The Benefit of Zuhr Prayer on body composition

Muslims are required to perform five obligatory solahs a day. Solah calls for many body movements and postures such as standing, bowing, prostration and sitting. Since the movements have to follow a repeated and sequential etiquette, the prayers can be likened to a form of light exercise. A number of research have been carried out to determine the benefits of exercise on body composition. In a study conducted by Slentz and friends in 2004, they maintained that body composition is an important indicator of one's level of fitness. Light exercise according to them burns body fat while heavy exercise burns carbohydrates. In addition, exercise moderately will burn fat and promote oxidization. Scientist agree that the benefits of exercise can be gained if the exercise is carried out regularly. The question rise now is whether praying constitute benefits?

To answer this question, a group of researcher from Malaya University (Malaysia) conducted a series of research to highlight the benefits of solah. With respect to this study, they examined the body composition of people performing the zuhr prayer in congregation. The zuhr prayer is performed in the afternoon and consists of four rakaahs. A total of 47 participants took part in the study. For this study, they set a set of etiquette (which contains five condition) must be fulfilled by the participants. The conditions are as follows:
1.An individual's adherence to the full five solahs
2.An individual's understanding of the solah verses: whether these verses are understood fully, moderately well or with minimal understanding
3.Congregational and non-congregational solah: whether the individual performs the solah individually or in a congregation
4.Back posture during bowing: whether the back is bent at 90-degree angle or otherwise
5.Position of the toes: whether toes are bent or otherwise during prostration and when sitting between prostrations and during the final salutation (sitting during tahiyah)

In their study, the body composition was measured based on whether worshippers carry out all five or less of these conditions. The results of the study showed that individuals who fulfill all the conditions of a properly executed solah have a better body composition than those who did not fulfill these five conditions or practices well. Participants who performed five or four of these conditions were found to have archieved a higher body composition. They also reported of having a higher phase angle (PA) which indicates a large quantities of intact cell membranes and body cell mass (BCM). A higher phase angle (PA) means that the internal organs are functioning efficiently and have a high immune system. A low phase angle (PA) indicates of cell breakdown in selective permeability of cell membrane which may lead to the failure of the internal organs in functioning effectively. Obviously, the benefits of zuhr prayer (performed with specific conditions as ordained) will result in a healthy and active body. Partipants who fulfilled all five or four of these conditions achieved an optimum level of health and are much healthier than participants who only fulfill three or less of the conditions.
Source: Salat: Benefit from science perspective (2008)

Thinking with the heart: The Quran and Scientific Proof

Thinking with the heart besides the brain in the Noble Quran was proven by Science:
The Noble Quran's claim:
Let us look at what Allah Almighty said in the Noble Quran:
"Verily in this is a Message for any that has a heart and understanding or who gives ear and earnestly witnesses (the truth). (The Noble Quran, 50:37)"

"That is because they believed, then they rejected Faith: So a seal was set on their hearts: therefore they understand not. (The Noble Quran, 63:3)"

"Or do those in whose hearts is a disease, think that God will not bring to light all their rancour? (The Noble Quran, 47:29)"

"And We put coverings over their hearts (and minds) lest they should understand the Quran, and deafness into their ears: when thou dost commemorate thy Lord and Him alone in the Quran, they turn on their backs, fleeing (from the Truth). (The Noble Quran, 17:46)"

"Of them there are some who (pretend to) listen to thee; but We have thrown veils on their hearts, So they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they saw every one of the signs, not they will believe in them; in so much that when they come to thee, they (but) dispute with thee; the Unbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the ancients." (The Noble Quran, 6:25)"

"They prefer to be with (the women), who remain behind (at home): their hearts are sealed and so they understand not. (The Noble Quran, 9:87)"

There are many other Noble Verses that deal with the hard-hearted disbelievers that have hearts with "disease" and "hearts that understand not" that I can provide, but I think the above are sufficient enough. The question here is:
Why is Allah Almighty claiming that the disbelievers' hearts do not understand and are full of disease? Allah Almighty classified them as what we call today "hard-hearted" people.

Allah further says:

"After (the excitement) of the distress, He sent down calm on a band of you overcome with slumber, while another band was stirred to anxiety by their own feelings, Moved by wrong suspicions of God-suspicions due to ignorance. They said: "What affair is this of ours?" Say thou: "Indeed, this affair is wholly God's." They hide in their minds what they dare not reveal to thee. They say (to themselves): "If we had had anything to do with this affair, We should not have been in the slaughter here." Say: "Even if you had remained in your homes, those for whom death was decreed would certainly have gone forth to the place of their death"; but (all this was) that God might test what is in your breasts and purge what is in your hearts. For God knoweth well the secrets of your hearts. (The Noble Quran, 3:154)"

"And that which is (locked up) in (human) breasts is made manifest- (The Noble Quran, 100:10)"

The Arabic word that was translated as "breasts" here is "sudoor". Sudoor is a plural of "sader". The more literal translation of sudoor is "chests" and not "breasts". Sader means a male's breast or chest, while "thadi" means a female's breast. A female's chest is also "sader". So, "breasts" in Noble Verses 3:154 and 3:154 is not an accurate translation. "Chests" is the accurate one.

Anyway, in these Noble Verses, we see Allah Almighty talking about physical thoughts and "secrets" inside the hearts. Again, why is Allah Almighty talking about physical thoughts and "secrets" inside the hearts?

Science had proven that the heart does impact the brain's thinking capability, and does also feed the brain thoughts and feelings that would control the perspective of the person.

Head-Heart Interactions
Traditionally, the study of communication pathways between the "head" and heart has been approached from a rather one-sided perspective, with scientists focusing primarily on the heart's responses to the brain's commands. However, we have now learned that communication between the heart and brain is actually a dynamic, ongoing, two-way dialogue, with each organ continuously influencing the other's function. Research has shown that the heart communicates to the brain in four major ways: neurologically (through the transmission of nerve impulses), biochemically (via hormones and neurotransmitters), biophysically (through pressure waves) and energetically (through electromagnetic field interactions). Communication along all these conduits significantly affects the brain's activity. Moreover, our research shows that messages the heart sends the brain can also affect performance.
The heart communicates with the brain and body in four ways:
Neurological communication (nervous system)
Biophysical communication (pulse wave)
Biochemical communication (hormones)
Energetic communication (electromagnetic fields)

The studies described in this section probe several of these communication pathways, looking specifically at how the brain responds to patterns generated by the heart during positive emotional states. The first two studies focus primarily on neurological interactions, demonstrating that the afferent signals the heart sends the brain during positive emotions can alter brain activity in several ways. In the first study, we find that cardiac coherence can drive entrainment between very low frequency brainwaves and heart rhythms, thus further expanding our understanding of the physiological entrainment mode described in the previous section. In the second study, we learn that coherent heart rhythms also lead to increased heart-brain synchronization. The implications of these findings are explored in the third study, which shows that in states of high heart rhythm coherence, individuals demonstrate significant improvements in cognitive performance.

