Question: I have realised (while reading the Holy Qur’an again) that whoever is a true Muslim is protected by God. Also, a person (a Muslim) was talking to me, and he said that if I were a true Muslim, then these materialistic things would not matter to me and I would, as a true Muslim, be always happy. I, on the other hand, go into depression fits very easily. I feel hollow very often and get upset by a lot of things going around me. My moods have been fluctuating a lot nowadays, going from jolly to very hollow. This has made me undergo a kind of complex of perhaps maybe not being a true Muslim. Maybe I am going wrong somewhere. What should I do?
Answer: I am not aware of any verse of the Qur’an which says that a Muslim by definition is one who can’t get depressed. Getting depressed at times is but natural. A Muslim may get depressed on matters different from the ones which may be depressing to a non-Muslim. Perhaps, a non-Muslim might get depressed if he can’t find a girl to flirt with. A Muslim, on the other hand, might get depressed even if he commits a minor sin. But his depression is not one borne out of hopelessness.
Even in extreme depression, a Muslim never loses hope in the Mercy of His Lord, for he knows that even if he has blundered into sin, his Lord Allah will forgive him if he does not persist in his wrongdoing knowingly.
Forever Islam 