Health Benefits of Saying "Alhamdulillah" and other Zikr

There are many examples in the Qur'an and Hadith of the virtues of a positive mental attitude, perseverance and optimism in the face of adversity. However, did you know that patience and a positive outlook on life are two of the greatest healing tools that you can use?

The Qur'an (2:155) says, "Give glad tidings to those who exercise patience when struck with adversity and say, 'Indeed, we belong to God and to Him is our return.' Such ones receive [the] blessings and mercy of their Lord, and such are the guided ones." According to the findings of modern science, it appears that this mercy may often come in the form of improved health.

Bernard Jensen says, in his book The Science and Practice of Iridology, "The doctor of the new day will recognize that a man's most important workshop is not the physical body, but the mind that controls it." Dr. Ted M. Morter confirms this in his book, Your Health... Your Choice, when he says that "negative thoughts are the number one acid producer in the body (and high body acidity levels are a major cause of disease)… because your body reacts to negative mental and emotional stress brought about by thought the same way it reacts to 'real' threats of physical harm."

In fact, hospital studies show that, of all the patients who consult outpatient clinical facilities in the United States, an astounding seventy percent are found to have no organic basis for their complaint. That figure is amazingly high. However, although medically these patients are not found to have an obvious organic source for their complaints, there actually is a physical basis for this phenomenon. Since Freud popularized the idea of psychoanalysis, people have often focused exclusively on the mental realm to solve certain problems, forgetting that we cannot separate the physical and mental realms. The mind is in the brain, and the brain is an organ. Like all other organs, it feeds from the same pool of nutrients that other body organs feed from and is susceptible to all of the same problems. Ultimately, the brain is just a part of our body like all of the other parts and is completely dependent on the body. It requires sugar to develop energy unlike other tissues that can develop it from potassium and fats. Consequently, it is the first organ to suffer from low blood sugar and it reacts most severely. Freud himself said that psychoanalysis was not suitable for treating diseases such as schizophrenia, and he postulated that their causes eventually would be found to be biochemical.

If we keep in mind that the brain is an organ and that it works in harmony with the other organs and feeds from the same bloodstream, we can understand how various mental events can affect us physically. For example, simply using our brains to think and study burns up nutrients in our system, particularly phosphorus. Heavily exercising the brain can cause us to suffer from a phosphorus deficiency. And we find that the reverse is also true in this relationship. People who have high intellectual capacity usually have high levels of phosphorus in their system.

There is much wisdom in the Prophet's (SAW) statement (narrated by Abu Huraira), "The strong [person] is not the one who overcomes the people by his strength, but the strong [person] is the one who controls himself while in anger." In fact, staying patient and calm is key to physical strength.

Phosphorus is not the only nutrient that can be depleted by mental stress and a lack of spiritual calm. If the thyroid gland, the primary organ to handle our emotions, works overtime, we can suffer from a deficiency in iodine. Stress from a demanding job, a divorce or relocating can cause a loss of potassium and sodium in the body because it effects the adrenal glands creating more of a need for these minerals.

Even hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can be caused by excitement. The prophet (SAW) recommended our taking the more moderate path in life; however, we often engage in or expose ourselves to intense excitement by yelling, excessively watching television, and going to the mall, movies, parties, amusement parks, etc. When we see something exciting, our adrenal cortex is stimulated and there is an increase in our blood sugar. This, in turn, stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin into the blood to lower the sugar level, causing us to then feel tired or weak.

It produces calm and health to practice saying, "Alhamdulillah" for what we have and for what we are faced with. We should try to keep our home and work environments peaceful and as free from stress as possible. One way we can counteract the effects of stress are to simply be aware of the stress we are encountering, and to consume sufficient nutrients and supplements such as herbs.

For instance, if a person is up late praying or reading Qur'an during Ramadan, they can eat phosphorus rich foods and those that will help them maintain their phosphorus intake. If a person is moving, traveling or making Hajj or Umra, they may want to increase their intake of foods high in potassium and sodium as well as vitamin B complex.

If we completely ignore the relationship between mental and physical health, we are missing an important detail in the picture of personal health. And, as in most health problems, practicing prevention is superior to finding a cure. Therefore, the best manner to avoid having negative attitudes and emotions control our bodies is simply to practice the wisdoms that we have been given throughout the Qur'an and Hadith. We should say, "Alhamdullilah" for what we have; "Insha'Allah" for what we intend; and, "Subhana' Allah" when we see something exciting or amazing. We should remember to say, Astaghfir'Allah" when we lose our tempers or become weak, and most importantly, "Allahu Akbar" when we are faced with the challenges of life. These five phrases, said regularly, are like taking a multi-vitamin for holistic health.
By Karima Burns

Zikr, Quran and Brain

If we look into the Quran we will find that the word “Zikr” occurs 268 times in the Quran and has 63 derivatives used in the Book, the Quran. This word “Zikr” has many connotations in Islam. Its almost opposite is “Nissiyan” (forgetting). This verb occurs 45 times in the Quran; and 28 of its derivatives have also been mentioned in the sacred Book.