Taken together, the results of these studies demonstrate that intentionally altering one's emotional state through heart focus modifies afferent neurological input from the heart to the brain. The data suggest that as people experience sincere positive feeling states, in which the heart's rhythms become more coherent, the changed information flow from the heart to the brain may act to modify cortical function and influence performance. These findings may also help explain the significant shifts in perception, increased mental clarity and heightened intuitive awareness many individuals have reported when practicing the HeartMath techniques.

The final two studies in this section are concerned with energetic communication by the heart, which we also refer to as cardioelectromagnetic communication. The heart is the most powerful generator of electromagnetic energy in the human body, producing the largest rhythmic electromagnetic field of any of the body's organs. The heart's electrical field is about 60 times greater in amplitude than the electrical activity generated by the brain. This field, measured in the form of an electrocardiogram (ECG), can be detected anywhere on the surface of the body. Furthermore, the magnetic field produced by the heart is more than 5,000 times greater in strength than the field generated by the brain, and can be detected a number of feet away from the body, in all directions, using SQUID-based magnetometers (Figure 12). Prompted by our findings that the cardiac field is modulated by different emotional states (described in the previous section), we performed several studies to investigate the possibility that the electromagnetic field generated by the heart may transmit information that can be received by others.

The Heart's Electromagnetic Field

The heart's electromagnetic field--by far the most powerful rhythmic field produced by the human body--not only envelops every cell of the body but also extends out in all directions into the space around us. The cardiac field can be measured several feet away from the body by sensitive devices. Research conducted at IHM suggests that the heart's field is an important carrier of information.


Head-Heart Interactions
Thus, the last two studies summarized in this section explore interactions that take place between one person's heart and another's brain when two people touch or are in proximity. This research elucidates the intriguing finding that the electromagnetic signals generated by the heart have the capacity to affect others around us. Our data indicate that one person's heart signal can affect another's brainwaves, and that heart-brain synchronization can occur between two people when they interact. Finally, it appears that as individuals increase psychophysiological coherence, they become more sensitive to the subtle electromagnetic signals communicated by those around them. Taken together, these results suggest that cardioelectromagnetic communication may be a little-known source of information exchange between people, and that this exchange is influenced by our emotions.
HEAD-HEART ENTRAINMENT:A PRELIMINARY SURVEY
Rollin McCraty, PhD, William A. Tiller, PhD and Mike Atkinson. In: Proceedings of the Brain-Mind Applied Neurophysiology EEG Neurofeedback Meeting. Key West, Florida, 1996.


THis figure Illustrates the entrainment that can occur between the HRV and EEG waveforms. The lefthand graphs show the time domain signals for the HRV and the EEG (brainwaves), while the righthand panels show the frequency spectra during the entrained state. Note the large peak at the entrainment frequency (~0.12 Hz) in both the HRV and the EEG while the subject is in the entrained state.
Key findings: As people learn to sustain heart-focused positive feeling states, the brain can be brought into entrainment with the heart.
Summary: This study examines in further detail the entrainment mode of cardiac function described previously in "Cardiac Coherence: A new noninvasive measure of autonomic nervous system order." In the previous investigation it was found that when the heart is functioning in the entrainment mode, there is a marked shift in the HRV power spectrum to the resonant frequency range of the baroreceptor feedback loop (around 0.1 Hz), and frequency locking between the HRV waveform, respiration and pulse transit time occurs. The present study shows that as individuals learn to maintain the entrainment mode through sustaining sincere, heart-focused states of appreciation or love, the brain's electrical activity can also come into entrainment with the heart rhythms. Figure 13, below, shows an example of entrainment occurring between a subject's HRV and the very low frequency band region of the electroencephalograph (EEG) recordings after the individual practices the Freeze-Frame intervention for 5 minutes. There is nearly a hundred-fold increase in power in the 0.1 Hz frequency range of the HRV power spectrum after the Freeze-Frame intervention and a correlated 4 to 5- fold increase in the EEG signal power in that same frequency range. Our present hypothesis is that a strong and sustained increase in baroreceptor system activity leads to greatly increased coupling between the heart (HRV) and the brain (EEG) via nerve conducted signals and increased coherence in the vascular system. The results of this experiment provide one example of how increasing coherence in the heart rhythms, by intentionally generating positive emotions, can alter brain activity.


Cardiac Coherence Increases Heart-Brain Synchronization
The brain's alpha wave activity is synchronized to the cardiac cycle. During states of high heart rhythm coherence, alpha wave synchronization to the heart's activity significantly increases.
Investigation by Rollin McCraty, and Mike Atkinson (which was published in Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Pavlovian Society, Tarrytown, NY, 1999) explores further how the heart's activity influences that of the brain. In this pilot study, heartbeat evoked potentials were analyzed in ten individuals. The analysis of heartbeat evoked potentials is a signal processing technique used to identify segments of the EEG (brainwaves) that are correlated to or affected by the heartbeat. In this way, it is possible to determine specific changes in the brain's electrical activity that are associated with afferent signals from the heart.
The subjects' EEGs were recorded using electrodes placed along the medial line and the frontal sites. To determine which brainwave frequencies showed cardiac- related activity, the region of the EEG between 50 and 600 milliseconds post R-wave was then subjected to spectrum analysis. As a control, this procedure was repeated but instead of using the ECG as the signal source, an artificial, randomly generated signal with the same mean inter-beat interval and standard deviation as the original ECG was used for the time reference. It was found that the brain's alpha wave activity (8-12 Hz frequency range) is synchronized to the cardiac cycle. There was significantly more alpha rhythm synchronization when the real ECG was used for the signal source as compared to the control signals. Additionally, analyses revealed that brainwave activity at a lower frequency than alpha is also synchronized to the ECG signal.

In the next phase of the study, they sought to determine if there is a change in the degree of alpha rhythm synchronization to the ECG during periods of increased heart rhythm coherence. In this phase, subjects used the Cut-Thru technique, an emotional refocusing exercise, a means of quieting inner emotional dialogue, instilling a positive emotional state and increasing heart rhythm coherence. Subjects' heart rhythm coherence and heartbeat evoked potentials were analyzed during a 10-minute baseline period, and again while they practiced the Cut-Thru technique for 10 minutes. There was a significant increase in heart rhythm coherence during the period that subjects used the Cut-Thru technique. Heartbeat evoked potential data showed that in this state of increased heart rhythm coherence, alpha wave synchronization to the cardiac cycle increases significantly.

