Faith held up in dismal situation (5)
I believe the answer is:
islam
'faith' is the definition.
(Islam is an example)
'held up in dismal situation' is the wordplay.
'held up' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'in' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue.
'malsi' is hidden within 'dismal situation'.
'malsi' reversed gives 'ISLAM'.
(Other definitions for islam that I've seen before include "Religion of the Koran" , "Koran its scripture" , "Adherents of a religion" , "Mohammed's religion" , "Creed" .)