Solah and Psychological Health

The Quran contains many verses that tell us the important of prayer or Solah. Why does the Quran stresses upon Solah? Since the mid-1990s, a series of studies has explored the association between self-reported frequency of prayer and psychological health. Results interpreted as indicative of better levels of psychological health. This consensus is supported by data from the UK reported by Francis and Wilcox (1994) among two hundred and thirty 16- to 18-year-old female school pupils, by Francis and Wilcox (1996) among two hundred and thirty-six 16- to 19-year-old female A-level students, by Smith (1996) among one hundred and ninety-one 11- to 15-year-old school pupils, by Francis and Bolger (1997) among 50 retired members of an ex-civil servants association, by Francis (1997) among three samples of 378, 458, and 292 undergraduates, by Francis and Johnson (1999) among 311 primary school teachers, and by Fearn, Booker, and Francis (2001) among 157 adult artists. This consensus is also supported by data from the USA reported by Maltby (1995) among 92 female university students, by Lewis and Maltby (1996) among 100 male undergraduates, and by Maltby, Talley, Cooper, and Leslie (1995) among 324 adults, by data from France by Lewis (2000) among 462 female university students, by data from Australia by Kaldor, Francis, and Fisher (2002) among 1033 adults, and by data from Norway by Lewis, Francis, and Enger (2004) among 479 school pupils.

According to these researchers, individuals who pray are, consciously or unconsciously, acknowledging and relating to a transcendence beyond themselves. Acknowledging such a transcendence and relating to that transcendence through prayer places the whole of life into a wider context of meaning and purpose. Furthermore, the practice of prayer implies both a cognitive and an affective component. The cognitive component assumes at least the possibility, if not the certainty, of a transcendent power. Such a belief system is likely to support a purposive view of the nature of the universe. Living in a universe which itself has meaning and purpose is likely to lend a sense of meaning and purpose to the individual who is part of that universe. The affective component assumes at least the possibility, if not the certainty, of that transcendent power being aware of and taking an interest in the individual engaged in prayer. The affective component supports the relational potential of a personal rather than an impersonal transcendent power. Living in relationship to such a personal transcendence is likely to support a sense of value and purpose for the individual.

What draws my attention to all these studies are that people who participated in all these studies are limited to those who frequented their religious premises only once a week regardless whether they’re muslims or not. In Islam, muslims are obliged to pray a mandatory five times daily prayers. Imagine the amount of benefits muslims would be able to bag once they dutifully perform their daily prayers. But why muslims abscond from praying?

The other benefits of prayer are that when a muslim keep the prayers on time, he/she therefore help the biological clock in the cells of the body to work efficiently in an amazing stability, and therefore the immune system will grow, and equips the body with ability to resist various diseases from forming. In other words, prayer is a useful tool for human being in maintaining their “factory default” psychologically and physically. Wallahu a’lam.

Prayers (Solah), Light Sport and the benefits

Many studies have recorded on the medical benefits of prayer, and I would like to recall some of the benefits that we should be aware of and most importantly enjoy the solitude of prayer and the Delightful of worship. Here are some of the short evidences:

1 - Praying is the best sports i.e., for mental, spiritual, physical, and maintenance of a sound body as to produce the best state of mind – towards mental calmness and stablility. Prayer is in fact, a light sport and useful to address the muscle weakness and physical disability and vulnerability, which affects many people. But please be mindful that improvement takes time. Therefore be patience as the Almighty said: (and seek help in patience and prayer and it was great but to the humble) [Baqarah: 45].

2 - If you want to deal with pain, lower back and legs, you have to pray and to maintain it. Kneeling or prostrating have great benefit for blood vessels and improve blood cycle, therefore improving the performance of the heart, and the dramatic impact that this amazing show is not only with the preservation of the prayers, and here is probably aware of what God has ordered us i.e., to preserve the prayer! The Almighty says: (Guard strictly the prayers especially the middle Solah and stad before Allah with obedience) [Baqarah: 238]. Prayer also beneficial in the treatment of mental disorders especially the fear and anxiety, and the Almighty said: (Those who believe and do good works and establish worship and pay the zakat paid for them with their Lord, nor fear, nor shall they grieve) [Baqarah: 277]. Further Allah says: (( قَدْ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ (1) الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their Solah with all solemnity and full submissiveness (Al-Mu’minun:1-2) (At some stage I might elaborate this in great details.