Signal averaging is a technique used to trace afferent neural signals from the heart to the brain. The ECG R-wave is used as the timing source for event-related changes in the brain's activity, and the resulting waveform is called a heartbeat evoked potential. This graph illustrates an example of a heartbeat evoked potential waveform showing alpha activity in the EEG that is synchronized to the cardiac cycle.
In conclusion, this study shows that the brain's activity is naturally synchronized to that of the heart, and also confirms that intentionally altering one's emotional state through heart focus modifies afferent neurological input from the heart to the brain. Results indicate that the brain's electrical activity becomes more synchronized during psychophysiologically coherent states. Implications are that this increased synchronization may alter information processing by the brain during the experience of positive emotions.


Increased Heart-Brain Synchronization

Changes in alpha wave synchronization during high heart rhythm coherence. There was a significant increase in alpha rhythm synchronization to the ECG at most EEG sites during the use of the Cut-Thru intervention (high heart rhythm coherence). * p <.05, ** p <.01, *** p <.001.

CARDIAC COHERENCE IMPROVES COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE
Rollin McCraty, and Mike Atkinson previous findings (above) indicating that states of increased heart rhythm coherence give rise to distinct changes in the brain's activity, we subsequently performed an experiment to determine whether these changes might have a measurable impact on cognitive performance. Further, they conducted another study to assess changes in cognitive performance associated with states of increased heart rhythm coherence. In this investigation, 30 subjects were randomly divided into matched control and experimental groups based on age and gender. Cognitive performance was assessed by determining subjects' reaction times in an oddball auditory discrimination task before and after practicing the Cut-Thru emotional self-management technique to increase cardiac coherence. In this test, subjects listened to a series of two different tones through headphones. They were presented with 300 tones, each with a 50-millisecond duration. Eighty percent of the tones were 1000 Hertz sine waves (standard), and the other 20 percent were 1100 Hertz tones (odd) randomly mixed in between the standard tones, spaced around two seconds apart. Subjects were instructed to push a button as quickly as possible upon hearing an odd tone. The interval between the presentation of the tone and the pressing of the button is the reaction time.
Following a 10-minute baseline period, subjects were given a practice session to gain familiarity with pressing the button and identifying the different tones. This was followed by the first 10-minute auditory discrimination task. Thereafter, the experimental group subjects were asked to employ the Cut-Thru self-management technique for 10 minutes, while control subjects engaged in a relaxation period during this interval. Following this, all subjects performed a second 10-minute auditory discrimination task, the results of which were compared to the first. Subjects' ECGs, pulse transit time and respiration were continuously monitored throughout this entire experimental sequence. Heart rhythm coherence, derived from the ECG, was calculated for all subjects during each phase of the testing sequence. As shown in the following figure, there was a significant increase in heart rhythm coherence in the subjects who used the Cut-Thru technique that was not evident in the relaxation group.

Increased Heart RhythmCoherence During Cut-Thru

The figure shows changes in heart rhythm coherence across experimental conditions. The experimental group used the Cut-Thru intervention in the interval between the two auditory discrimination tasks, while the control group engaged in a relaxation period during this time. (ADT = auditory discrimination task.) *p < .05 .


Increased Heart-Brain Synchronization
As compared to the control group, subjects using the Cut-Thru technique demonstrated a significant decrease in reaction times in the discrimination task following the application of the technique, indicating improved cognitive performance.

In addition, a significant relationship was found between the degree of heart rhythm coherence and reaction times. Increased cardiac coherence was associated with a significant decrease in reaction times (improved performance).
The results of this study support the hypothesis that the changes in brain activity that occur during states of increased psychophysiological coherence lead to changes in the brain's information processing capabilities. Results suggest that by using heart-based interventions to self-generate coherent states, individuals can significantly enhance cognitive performance.

Increased Heart Rhythm Coherence Improves Cognitive Performance Mean Reaction Times

The above figure shows mean reaction times for the experimental versus control group during the first (pre-intervention) and second (post-intervention) auditory discrimination tasks. By using the Cut-Thru technique to generate a state of increased heart rhythm coherence, the experimental group achieved a significant reduction in mean reaction time, indicative of improved cognitive performance. Note that control group participants, who simply relaxed during the interval between tests, showed no change in mean reaction time from the first to the second discrimination task. (ADT = auditory discrimination task.) *p < .05 .

THE ELECTRICITY OF TOUCH:DETECTION AND MEASUREMENT OF CARDIAC ENERGY EXCHANGE BETWEEN PEOPLE
Rollin McCraty, Mike Atkinson, Dana Tomasino, and William A. Tiller argue in Proceedings of the Fifth Appalachian Conference on Neurobehavioral Dynamics: Brain and Values. 1997. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates that the concept of an energy exchange between individuals is central to many healing techniques. This concept has often been disputed by Western science due to the lack of a plausible mechanism to explain the nature of this energy or how it could affect or facilitate the healing process. The fact that the heart generates the strongest electromagnetic field produced by the body, coupled with our findings that this field becomes measurably more coherent as the individual shifts to a sincerely loving or caring state, prompted us to investigate the possibility that the field generated by the heart may significantly contribute to this energy exchange. This study presents a sampling of results which provide intriguing evidence that an exchange of electromagnetic energy produced by the heart occurs when people touch or are in proximity. Signal averaging techniques are used to show that one person's electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is registered in another's electroencephalogram (EEG) and elsewhere on the other person's body (See Figure 18 for an example). While this signal is strongest when people are in contact, it is still detectable when subjects are in proximity without contact.

Heartbeat signal averaged waveforms (figure above) showing a transference of the electrical energy generated by Subject B's heart which can be detected in Subject A's EEG (brainwaves) when they hold hands.

Al-Quran has shown to us 1500 years ago what scientific exploration can prove today. Isn't this a miracle? Wallau A'lam

Brain, Cerebrum, Quran, Lying

Noble Quran on the Cerebrum: Lying is generated from the person's forehead

Allah has said in the Quran about one of the evil unbelievers who forbade the Prophet Muhammad from praying at the Kaabah:

No! If he does not stop, We will take him by the naseyah (front of the head), a lying, sinful naseyah (front of the head)!(Quran, 96:15-16)

I also called to mind some of the traditions of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), such as: “O Allah! I am your servant and the son of your servant and the son of your bondmaid, my nasiyah (front of the head) is in Your Hands…” and: “ I seek refuge with you from the evil of everything whose nasiyah is in Your Grasp.” and: “Horses have goodness embedded in their nasiyahs, till the Day of Resurrection.”

From the meanings of these texts we can conclude that the nasiyah is the center of control and guidance of both human and animal behavior.

Why did the Quran describe the front of the head as being lying and sinful? Why didn’t the Quran say that the person was lying and sinful? What is the relationship between the front of the head and lying and sinfulness?

If we look into the skull at the front of the head, we will find the prefrontal area of the cerebrum. What does physiology tell us about the function of this area? A book entitled Essentials of Anatomy & Physiology says about this area, “The motivation and the foresight to plan and initiate movements occur in the anterior portion of the frontal lobes, the prefrontal area. This is a region of association cortex...” Also the book says, “In relation to its involvement in motivation, the prefrontal area is also thought to be the functional center for aggression....”

