When you are faced with a disease, you desire to cry out to the Almighty for healing. It is usually our hopelessness that compels us to seek a supernatural source to alleviate our illness or disease.
"We all know that human beings are social animals. They need a psychological support, hence they believe in some external power. Praying gives us some sense of security and also help our mind to be calm. We believe in receiving security and faith from a higher power above. This is because of human temperament," says Dr Rachna Singh, lifestyle management expert, Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon.
Physicians give the same medication to two different patients with the same type of medical problem or perform similar operations on two patients otherwise at the same risk and one will survive and the other one doesn't. It is more than luck.
Spiritual gurus say the intention of closed eyes during prayer is to quiet the mind whereas placing two hands together during prayer is to quiet the physical body's activities. When the mind and hands are silenced, the spirit is allowed a more focused communication with a place of knowing. This knowing place may be called God, higher self, nature, or whatever term you like.
Prayer may include specific forms like praise, requesting guidance or assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one's thoughts and emotions. Praying can be done in public, as a group, or in private. The words used in prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, incantation, words of gratitude, or a spontaneous utterance in the person's praying words.
Most religions in the world involve prayer in one way or another in their rituals. Although in many cases the act of prayer is ritualised and must be followed through a sometimes strict sequence of actions (even going as far as restricting who may pray), some religions teach that prayer can be done spontaneously by anyone at any moment.
Did you know the facts about Prayer and Medical Science?
- Medical science has proven the healing benefits of prayer.
- More than 60 medical schools in America are now teaching courses on religious and spiritual issues, including the benefits of prayer.
- The American Cancer Society sites the positive effect of prayer on physical health.
Medical benefits of ritualistic Muslim Prayer called Salah or Salat in Arabic
Salat has been made compulsory on all believers in all situations. It is an activity which cannot be neglected under any circumstance. This obligation on us should not be regarded as a burden, but rather it should be cherished and appreciated. It is said that a pious person is one who enjoys their prayer.
The Muslims who reach the age of puberty (with exceptions of: menstruating, being to ill or experiencing post-partum bleeding) have to pray to Allah (SWT) minimum five times a day. This Arabic word "Salah," doesn't only mean "prayer," because "pray" basically means to address a prayer to God or another deity, according to the Oxford Dictionary. "Salah," is a word with a broad meaning, which doesn't only mean prayer, but also means goodness, righteousness and godliness. In Salah, we not only ask from Allah (SWT) but we also thank Him, praise Him and at the same time receive guidance from Him. Salah in the true sense is programming or conditioning. The prayer conditions us to stay away from forbidden and shameful actions, and encourages us to do righteous and sensible actions. Since we humans have no free will, this conditioning will help us and enable us to stay away from forbidden things, and enjoin on what is not forbidden. A healthy body requires three meals a day. Similarly, the spiritual soul requires five times Salah a day.
Besides attaining spiritual upliftment from performing one's salat, one may also gain many physical and psychological benefits. Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) is recorded in a hadith (Ibn Majah) stating that prayer is a cure for many diseases. The wisdom in this claim can be understood when assessing the physical benefits of the act of prayer.
The process of performing salat expects certain movements and actions, these actions performed at least five times a day have been found to equate to jogging or walking at a rate of three miles an hour. This is a basic level of exercise strongly advocated by doctors and members of the medical fraternity on a whole. The importance of exercise is undeniable, with potential benefits to the cardiac, respiratory, skeletal and muscular system. The dynamics of salat contribute to the improvement of all of these systems, with specific emphasis on the muscular and cardiac systems. Before we delve into detail discussion, it needs to be noted that the purpose of performing salaat should not be to obtain health benefits, but rather to fulfill a religious requirement. The fact that there are physical benefits associated with prayer comes as a blessing.
In salah, when we do Ruku that is: bow down, extra blood flows into the upper part of the body. The spine becomes supple and flexible, while the spinal nerves are nourished. This relieves backache and pain. This is a good posture for flatulence. Stretches lower back, thighs, and calves while blood gets pumped into the upper torso. Bowing position tones stomach muscles, abdomen and kidneys. When we come back to the standing position (after Ruku), the blood which has entered into the upper part of the body, comes back to normal and the body is relaxed. As a result, this blood carries away toxins and releases tension.