3. Finally, prayer is a light-sport and it does not harm the body, such as violent sports that require running and rapid muscle movements and manipulation which could undeniably cause fatigue and excessive burden to one’s muscles. In Islam, prayer is for relaxation and rest and with respect to this, the Prophet may Allah bless him and our Lord said to Bilal: “Make us relax, Bilal”. He (Bilal) then stood up and made the azan. The result? The sahabah prayed and feel rested. In this world, one could hard find any sports that come with it elements of relaxation and rest. Usually, when people involve in sporting activities, they’re sweating and gasping for air as the result of intense used of their body muscles. Would they feel relaxed and rested? I doubt it. Or perhaps fatigue? It could be. So pray and enjoy the art of feeling relaxed and rested.

Fajr Prayer and Brain

Among the daily chores of each person’s life is the waking up in the mornings…And for Muslims one of these early chores is to perform the Fajr prayer..Fajr ..(the obligatory prayer before dawn)Fajr, literally means 'tearing"..it is the garb of death that one tears off oneself when one awakens for fajr..sleep is a sort/shape of death, in the physical sense...and it is 'death itself' in the spiritual sense because one is absolutely overwhelmed by the 'desire of flesh& bone' to rest/relax/take it easy...

"Resistance to awakening at fajr is the first attack of the ease seeking self..the 'nafs'... it tells our conciousness:
'hey everyone is asleep,you wont be harming anyone by sleeping some more,this is such a naive and simple error ,so no big deal,if you miss fajr..you can say it later during the day'.

But in truth, it is the first stab that the ”ease/comfort-seeking” , “shortcuts loving” part of us ('nafs') takes at our spirituality/practicality/self-management/self discipline..it's first score ,and the most damaging one, against our spiritual self esteem/our confidence. it is the first goal against our healthful living,since missing fajr will deflate our spiritual esteem ,first thing in the morning.....and as the shortcut seeking indiscipline (nafs) manages to ride us and dictate to us our actions in the wee hours of the morning...we will spend the entire day as subjects/slaves to it, and not rulers/riders on our nafs.....and during the rest of the day, the low confidence,the low self esteem,the deflated trust in ourselves and in Allah's support for us,we will make a million more mistakes and regress a million more levels ,and ofcourse a day started with remorse, will end,if not in more guilt,then definitely in repentance.

"Allah is the Engineer of our physical and mental machine..He knows the best routine for us to reap optimal advantages from our mind and body machines..SO, if Allah has made our machines such that they must be awake before sunrise,and must go through the wadhou (ablution)rituals,and then prayers,then we WOULD be harming our own machines if we missed attending that specified act for maintenance and sustenance of our own mind and body machines."

Resting our body is not a function of 'sleep'..it is a function of the 'Provider/Samad/Allah"....as in the Holy Quran, (probably surah muzammil) where Allah Rabbul Izzat Instructs about tahajjud prayers..and also grants that during the day following tahajjud,one has a long haul of work to do, Allah Rabbul Izzat reminds that "it is Allah who controls/regulates the quantum of day/toiling and night/resting"....so i interpret it to mean that the amount of work i will put in during the day does not depend on the rest/sleep i had the previous night, but depends on The Regulating Almighty Authority of The Rahmaan.May all muslims,including myself, be garnted the Blessing of fajr prayers in congregation,each day of our lives.

The Creator Subhanahu wa ta’alaa, has decreed that humans, the deputies of Allah over all creation must awake every day before any other created entity designed to work in the day and rest at night, does..

The limit of fajr is around 20 minutes before the sun peeps from across the horizon..

(20 minutes for the congregational prayer..

20 minutes before the sun ‘rises’ because if the imaam makes an error,and the congregation needs to be repeated, it may be done before sunrise.)

Fajr is at a time, when our bodies and minds, are naturally in their deepest slumber..our hormones ,especially “melatonin” which is secreted from a tiny gland in our brain(the pineal body), does so in proportion to the amount/depth of darkness that our eyes/mind perceives.