The prefrontal cortex constitutes the bulk of the frontal lobe of the brain, and its function is involved in the making of one’s personality. It is also considered as a superior center among the centers of concentration, thinking and memory. It plays a significant role in the person’s emotion and it is somehow concerned with initiative and discrimination.

The cortex is situated directly behind the forehead; it is hidden deep in the front of the head. Thus the prefrontal cortex directs some of the human behaviour that reflects one’s personality, with respect to being truthful, lying, right, wrong…etc. It also distinguishes between these virtues and vices and urges one to take the initiative whether with good or evil intent.

So, this area of the cerebrum is responsible for planning, motivating, and initiating good and sinful behaviour and is responsible for the telling of lies and the speaking of truth. Thus, it is proper to describe the front of the head as lying and sinful when someone lies or commits a sin, as the Quran has said, “...A lying, sinful naseyah (front of the head)!”

Professor Keith L. Moore, illustrating this Scientific Miracle, says: “The information we now know about the function of the brain, was not mentioned throughout history, nor do we find anything about it in the medical books. Should we survey all the medical literature during the time of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and several centuries thereafter, we would find no mention of the function of the frontal lobe (nasiyah), or an explanation of it or a statement about it except in this Book (the Holy Qur’an), which indicates that such information is of the Knowledge of Allah, the Almighty, Who knows everything, and that Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger. In fact during an international conference held in Cairo in 1980, Professor Keith L. Moore said: “The comparative anatomical study of human and animal brains shows that the nasiyah has the same function: It is the center of the control and guidance in both man and animals that have brains.

The first time the function of the frontal lobe was known was in 1842, when a railway worker in America was hit with a bar that pierced his forehead. That affected his behavior leaving the other functions of his body intact. Only then doctors came to know the function of the frontal lobe of the brain and its bearing on human behavior.

Doctors, up to then, had thought that this portion of the human brain is a mute region with no function. Who, then, informed Muhammad (Peace be upon him) that this portion of the brain (nasiyah) is the center of control and guidance in both people and animals and that it is the source of telling lies and committing sins?

Prominent commentators of the Holy Quran had to interpret the explicit text metaphorically because they did not know this secret, in order to safeguard the Qur’an from being accused of lying by people who were ignorant of this fact throughout the past centuries. The fact that the nasiyah is the center of control and guidance in both men and animals is clearly mentioned in Allah’s Book and the Sunnah of his Messenger (Peace be upon him).

Who, then, told Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in particular, of this secret and this fact? It is the Divine Knowledge that no falsehood can approach from before or behind it. It is a witness from Allah that the Qur’an is from Him and was revealed with His Knowledge.

Prostration and Psychological Distress

Solah as a mean to combat distress is not alien in Islam. Whenever the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was troubled or distressed because of something, he would call on Bilal saying, “Relieve us with it (Prayers), O Bilal.” And Bilal would pronounce the Azan for Prayers.
The latest studies carried in Egypt in the Local Radiation Technology Center discovered that prostration before Allah frees man from physical pain, psychological Tension and other neurotic and bodily pains. The biological sciences and food radiation specialists working in the center, under the supervision of D. Muhammad Diaa Hamad, have discovered that prostration reduces fatigue, tension, headache, nervousness and anger. Prostration also plays a major role in minimizing the risk factors for cancers.
The researchers have stated that man is subjected to extra radiations and live most of his time amid electromagnetic fields and media, which negatively affect the cells of his body, causing their fatigue and exhaustion. But prostration before Allah helps the body to discharge these extra charges that cause modern-age diseases as headache, muscular cramps, neck spasms, tiredness and exhaustion, apart from forgetfulness and absentmindedness. They stressed that the increase of electromagnetic charges without discharging them aggravate the state and make it more complex, because they cause a disturbance in the mechanism of the cells and damage their performance, and paralyze their interaction with the external environment. Consequently, carcinogenic tumors grow and fetuses are deformed. Scientists have proved that prostration represents a ground connection that helps the discharge of excess and generated charges outside the body and get rid of them away from using medicines and analgesics that have harmful side effects.
The Egyptians experts have affirmed that this discharge process starts by connecting (placing) the forehead to the ground, as in prostration, where the positive charges are transferred from the human body to the negatively charged ground. Consequently, the body is freed from excess charges, especially by using several members. When prostrating oneself before Allah, man uses several members, namely: the forehead, the nose, the palms, the knees and the toes, whereby the discharge process becomes easy and simple.
In another magnificent discovery, the researchers have noticed in their studies that the discharge of the electromagnetic charges from the human body in prostration requires directing oneself towards Sanctified Mecca, and that is exactly what happens in the prayers of Muslims, by facing the Qiblah, (direction faced in prayers), which is the Sanctified Ka‘bah in Mecca.
The scientists attributed it to the fact that Sanctified Mecca is the center of the land in the whole world and lies at the middle of the earth (and not Greenwich as commonly believed). Directing oneself towards the center of the earth, towards the Sanctified Ka’bah, is the best position for discharge, through which man is freed from his cares and enjoys after it a spiritual relief, which is exactly what Muslims feel after offering prayers. Wallau A'lam

Parenting from the Quran

People are divided into two main groups in their parenting to their children, which are:

A group who do not know any methodology to parent their children, and as a result of this parents make so many dangerous mistakes in raising up their children causing mental disturbances and hatred between children and their parents.

The other group of people follow theories and conjecture that are far away from the teachings of Islam and as a result of that they make so many dangerous mistakes in parenting their children.

The reason behind the problems facing children is the ignorance of parents with regards to the Noble Qur'an. Whereas, Allah (God) Almighty teaches us a comprehensive methodology to raise children in the Noble Qur'an, however, because the majority of people deserted Allah (God) and His book (i.e. The Noble Qur'an) then they fall into pain, despair, and calamities. This fact is highlighted in the Noble Qur'an (And the Messenger (Muhammad SAW) will say: "O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Qur'an).

This diagram shows the current status of people with regards to parenting their children. Such that people are divided into two main groups, which are:

1.The major group: They do not know any methodology to raise their children and as a result of that they cause damage to their children.
2.The minor group: They follow theories and conjecture that are far removed from the teachings of Islam and as a result of that they cause damage to their children.

If a believer reflects upon the Noble Qur'an, he finds that Allah (God) states in a chapter in the Qur'an the teachings of a father called Luqman to his son. Thus the question now arises as to why Allah (God) states in the Qur'an the parenting of a father to his son?

Answer: In order that Allah (God) would teach parents from this the optimal methodology on how to parent their children. And Allah (God) emphasizes the point that the guidance of Luqman is from Allah (God) Almighty so that people would not question the validity of Luqman's teachings.