When we do Sujud, which is basically the prostration to the ground with are eight parts of the body touching the floor, the forehead in on the ground which is the best position of salah. It is the most relevant part of salah. Daily, the human beings are propounded by electrostatic charges from the atmosphere, which gets perspirated in the central nervous system, which gets super saturated. These extra electrostatic charges, have to be dissipated and discharged, otherwise you will have: headache, neck ache, muscles spasms, etc. No wonder people regularly take tranquillizers and drugs, to relieve the pain. These electrostatic charges are dissipated and discharged, when the frontal lobe of the brain is put on the ground, in sujud. There is dominance of the frontal lobe, and the thinking capacity of the brain is not on the top of the brain, but in the frontal lobe. In doing sujud, there is less chance of getting: headache, spasms, aches, etc due to the fact that the electrostatic charges are dissipated and discharged. Moreover, the sujud allows extra blood supply to enter the brain, which enables the brain to become more healthier, plus has a positive effect on the memory, vision, hearing, concentration and the psyche. In addition, extra blood flows into the skin, neck and face, which increases the circulation of the blood of the skin, neck and face, which is very healthy especially in the cold seasons. Also, allows mental toxins to be cleaned by blood. This is also very good for the brain. This prevents diseases, such as: Fibromyalgia (Fibrositis) and chilblains. During the sujud, there is drainage of the Paranasal sinuses, this there is less chances of getting sinusitis, which consists of inflammation of the linings of the sinuses that surround the nose. In certain forms of yoga, some adherents stand on their heads for the purpose of blood flowing to the brain, which we Muslims have been doing for centuries.
Normally during the day, the human beings have an upright posture. The maxillaris sinus, the opening is in the upper medium part. The secretions cannot be drained, due to the upright posture which people have. Therefore when you do sujud, there is drainage of the maxillaris sinus, which is very healthy, and decreases the chances of infections occurring. It also causes drainage of secretion of the frontal sinus, ethmoid sinus as well as the sphenoid sinus. This all decreases the chances of a person getting sinusitis. Moreover, someone who has sinusitis, the sujud is a natural treatment. The sujud position is also a natural treatment for a person suffering from bronchitis, which is inflammation in the lungs. The sujud position also causes drainage of the secretion of the bronchial tree, thus prevents bronchitis. It prevents the accumulation of the secretion in the bronchial tree. It is also helpful in other pulmonary (lung) diseases, in which secretion are acclimated. Besides this, other things like: dust and bacteria can accumulate, which the sujud is prevention from.
Normally when you breathe, only 2/3 of the lung capacity is used. The remaining 1/3 of the lung capacity, the air remains in. Therefore, it is only 2/3 of air which comes in as fresh air, when you breathe and 2/3 goes out. The remaining 1/3 is called as: residual air. When you do sujud, the abdominal viscera, they press against the diaphragm. The diaphragm presses against the lower lobes of the lungs, which causes the person to exhale the 1/3 residual air. Once this residual air goes out, more fresh air comes in, which is responsible for a healthy lung. When you do sujud, due to the decrease of the gravitational force, there is extra venous return from the abdominal organs. Therefore, the extra venous return (volume of blood returning to the right atrium of the heart) is increased, which makes the heart healthy. This also supplies fresh blood to all body tissues. In the sujud, the weight is concentrated on the knees, and your legs are flexed. The soleus and the gastrocnemius muscles (muscles of the leg) are also called the peripheral heart, because it has an extensive venous return, which is responsible from increasing venous return, of the lower heart of the body. This also causes relaxation in lower half of the body.
In sujud, the knees are touching the floor, including the hands and forehead. This posture is helpful in diseases of the cervical spine, because this helps the intervertebral joints, which allows the spine to move more flexibly. The posture of the sujud is also helpful in cardiac diseases. When a person rises from the sujud from the squatting position, the blood which has flowed into the upper part of the body comes back to normal sea, and the body is relaxed. There is extra blood flowing in the muscles and nerves, of the thigh and the back, so the back muscles of the back are relaxed. It is helpful and useless in constipation and indigestion. It is also helpful for a person suffering from peptic ulcer and other stomach problems. When a person gets up from the squatting position to the standing position, his weight is concentrated on the ball of the feet, which improves the strength of the back muscles, thigh muscles, knee muscles and leg muscles.
The ruku and sujud (bowing down and prostrating to the floor) are great postures against femoral and esophageal hernia. These positions in the prayer are also prophylaxis treatment, of a person suffering from hemorrhoids (inflammation of veins in the rectum and anus) which in layman's terminology is called as: piles. These positions of salah are also helpful in prolapse of the uterus. In sujud, the knees form a right angle allowing the stomach muscles to develop, plus prevents growth of flabbiness in the midsection, and reduces high blood pressure.
When sitting on the knees after sujud, this helps toughen the legs and hips and makes them stronger, ensuring you have more flexibility in joints plus stretching out muscles. It encourages an upright posture, which is good for the spine. In addition, the body returns to even greater relaxation, and the posture assists digestion by forcing the contents of the stomach downwards. Also, since most of the pressure goes to the lower half of the body, the upper half of the body, especially the shoulder and head will be relaxed.