Melatonin…once secereted executes 3 functions :

1. it deepens our sleep,or tends to lull us back to sleep
2. it causes the release of very negligibly minute amounts of ‘endorphins’(a naturally existing neurotransmitter with actions of heroine/morphine/opium, synthesized in our brains)..these act on our brain’s ‘motivation and reward center’ and comfort us exactly like a mother pats a child to sleep.
3. another chemical is released from the brain ,in response to melatonin, and that strengthens our immune system.(the system that defends against infections/disease)and hastens repair processes in our body.

Thus ,when a person awakes before dawn, the darkness/scarcity of natural light around, causes a Melatonin surge in our brains…this will remain true all our lives, no matter how old one’s habit of saying fajr..the waking up at fajr will always need effort,…the melatonin surge actually ‘lulls’ one to sleep..i have experienced this, and many will agree with me that the sleep one dives into after that first eye-opening at fajr,is deepest and most delicious….thus awakening at fajr, with the sound of the Azaan, or the alram, is ‘an exercise against one’s ‘natural desire to continue sleeping’.

Whenever a human body/mind is made to exert physically against one’s desire/will, messages of ‘discomfort’ from the ‘reward and motivation centre’ of the brain cause another hormone to be released by the ‘hypothalamus’ .

This hormone called the ‘cortisol releasing factor(C.R.F.)’ is meant to “Alarm the body and prepare it for operating optimally in unfavorable/unwanted circumstances.”

The C.R.F then flows to/oozes onto the principal gland of our body, ‘the pituitary gland’ which is attached to the undersurface of the hypothalamus and causes the release of:

1.minute amounts of ‘beta-endorphins’ that act on the ‘motivation and reward center’ and tend to alleviate the feelings of discomfort.

2.a hormone called “A.C.T.H.”

A.C.T.H. flows with the blood towards the kidneys where it causes the release of a hormone ‘Cortisol’ from the glands attached to the kidneys’ upper ends.

Cortisol executes the following actions throughout our body:

1. it cleaves the excess protein from the entire body’s muscles and scrapes fat out of fat stores pushing them into the blood stream. (this is the protein and fat that was in excess and a residue from the previous day’s intake of food).
2. #1, causes the amount of circulating proteins and fats to increase and ,with the exception of the liver, the absorption of glucose into all body tissues is blocked.

This results in ‘fat’(instead of glucose) being used as ‘fuel’ for all physical and mental activity,(doing wadhoo, walking to the mosque, saying the fajr prayers) and glucose is stored in the liver , creating a deposit of this ‘preferred’ fuel that can last the next 24 hours, even if no food is taken/available.

Also the excess protein in circulation is converted into building blocks and sent to whichever repair site within the body needs them.(and in 24 hours there are millions of micro-repair-needing sites created by the wear and tear of ‘living’)

Any protein that is in excess of that needed for repair, is mixed with the fats stored in the liver to make the easily usable fuel, ‘glucose’.

3.cortisol causes an increase in the number of red blood cells…cells that carry oxygen to all body tissues.

4.cortisol increases the depth of breathing.

Thus, a person who gets up for fajr prayers and denies oneself the ‘urge’ to indulge in the short-term-gratification of more sleep, reaps the following advantages:

1. the excess fats and proteins from yesterday’s meals are used up constructively/productively..and the body and brain is relieved of the ‘dullness’ they would essentially cause if not used.
2. repair needed in the body is initiated, and for that ,the ‘fuel’ used is the less-preferred , ‘fats’. Also recovery from disease or injury that the body may be suffering from, is hastened due to the abundance of basic building blocks(proteins) in the blood stream.
3. the increased depth of breathing, and the increased numbers of vehicles(red blood cells)that convey the morning’s freshness(oxygen) to all body tissues, will cause the fajr saying individual to exploit more of that freshness .

4. the increased number of red blood cells will enliven the texture of one’s skin.

5. the awareness that one has managed to defeat one’s

“Nafs”(innate inertia/resistance to ‘positive endeavor’) by saying the fajr in congregation, will enhance the self-esteem (and in this respect, fajr is an act that can not be beaten by any other, as the first act of one’s day, giving a very dense/viscous dose of well-being/being in harmony with nature, first thing in the morning) and through the ‘motivation and reward centre’ this perception elevates one’s mood.

When the ‘reward and motivation center’ perceives this gratification (which is after one has completed fajr) the ‘stimulus’ of discomfort (at waking up for fajr), is no more,and thus ‘cortisol’ secretions cease. Wallahu A'lam