ALLah the Almighty teaches us how to parent children throughout their different stages, and from these stages is childhood and in this stage Allah (God) Almighty urges parent to emphasize the following qualities in their children:

1. Playing: Allowing children to play would increase the amount of bone and muscles and cause their maturation. And if a parent does not allow this to happen then it would cause a reduction in the size of bone and muscles in addition to a reduction in the health of the child.

2. Asking about what they see and hear: Allah (God) urges parents to enforce the quality of making children to think and ponder about what they hear and see by engaging them in constructive conversations and illustrations. This results in an increase in the number of neural connections in the human brain and the speed of neural signaling, which results in an increase in the intelligence of the child.

And if parents do not do this it would cause the children to have a reduced intelligence.

Ablution or Wudu' as a brain stimulant

The further the scientific discoveries go, the more proofs appear - of an undoubted use of everything the ALMIGHTY has prescribed for his best creation - a human being. I'd like to offer the readers an interesting material on the fact, how an ablution stimulates the cerebral cortex and why it is Sunna to renew your ablution after it is spoiled. First of all, a cerebral cortex is working according to the dominant principle, i.e. if the there is one excited area in the cerebral cortex, it suppresses the rest of the cortex activity. Going to the toilet is an enormous excitement factor which suppresses the rest of the cerebral cortex. An ablution, performed after this brings the entire cortex into the optimal condition. An English scientist U. Penfield made the following discovery in 1956: an irritation of certain skin areas excites certain areas of the cerebral cortex. An ablution, especially the one performed thrice, is such an optimal excitement (irritation). One can see in the scheme of this English scientist U. Penfield how almost all the cerebral cortex is getting excited when ablution is done. In this scheme one sees very distinctly that while giving an ablution to these certain body parts a much greater area of the cerebral cortex gets activated rather than while washing the whole body. According to Sunna, an ablution is to be done not only before Solah but also before any natural enterprise: a trip, studying etc where an active and dynamic brainwork is required.

All this knowledge on the effects of ablution would be not possible if the scientific discoveries had not been made, starting from China, 5 thousand years ago and in England in the 20th century. Therefore, science is one of the Islam's constituents. One of the Hadiths says: "There are two sciences: religion science and body science". And today's scientific discoveries show the interrelationship of these two sciences. It shows that science is Islam's constituent. Sharl Meesmar very truly said: "An increase in knowledge of the science's weakens faith of the follower of other religions , but increases the faith of the followers of Islam". Perhaps, Islam appreciates the time, spent on science study, rather than the time, spent on formal and unconscious performing of Islamic rites. It is not difficult to imagine a cerebral cortex condition of a Muslim who performs an ablution 5 times a day and who renews it each time he breaks it, it is Sunna to be in a state of ablution all the time. Wallau A'lam

Qiyam and the psychological meaning

Qiyaam during Solah is the act where Muslims place their right hand over their left on their chest or navel while in the standing position. Does this position have benefit? It does. Let me explain. The act of folding your arms increases perseverance and activates an unconscious desire to succeed, new research shows. The research is the first to show that arm crossing affects people's thinking without them being consciously aware of it. The study suggests that a body movement also can trigger a psychological state. In this study, the researchers led by Ron Friedman, a professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., looked at one specific body movement - arm crossing - because it is a behaviour widely associated with perseverance.

In the first experiment, 41 University of Rochester undergraduates (five men and 36 women) were told either to cross their arms or to put their arms on their laps. Next, they were asked to solve three anagrams, two of which were easy, ("WODN" and "TOBOR"), the third unsolvable. It was the word "Rochester," scrambled but with one letter missing ("OCHERSTE").

The researchers weren't looking at performance but rather straight-out persistence.
The arms-crossed participants persisted longer (80 seconds on average) than the arms-on-thighs group (less than 60 seconds).

In a second study, volunteers were given a series of solvable anagrams. Those in the arms-cross group did better, because they worked at it longer.
Friedman says that certain body positions over time become associated with specific psychological states of mind and become linked in memory, so that doing one automatically triggers the other.
"If you continue crossing your arms when you're feeling persistent, that association is going to trigger persistence just by arm crossing alone."

This finding indeed an interesting one. During Solah, Muslims will be in Qiyam position for about approximately 60 seconds per rakaah. We can assume that Muslims are in the persistence mode at this particular time. But for what reason, one might ask. Ok. remember before solah, the muazzin will make athan to call people to solah. In this athan, people are invited to embrace success. To succeed in everything we do, we need persistence. So, Islam teaches and train us to succeed by being persistence. Isn't this wonderful? Wallahu A'lam.

Satan, Brain and The Quran

He's leaving....so let talk about him a bit especially how does this creature affect us.
Well, satan affects us with stems from the act of generating emotions by whispering as stated in the Noble Qur’an (113:4), where Allah (God) Almighty tells us that Satan can generate a feeling in the human body such that the feeling is exactly what you are supposed to feel when Satan whispers His ideas in your head. For example when Satan whispers the idea that you should commit adultery with a women; Satan at the same time generates a feeling of happiness in your body to trick you in believing that you are doing something lawful and at the same time your companion devil whispers an idea in your head telling you that: if it feels so good how can it be wrong?.
The question now arises as to how Satan can generate these feelings in the human body. The answer is stated in the same verse in the Noble Qur’an where Allah (God) Almighty tells us that Satan generates these feelings by stimulating certain neural nodes in the human brain. These nodes are stimulated when Satan whispers His ideas of Harm, Lust, and Blasphemy to you, such that when the vibrations generated from Satan’s voice passes through the neural nodes in the human brain which are responsible for generating various feelings in the human body it causes these nodes to be stimulated thereby generating chemicals which go through the body which in turn generate feelings that match the content of the ideas whispered by Satan. These nodes can be found in the human brain, where the brain contains groupings of neurons which form what are called neural nodes

These neural nodes when stimulated can produce feelings of happiness, sadness, thrill, etc. Thus the second way Satan attacks human by is by stimulating neural nodes in the human brain to produce feelings that reinforce the ideas He just whispered to people. It is worth discussing further the reason why Satan generates such feelings by stimulating neural nodes in the human brain. Allah (God) Almighty states in the Noble Qur’an that Satan tries to make you believe His lies.
Thus if Satan only whispered these ideas in your head they will not carry the same weight compared to the case when you hear these ideas and at the same time you feel feelings in your body that reinforce them. This is a way of Satan to make you see a wrong deed as a good one and a good deed as a wrong one. Wallahu A'lam

Brain Plasticity and Kusyu' in Solah

Human beings have always been brash enough to ask questions of why people behave or think the way they are and yet lacked the necessary gifts to answer them. I believe that human behaviors could be easily understood from nature and nurture perspectives. From nurture perspective, we could comprehend human behavior from environmental factors, which are modifiable and changeable. The way people behave and react is the product of his/her interaction with his/her surroundings. A person gets sad because of the significant sad events took place in his/her life. Similarly, another person laughs because something amuses him/her. The magnitude of sadness and laughs depends on the gravity of events.

