, go and ask him how. That's a good way to be motivated and remind yourself of that person. Tell yourself every day, see, Mr. So-and-so did it. Mr. So-and-so used to smoke maybe more than you, but he stopped. That means you could do it. Read about people. Read about people's experiences. Look it up online. There are so many stories, maybe in your community, maybe in your family. There are people that were able to overcome addictions. We could be motivated by their stories. Yes. Another comment that we had, this is a very tough name to say, Keny Zayn, Abdul Fadal. She's a Salam at times. People who go through tough times in their life tend to get addicted to thinking about the problems in a way where it leads them to severe depression and anxiety problems leading to health complications. Please explain how to stop taking stress and deriving our attention to Allah or, in other words, to Tawakkur. That's a very good point. Overthinking is an addiction. When you overthink something, to the point that it causes depression, it could be something small, but you overthink it and you begin to exaggerate. It's all in the head. A lot of problems come because of that. For example, you overthink too much. You have a problem of overthinking. For example, you think of getting arrested. You say, if I get arrested, I go to jail. If I go to jail, I won't see my family members. If I don't see my family members, my children will grow up and I don't see them, or I'll never get married, or something might happen to my mom. And if my mom dies, what's going to happen to me? What's going to happen to my father? You keep on overthinking, overthinking, overthinking. Until you finally collapse. You become so stressed, you collapse. The key to overthinking is to stop it in the beginning, right away. Whatever the trigger is, there's triggers to overthink. Yes. For example, you see you're here of a person with a similar problem, so you begin to remember your own problem. From the beginning, stop. Stop yourself. Say, no, no, no, no, no. Am I going to think about this? Let me think about, for example, Imam Hussain Ali. Let me think about Abu Al-Fadr. Let me think about the weather. Keep yourself busy immediately. Pick up the phone. Talk to a friend. Talk to a family member. And you know what? There's nothing wrong with seeking professional help. There's nothing wrong with seeking professional help. If all the things that we've mentioned, they worked good. If they didn't work, addiction is a psychological problem. It is. Some psychological problems are easy to overcome. Some psychological problems are very difficult to overcome. Depression. Depression is a psychological problem. But it has, it could be very severe to the point that it could, you know, it could become suicidal. Or, you know, it could be not so severe and you could overcome. If it's at a, if you're at a severe stage, you have to seek professional help. There's nothing wrong with that. Yes. Just like we go to a doctor when I feel pain in my stomach or my throat or whatever. I have an infection in my throat. I go to, I go seek professional help. There's no shame in that. Yeah. Psychological disorders also deserve professional help. Go to a professional. Go to a psychiatrist. Go to a psychologist. And tell them, listen, I've tried to overcome these addictions. But it's not working. Help me. Teach me. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. And Saydena, just to end our showing thing, we have two minutes left. A lot of people tend to get addicted. As you mentioned, we said we have good addictions and bad addictions. Some people are addicted to good things. Which, but the thing is that they, you know, they just do it excessively. Right. Where I guess to the point where, you know, it's, it's irregular. See, it could, addictions to good things. For example, salah or wudu. It could be a form of an OCD. An obsessive compulsive disorder. A person that repeats his salah all the time, as addicted to repeating his salah. That's an OCD. Islam doesn't want you to repeat your salah 50 times. Islam wants you to pray once. One morning prayer, one noon, one afternoon, one Maghrib, one Asha. Don't over-repeat it. No, there's some that, you know, they're addicted to salah and they're not repeat. But they like to perform salah all the time. They feel compelled. You shouldn't feel compelled. You know, worship is meant to be enjoyed. Just like food. Food is nourishment for the body. Yes. It's meant to be enjoyed. So is ibadah and worship. It's meant to be enjoyed. It's not meant to create havoc in your life and stress and you have to do it because addictions are sometimes out of control. They take control over you. You feel like, you know, it's not in your hands. That shouldn't be when it comes to good deeds. It should be with control. You want to do it. It's not because you have to. It's because you want to. It'll be more enjoyable and more rewarding. It shouldn't be to the point that you feel compelled to pray because you've created some sort of association. So just because you say you're addicted to a good thing, that doesn't mean that's a good thing. Right. You should want to do a good thing because if it makes you feel good because you understand what it means. Because you can concentrate over it. Now we do thank you very much for joining us tonight Sayyidina. My pleasure. Hopefully we can get addicted to good things and keep a limit to that. You know and not go other ways. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. My pleasure. Hopefully we can continue the discussion tomorrow but around a different topic which is music inshallah. InshaAllah. So respective viewers too stay tuned for tomorrow's episode. For we'll talk about the pros and cons of music and we'll weigh them out and see which one overweighs the other. That's into tomorrow's discussion. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.