Zikr as a practice is simply the constant inward remembrance of ALLAH Names by the repetition of any of them or by the recital of some prayers in mind. When you practice Zikr, (similar to Meditation which the Western world is familiar with) you repeat continuously a given name of ALLAH such as AR-RAHMAN, AR-RAHIM, or Ghaffur, and so, a number of times usually daily with the help of worry beads or a counter. As concentration is not necessarily required, there is no requirement to start Zikr anytime, anywhere. Whether one believes or not, or whether he is aware or not, the related regions of brain become active when the task is achieved, so the resulting benefit is gained spontaneously. At the beginning, repetition might be pronounced by the silent movements of lips. Later when it gets easier the constant repetition is felt inwardly from the mind only. As it can be seen from the following signs in the Koran, without any restriction anyone can practice Zikr anytime he or she wants and anywhere (provided that a convenient list of Zikr words is advised to him or her according to their brain programs): “Meditate (Zikr) ALLAH standing and sitting and lying down” (Sura Nisa:103). ."those who meditate (Zikr) ALLAH standing and sitting and lying on their sides, and who reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth."(Sura Al’imran:190). [A. Baki]

Human beings are far from perfection and surrounded with limitations. Limitations brought on our perception by our 5 senses, for example, prevent us from understanding many phenomena in the cosmos, such as the righteous comprehension of our own reality, the consciousness and therefore of “Allah.” Thus we need to expand our perceptional range by increasing the capacity of our brains. Zikr is the way to do that.

All the activity in the brain is nothing but bioelectric activity in several distinct parts of it, among various sets of neurons (cellular groups) each assigned to a specific duty functioning as a whole. Each and everyday 14 million neurons that make up the brain, are in a constant interaction with 16 billion neighboring neurons. All our activities and our understanding, that is all the functioning of a brain is the result of countless bioelectric flows that are brought to existence in these sets of neurons occurring as a result of these interactions.

When you practice “Zikr” you repeat continuously a given name of Allah, —for instance, “Subhanallah” or “Ar-Rahman” or “Ar-Rahim” a number of times—, and therefore reflect a meaning that belongs to ALLAH.

During the repetition certain regions of the brain are engaged and become active, so there occurs a bioelectric flow in that neural groups of the brain. After that task is performed repeatedly (as you repeat on the same name or a group of names) the neural activity increases, and so does the bioelectric energy, which overflows and new sets of neurons are put to work and so, some other regions of the brain become active. And therefore the brain capacity starts to expand. The brain starts to bring out new meanings, perspectives and commentaries that it had not used before Zikr.

During this practice one is also in the continuous process of radiating spiritual energy, and loading it onto his hologramlike body of frequencies, his spirit, his eternal and imperishable existence.

The following is a passage taken from an article in SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN December 1993, describing complementary laboratory findings about this matter to prove this explanations, which was published seven years after Author Ahmed Hulusi’s first explanations on its importance:

“Complementary findings described this year by investigators at Washington University have emerged from PET scans of humans. (PET measures neural activity indirectly.) In the experiments, volunteers were provided with a list of nouns. They were required to read the nouns ., one by one, and to propose for each noun a related verb. When the subjects first did this task, several distinct parts of the brain, including parts of the prefrontal and cingulated cortex, displayed increased neural activity. But if the volunteers repeated the task with the same list of nouns several times, the activity shifted to different regions. When the volunteers were given a fresh list of nouns, the neural activity increased and shifted back to the first areas again.

Cingulate cortex part is related to reward and motivation whereas the prefrontal relatively deals with executive functions and decisions. One might wonder what are the reward awaiting those who performed zikr? Well, obviously the reward one gets by zikr is serenity and tranquility as revealed by Allah:

"Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah: for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction (Ar-Rad 13:28).

So, please remember Allah in everything we do because "Those who forget Allah are forgotten by Him" (At-Tawbah 9:67) and the worst part is "Allah then lets them wander in the web of their own self" (Al-Hashr 59:19)

Wallahu A'lam

Amazing Video - Dome of the mosque fly only with Zikr?

Believe it or not a dome mosque was transfered to a new mosque adjacent to it with a mere zikrullah. In 2002, an old mosque dome were moved to the new mosque in Kailolo Village, Haruku Island, Central Maluku Indonesia with just zikrullah. It was reported that around 3000 muslims gathered and performing zikr in the old mosque and 'biiznillah' the dome from old mosque was transfered by itself, slowly to its new position.It is also reported that these 3000 muslims fasting for 3 consecutive days and performed qiyamullail for 3 consecutive nites. They continued to perform zikr the next day which resulted the dome to slowly take off and landed on the new mosque. Thousands of people became hysterical to witness 'once in a lifetime miracle'.The incident occurred in 2002 and the footage was only released in 2007. Do you believe it? See it for yourself and then decide. The footage quality is not good but you can clearly hear people were shock horror witnessing this 'miracle'.


An Indonesian TV station Trans 7 aired the footage as well.