The other way of understanding human behavior rest within the 1.4 kg lump of wrinkled tissue that serves as the motherboard for all the body’s other systems and this tissue is what we called brain. Previously, we used to an idea that adult human brain is essentially immutable, hardwired, fixed in form and function, so that by the time we reach adulthood we are pretty much stuck with what we have. We also accept the notion that drugs can alter brain’s structure. However, drug is not the only variable that could change our brains’ configuration. Recent study by Harvard University’s neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone proved otherwise as the brain reorganized itself based on the input it received be it an internal or external one.
Pascual-Leone instructed the volunteers to learn and practice a little five-finger piano exercise. He also directed the members of one group to play as fluidly as they could, trying to keep to the metronome's 60 beats per minute. Every day for five days, the volunteers practiced for two hours. Then they took a test. At the end of each day's practice session, they sat beneath a coil of wire that sent a brief magnetic pulse into the motor cortex of their brain, located in a strip running from the crown of the head toward each ear. The so-called transcranial-magnetic-stimulation (TMS) test allows scientists to infer the function of neurons just beneath the coil. In the piano players, the TMS mapped how much of the motor cortex controlled the finger movements needed for the piano exercise. What the scientists found was that after a week of practice, the stretch of motor cortex devoted to these finger movements took over surrounding areas like dandelions on a suburban lawn.

The finding was in line with a growing number of discoveries at the time showing that greater use of a particular muscle causes the brain to devote more cortical real estate to it. But Pascual-Leone did not stop there. He extended the experiment by having another group of volunteers merely think about practicing the piano exercise. They played the simple piece of music in their head, holding their hands still while imagining how they would move their fingers. Then they too sat beneath the TMS coil.

When the scientists compared the TMS data on the two groups--those who actually tickled the ivories and those who only imagined doing so--they glimpsed a revolutionary idea about the brain: the ability of mere thought to alter the physical structure and function of our gray matter. For what the TMS revealed was that the region of motor cortex that controls the piano-playing fingers also expanded in the brains of volunteers who imagined playing the music--just as it had in those who actually played it.

"Mental practice resulted in a similar reorganization" of the brain, Pascual-Leone later wrote. If his results hold for other forms of movement (and there is no reason to think they don't), then mentally practicing a golf swing or a forward pass or a swimming turn could lead to mastery with less physical practice. Even more profound, the discovery showed that mental training had the power to change the physical structure of the brain.

So, if we want to perfect our Solah and have a really Kusyu’ Solah, for example, we can start practising the solah itself in our mind. Start with the Niyah, follow by the Takbiratul Ihram then up to Tahiyatul Akhir and Salam. Slowly imagine in our mind the behavioural sequencing of this act. Feel it. Understand the meaning of every single Quranic recitation we make. Do it five minutes before each Solah. Only then you perform your real Solah. And only then you can feel the different. Cognitive rehearsal can get rid of your daily hassle stressors from your mind and heart and thus bring in you a different state of mind, a clear mind before Allah the AlMighty. In addition, you combine it with body scanning technique from the Mindfulness Therapy then you might double your chance to be kusyu’ in Solah. Wallahu A'lam

Ramadhan and Psychological Benefits

Ramadhan, mother of all months is around the corner. Allah knows best the incentives of why He ordains fasting. To give meaning to the benefits of Ramadhan, I've gathered information on the psychological benefits of Ramadhan. Evidently, Ramadhan is for the betterment of this Ummah. There are reasons and wisdom behind every single act in Islam, no matter how small. In time we may know the wisdom for behind some acts, and for others we may never know. Salaat, for instance, is a daily training for purifying the believer and reminding him that he is a member in a community of believers. Fasting, on the other hand, is an annual institution containing all conceivable attributes for human excellence. It is a training for the body and soul, a renewal of life, encouraging the spirit of sharing and giving. Therefore, it is important to understand how fasting works and also some of the general benefits:

How Does Fasting Work

At the beginning, fasting achieves a physiological rest to the digestive, assimilative, and protective organs, probably the first time for most people. Next, the bodily energy normally used to digest and assimilate food is now used to purify our body. The purification process is called autolysis, or auto-digestions in which our body draws energy by decomposing and burning unused substances and metabolic wastes with the help of bacteria and enzymes. Waste materials to be decomposed, reused, and eliminated include fat and calcium deposits, atheromatous plaque, morbid accumulations, abnormal cells, dead and dying cells, damaged tissue, and various kinds of neoplasm (Burroughs, 1976; Ehret, 1966; www.fasting.com). This is the single most important phase of fasting: breaking down superfluous tissue and mobilizing the toxins from their storage areas. Non water-soluble chemicals are also transformed into relatively polar substances and then quickly excreted through enhanced cleansing ability of all the eliminative organs (Gormley, 2000).

During the auto-digestion process, because waste materials, chemicals, and toxins begin to circulate in blood stream and throughout the body, they can cause headache, nausea, and some other physical symptoms. At this point, many people quit fasting and start to eat. They blame fasting as the cause of their uncomfortable conditions. However, it is well-known fact that these symptoms will go away in few days as the elimination process progresses and fasters feel better and even stronger. Auto-digestion stops when they start to eat (Bragg & Bragg, 1999; Ehret, 1966).

One caution should be made here. Those who have been seriously ill or on heavy medications need to fast only under medical supervision because a prolonged fast can be dangerous because of the large amount of toxic substances they have to eliminate (Bragg & Bragg, 1999; Burroughs, 1976; Ehret, 1966). “Fasters who died from a long fast did not die from lack of food, but actually suffocated in and with their own wastes” (Ehret, 1966, p47). All fasters must educate themselves to know what physical conditions occur during a fast.


The Physical and Psychological benefits

The physical and psychological benefits cannot be separated. Fasting purifies cells all over the body, including those in the brain. Negative mental states such as anxiety, boredom, loneliness, tension, and fear, to the some extent, can be said as the mental expression of a physical state. When the brain is free of toxic poisons, the mind is liberated both physiologically and then psychologically. Although psychological drugs only temporarily alter the mental states by affecting the brain, fasting may free the brain forever (Bragg & Bragg, 1999). In the last 50 years in Russia, therapeutic fasting has been found to be the most effective treatment for schizophrenia. As early as 1972, Dr. Yuri Nikolayev, director of the fasting unit of the Moscow Psychiatric Institute, reported on the use of fasting to successfully treat over 7000 patients who suffered from various mental disorders including schizophrenia. Now Nikolayev after 30 year’s experience fasting over 10,000 patients says, “seventy percent of those [schizophrenia patients] treated by fasting improved so remarkably that they were able to resume an active life” (www.fasting.com).