Furthermore, we repeat the sujud within a few seconds after sitting on knees. What this does is cleanses the respiratory circulatory and nervous system. There is also oxygenation of entire body, while sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are relaxed.
Praying the Fajr prayer (dawn prayer) stops long amounts of stillness, as one gets up from sleep. This decreases the chance of gaining diseases like: arthritis, osteoporosis, anemia, etc. Moreover, the dawn prayer prevents you from getting too much sleep and scientific established facts informs us that too much sleep increases the chances of gaining diabetes, heart disease, early death, etc.
Salah is light exercise and is heavy in spiritual deeds, so you getting a 2 in 1 workout. Moreover, in salah, the recitation of the Quran occurs. During the recitation, the sound vibrations of the long vowels: Aa, Thee and oo stimulate the heart, thyroid, pineal gland, pituitary, adrenal glands and lungs, purifying and uplifting them all.
These body movements performed during the salah are an excellent source of exercise for our heart as well. According to a Hadith, Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) said:
"There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart." (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 2, Number 49)
It is the heart. A tissue in our body is the cartilage. It is unique in being a living tissue with no direct blood supply. The only way it receives nutrients and oxygen is by movements of the joints. The pumping effect forces blood into the joint area which would otherwise be bypassed. Those who sit at the terminals are in greater danger of ending up with dead cartilage tissues that will subsequently wear away. This will leave us with arthritis, painful joints and paralysis. Bacteria and viruses find safe haven in joints for this reason as no blood cell can get at them and in most cases neither can antibodies. Salah therefore, has many orthopedic benefits for all Muslims.
There is also great wisdom in the timing of the five daily prayers. The salaat which tends to impact most dramatically on the routine of most believers is Fajr, as it is often this prayer which defines the sleeping pattern of the believer. Studies in America have shown that for most people the optimum amount of sleep required is seven hours, while those who exceed this period tend to have slightly shorter life-spans. Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) in this respect, like all other areas, provides the best example. It is narrated that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) would sleep soon after Isha and then awake at midnight to perform night prayers. This sleep routine has been adopted in Europe to treat patients with depression, as this structure has been found to improve well-being.
In this article a glimpse of the benefits of prayer has been presented and Insha Allah with this knowledge you may develop a greater appreciation for your salaat.
Do you know? Your Body receives a huge amount of Electromagnetic waves daily!
You get these Electromagnetic waves through the electrical equipments that you use and many other various electrical equipments around you live! Also, through the electrical lights which can not be switched off in certain cases for even an hour!
You are a source which receives huge amounts of electromagnetic waves! In other words, you are charged with electromagnetic waves without realizing it!
Due to this electromagnetic charge! You have headache! You feel uncomfortable! Laziness, dizziness and pain!
What will be the solution for all the above harmful effects?
A non-Muslim Scientist (from Europe) made a research from which he concluded that the best way for the body to remove the positive Electromagnetic charges which hurts the body is: By putting your forehead on the ground more than once, so that the ground will discharge the positive harmful Electromagnetic charges!
This is similar to the grounding of the buildings where any positive electrical signals (Like thunders) would be discharged through the ground. So, put your forehead on the ground to discharge the positive electrical signals!
What makes this research more amazing is that: The best is to put your forehead on the sand.
And it becomes more amazing that: The best way is to put your forehead on the ground while you are positioned to the centre of the Earth! Since you will be able to discharge the electromagnetic signals in a better and more efficient way!
And you will be amazed when you know that Makkah is scientifically proven to be the centre of the Earth! And that Holy Kaaba is the exact centre of the Earth!
So, "Sajdah (Prostration) on Turbah (Piece of Clay for Prostration)" in your prayers (Salah or Salat) is the best way to discharge the harmful electromagnetic signals from your body daily five times!
It is also the ideal way to be very close from the Almighty Allah (SWT) who created this universe in such a creative way! Almighty Allah (SWT) will always ask us to do things because they are helpful and useful for us!
There are cases when we won't know the reason for a certain act, but sooner or later, you might be able to find the reason! In any case, you should trust the Almighty Allah (SWT) and know that whatever you do for Him, is the best for you!
We do not prostrate to discharge the electromagnetic waves, but to obey the Almighty Allah (SWT)! We trust that in His commands, there is always a wisdom! Our trust is because He is the Creator, He knows everything!
However, since a scientific reason is available, it was essential to show it to the people so that they can see that whatever Muslims do, is good for them!
Asalamu alaykum wa rahmatullah,