Many fasters report that their mind is sharpened and focused. This is explained by the fact that the cleansing process of fasting actually gets rid of cementing and intrusive particles of the nerve tissues. As a result, a greater number of our brain cells come into contact with purified blood and the improved flow of blood to the brain helps to clarify our mind. An Irish literary critic and dramatist, George Bernard Shaw, attributed his successful works to the effect of fasting (www.fasting.com).


Behavior Modification
One of the most important things fasting affords the observer is helping him control or change his or her habits, the reason being human life is an embodiment of acquired habits. To change or control a habit is to wage a war on yourself. If jihaad is mandatory on every believer because it is the peak of the essence in Islam, and it entails changing habits, the fasting is the training ground for the inevitable that will occur. The believer cannot wage a war and hope to defeat an enemy if he or she cannot wage war against his soul. Thus, the faster is admitted to the compulsory training opened only in Ramadan, the learning in this school is mandatory and succeeding or scoring high is mandatory, otherwise it is like you never entered. The Prophet (saas) said: "Many a faster receives naught from his fast except the pain of hunger and thirst." (

If he scores high the reward is guaranteed: "Three people's prayers are not rejected-among them - the faster, until he breaks." (Ibn Hiban) Now, does a Ramadan fast control one`s habits? Simple, two of the most important habits are food and drink. An average person eats three meals a day, 21 meals a week. The way the fast is structured, with its basic and drastic alteration of eating habits, a faster takes light meals early in the morning and late in the evening. If the believer can control these two habits, food and drink, it will undoubtedly be easy for him to control other habits, including the habits of smoking, drug abuse and illicit sex. Do you not see that, if you can control your tongue, hands and all other parts of your body, it will be easy for you to apply the same training for the rest of the year.

Heath Care
The benefits of fasting transcend guiding the faster from idle talk and indecent acts. It is a sentinel against disease, provided the faster follows the strict dietary rule: eat during fast breaking and avoiding over-eating. Allah (SWT) states: "...Eat and drink, but waste not by excess, for Allah loves not wasters." (Al-Qur`an, 7:31)

A great deal of ailments originate from stomach indigestion. This is why the Messenger of Allah (saas) says: "The son of Adam will never fill a container with something worse and evil than his stomach. It will suffice him some morsels (food) that will keep him on his feet, otherwise, he should divide his stomach into three parts: one third for his food, the other for his drink and the other third for his breath." (Ibn Hibban)

This hadith indicates that the stomach is the origin of harmful bacteria. Even in the age of sophisticated machines, you can hardly find a machine so fragile but yet so remarkably durable and efficient like the stomach. This is the machine that receives food particles, processes and refines them, and distributes the products to different parts of the body. This is a lifelong operation. For the non-faster, the stomach will have no chance for rest. When the stomach is empty, as a result of fasting, it gets well-desired rest, to renew and rejuvenate its energy. With the fasting, the stomach is forced to go through a discharge whereby harmful residue are eliminated through perspiration as the body searches for food during fast.

During fast, the system of secretion is organized, and this in turn benefits the blood pressure, inhibiting hardening of the arteries. The heart and kidney functions are enhanced as the work load tapers off. The fast helps to correct the problem of obesity and diabetes. Doctors over the years have used fasting as a prescription for certain ailments.

There was a discussion between Ali Bin Husain bin Waquid (raa) and a Christian physician to the Khalifah, Haroon Ar-Rasheed, about Islam's outlook on the science of medicine and health care. The physician said to Ibn Waquid: "There is not in your Book, Al-Qur`an, anything about medicine. For if Al-Qur`an is a book of science, what about this science?. Aren't there two kinds of sciences: the science of the body and the science of the soul?" Ibn Waquid responded: "Allah, the Most High has combined both sciences in half of a verse, when He states: "...Eat and drink but waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters." (Al-Qur`an, 7:31)

The physician said: "Why, then, has nothing been mentioned about medicine from the mouth of your Messenger?" Ibn Waquid replied: "Our Messenger (saas), has combined the sciences about medicine in a few words when he says: "The stomach is the house for disease and prevention is the essence of medicine." The Christian physician then said: "Then your book, Al-Qur`an, and your Prophet Muhammad left nothing about medicine for Jalienas (a famous physician of the ancients)." (Arkanul Arba`ah by Abul Hasan Nadwi)

An American physician published a report on fasting and its benefits saying: "It is mandatory on every person who is sick to restrain from food certain days in a year whether he be wealthy or poor because if bacteria can find food in abundance in the body, it will grow and multiply. But with fasting it becomes weak.'' He then praised Islam. It should be considered as the wisest religion, for as it mandated fasting it has mandated health care. He continued: "Indeed, Muhammad, who brought this religion, was the best physician who succeeded in his teachings, for he called for prevention before ailment, that is apparent in fasting and the nightly prayer (Taraweeh) that Muslims observe after fast breaking every day of Ramadan, for these physical acts contain big benefits in digesting food." (Arkanul Arba`ah by Abul Hasan Nadwi)

Patience
Fasting helps in conditioning the heart, the soul, and the body on the virtues of patience, tenacity, and firmness in the face of adversity. Patience is the pinnacle of self-mastery, discipline and spiritual agility. Patience is to turn the phrase "I can't" into "I can." It is to say, the difficult is easy. It is an inner and psychological demolition of things perceived by others as impossible. Fasting helps in all these shades for the virtuous, patient person because, the conditioning is that if a believer can exercise patience, and forsake gourmet food and drink, and the exhilaration we enjoy while eating or drinking our favorites, as well as marital association, the gratifying of other normal appetites for a whole day, for a month the realization that the barrier between you and food is your consciousness of your Creator, can better make you able to exercise patience in virtually everything in life.

Social Outlook
Socially, fasting is an expression of solidarity with the poor, the family and the whole society. This is a period in which the rich have first-hand experience of what it is to be poor, the pains the indigent suffers in normal living conditions. The process of disciplining resulting from Islamic fasting, instills in the rich the virtue of mercy, Rahmah, which is very important in terms of social well - being and proliferation of harmony. Allah bestows his mercy upon those who themselves are merciful to others. "Those who are merciful to others, the Merciful will have mercy upon them," the Messenger said. He continued, "Have mercy upon those on earth, and those in heaven will have mercy upon you." (Abu Dawud/Tirmidhi)

Family Ties
Fasting strengthens family ties, especially in that the family is an endangered institution in western society. It helps the family gather together to break fast, at Iftar, and eat sahuur together at least twice a day for a month. The family even makes Salaat, together with the father as Imam.

Fasting enhances and energizes friendship, as Ramadan is known as the month of invitations and visitations. Friends, family members and neighbors extend invitations to each other to come to their homes to have Iftar together. The Messenger said, "When a believer invites you, you should respond." Besides, Muslims gather together in the Masajid for taraweeh and ta'aleem.
Wallahu A'lam

Brain and Kusyu’ in solah

What happened when one prays and has an indeed kusyu’ solah?



Well, when people perform solah, the frontal lobes are highly active, increasing beyond their normal state. This is the area of the brain that controls our state of attention. It is well known that prayer "experts" around the globe are intensely focused and in a state of high attention when they pray.

The second things that occur when people pray is a decrease of activity in the posterior parietal areas of the brain. This is the part of the brain that gives us our sense of self, separates everything "outside" of us, from us, and gives us a sense of individualism. Also it is the part responsible for spatial orientation. Studies with regards to brain and meditation have confirmed this phenomenon.

Solah is to detach oneself from desires and objects by offering full submission to Allah the AlMighty and effectively separate oneself from the transitory nature of the world. This is undeniably a mental effort. In addition, our body has its own way of communicating outwardly to the world and inwardly to oneself. How we position our body has a lot to do with what happens with our mind and our breath. In Solah, we move our muscles in sequencing and repetitive manner accompany by rhythmic recitation of the quranic verses which is again a mental activities and physiological efforts. The correlation of physical states with mental states in solah reinforces the correspondence between neural functions and behavior.

This is so because during Solah there is "an increase in the areas of the [cerebral] cortex taking part in perception of specific information and an increase in the functional relationship between the two hemispheres". These observations support the cognitive claims of the "mindful state" in Solah by showing an increase in functional awareness. Performing solah is believed to result in increased EEG coherence, blood flow to the brain, muscle relaxation, and a decrease in stress hormones (see http://info.miu.edu/tm_research/tm_charts/1Phys.html).

In addition, neurobiologist James Austin suggests that the decrease in respiration (during solah) reduces neuronal firing in the medulla, most likely through corollary discharges from the central pattern generator for the diaphragm to the brain. The inhibition of the medulla causes alteration of higher-level functioning because when it is inhibited, it cannot inhibit higher functioning. Austin also claims that mental "transition periods" increase, shifting "rhythm of entry into activated states," in addition to fashioning different roles for other neurotransmitters. The alterations in bodily rhythms are consistent with the observed effects on neuronal responses in meditation. Additionally, the effect on neurotransmitters explains how set-points for mood can change, if recent research suggesting roles for dopamine and serotonin in mood is accurate. Solah could also do some of the work of the psychotropic drugs that either block or facilitate the uptake of certain neurotransmitters.

A different study suggests that daily meditation can alter the physical structure of the brain and may even slow brain deterioration related to aging. Study condcuted by Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital, showed that parts of the brain known as the cerebral cortex were thicker in 20 people who prayed, compared with 15 people who did not pray. She presented the study at Neuroscience 2005, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. It also appears in the journal NeuroReport issued that year.

Our Brain Structure



Wallahu A’lam

Sujud or Inverted poses - The benefits

Why do Muslims have to place themselves in an inverted position or sujud when performing solah. We might not have the answers. Allah knows best why He has ordained us to do so. But since human beings are equipped with brain, understanding such injunction, sometimes need logical paradigms. Muslims nowadays are wrappped with the belief that everything needs reasons. So, I decided to embark on a journey looking for answers (off course scientific one) and my journey to shed some lights and perhaps answer for some staggering questions regarding the inverted position ends with the following reasons:

Physically: 
Muscles- Strengthens neck, shoulders, arms. Relieves tired legs; Inversions do much the same for the body that aerobic exercise does; Inversions use gravity to bring more blood to the heart - turning yourself upside down encourages venous return. The muscular system of the abdomen and legs are toned.


Physiology: four major systems in the body that the practice of inversions positively influences: circulation/cardiovascular, lymphatic, nervous, and endocrine. Inversion exercises the heart and encourages venous return. Reduces heart strain, Minimise fatigue and brain tissue degeneration. Increasing the blood flow through the brain cells increases your thinking power, clarity, memory, concentration, and the sensory faculties. Fluid build up reduced, Strengthening the immune system, Increases mental alertness and clarity, Soak brain fresh blood, Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression, Healthier lung issue, Strengthens the lungs, Increase heat and improves digestion, Tones and cleans digestive organs, Constipation eliminated. While the body is in an inverted asana, the breath becomes slow and deep.


Organs: The entire physical system, under control of the brain, is energized and nourished as the brain is washed clean and flooded with rich new nutrients, Stimulates circulation, digestion, elimination. The abdominal organs: the liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys and pancrea receive a powerful massage helping them to perform their functions more efficiently.
Glands: Favorable reconditioning effect on endocrine gland secretion (Copeland, 1975), to enable it to withstand greater stress and strain (Kuvalyananda & Vinekar, 1963). The shoulder stand stimulates the thyroid and parathyroid glands by pressing the chin into the base of the throat.



Lymphatic System

The inversion position also importantly increases circulation and drainage of lymphatic fluid. Fluid build up reduced. Lymph, like the blood returning to your heart via the veins, is dependent upon muscular movement and gravity to facilitate its return. Thus, in the headstand, lymph fluid is relieved from the legs and ankles and with regular practice prevents the buildup of fluid in the legs and feet.

Strengthening the immune system. Because the lymphatic system is a closed pressure system and has one-way valves that keep lymph moving towards the heart, when one turns upside down, the entire lymphatic system is stimulated, thus strengthening your immune system.


Nervous System

Inverted position stimulates the nervous system. Increases mental alertness and clarity. The immediate change felt after performing this pose is an enhanced alertness which lasts through the day. Soak brain fresh blood. The most important aspect of inverted poses is to soak the brain with blood for a fixed period of time which never happens in other systems of exercises. According to Dr Raman (Raman, 2004):

“This rejuvenates the brain cells and prevents age related cerebral atrophy. Senile changes in brain are prevented. And as mentioned before ischemic strokes can be completely prevented as the blood supply is enhanced without pressure.”



Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression. It is a centering, calming and soothing pose. A cooling effect is felt on the face in the pose.



Respiratory System

Healthier lung issue. Inversions also ensure healthier and more effective lung tissue. During the prostration position, gravity pulls our fluids earthward, and blood "perfuses" or saturates the lower lungs more thoroughly. The lower lung tissue is thus more compressed than the upper lungs. As a result, the air we inhale moves naturally into the open alveoli of the upper lungs. Unless we take a good, deep breath, we do not raise the ration of air to blood in the lower lungs. When we invert, blood perfuses the well-ventilated upper lobes of the lungs, thus ensuring more efficient oxygen-to-blood exchange and healthier lung tissue, oxygen consumption and blood flow (Jevning et al, 1983).

Strengthens the lungs. When done properly, inversion helps the spine become properly aligned, improving posture, facilitating good breathing and reducing muscular stress. The inversion rests the lungs which feel refreshed. The vital capacity increases as the lungs learn to breathe against the strain of the body organs resting on it in the posture (Raman, 2004).

Wallahu A'lam