Blog Archives
The Trews – Kim Kardashian’s Bum: What Should We Think? (Video)
Kim Kardashian has bared her bottom again, this time for the cover of Paper magazine, but is she just another symptom of postmodernist confusion and cultural decline or is there a deeper psychological explanation for her fame?
How to Protect your Home from the Shayateen (devils)
Source: http://www.missionislam.com
1) It is important to note that the bricks and mortar of your home do not become “possessed” nor do they become “holy” – the shayateen don’t have anything against your house as an object! They will cause problems to affect you and your children – both psychological and physical
Controlling Our Emotions As Muslimahs
Embrace Your Emotions, Control Your Actions
Source: blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com
Fact: Allah (
) made women sensitive and emotional by nature. Whether we like it or not or choose to admit it, a woman can go through so many intense emotional highs and lows in one day that by the day’s end she is left feeling weary and mentally drained because every emotion we experience has a physical and psychological reaction.
Visiting the sick has many benefits
By: Mufti Ismail Menk
Visiting the sick, assisting them in any way, inquiring about them and praying for them has many benefits, hence it is considered a great act of worship.
It boosts the morale of the sick, making them feel much better, giving them a sense of belonging which contributes to their recovery.
Psychological Blessings of Tarawih
Ramadan is the month of multiple blessings. It is the time of fasting and of extensive spiritual exercise. It is the time when we change our everyday routine and set a new one: revolving around our religious duties more than around the worldly affairs.
During Ramadan, Muslims make special effort to find time for recitation and study of the Holy Quran, for supererogatory prayers, such as Tarawih, and other charitable deeds.
The rewards in the Herafter (akhira) for the good deeds done in Ramadan are manifold, but there are also more immediate benefits of Ramadan worship.
It is widely known that people who fast enjoy spiritual and psychological wellbeing and that fasting is of great advantage to physical health. But it is not only fasting that profits our mind and spirit during Ramadan.
Tarawih, the extra night prayers performed by the believers usually after Isha (evening prayers) and lasting from eight to twenty rakahs, bring great spiritual and psychological comforts, despite the physical and mental effort required to practice them.
Ibrahim B. Syed, doctor of medicine and the president of the Islamic Research Foundation International, in his essay ‘The Medical Benefits of Tarawih Prayers’ published on the IRFI website, mentions the multiple benefits of tarawih for physical, emotional and mental health.
Mood & Mental State
According to Syed, tarawih prayer, as indeed any prayer performed by Muslims, has the same effects on body and mind as gentle exercise. Therefore tarawih improves mood, thought and behaviour in the same way as the exercise does.
Furthermore, the exercise of tarawih “induces greater sense of well-being and energy, reduces anxiety and depression, influences mood favorably and contributes to self-esteem and an aura of confidence; improves memory in the elderly especially with constant repetition of the Ayaat”.
The relaxed state of mind achieved through tarawih may be partly due to the chemical response of brain to the combination of repeated muscular activity with repetition of recited words over a certain period of time.
The physical exercise, but also other activities such as meditation and prayer, leads to the secretion of neurotransmitters such as Endorphins and Encephalin positively affecting the brain.
The release of encephalin and Beta-endorphins (Endogenous Morphines) acts on the central and peripheral nervous systems to reduce pain and has a calming effect on the mind. The encephalin is one of the most potent opiate-like substance naturally occurring in body.
The endorphins too have an analgesic effect, but also reduce the negative effects of stress, bring feelings of euphoria and enhance the immune system.
Relaxation
Syed mentions in his essay that tarawih helps achieve ‘relaxation response’ of the brain. Relaxation response is theory developed by a Harvard professor, Dr. Herbert Benson, who studied the impact of spirituality for physical health and whose work serves as a bridge between religion and medicine and mind and body.
According to Benson, continuous repetition of certain words, as in prayer or meditation, or a muscular activity coupled with passive disregard of intensive thoughts, leads to the lowering of blood pressure and reduction in heart and respiratory rates.
In words of Benson “the relaxation response is a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress”. Relaxation response puts the mind at ease, reduces effects of stress and induces the attitude of acceptance.
And while Benson never actually examined the effects of tarawih or any other Islamic prayer, focusing rather on the transcendental meditation of Yogis, his theory seems to be well applicable in explanation of the soothing effects of tarawih and dhikr on Muslims.
According to the study “Effect of Tarawih Prayers on Mental Health and Self Control” conducted by Quadri Syed Javeed, Head & Associate Professor in Psychology at M.S.S. Art’s Commerce & Science College, in Jalna, India, published in the February 2013 issue of Golden Research Thoughts, the tarawih prayer significantly improves mental health and self-control.
In his study Javeed examined the mental health of fifty respondents aged 18-30 before and after the prayer using Mental Health Inventory and Multi Assessment Personality Series Inventory, and the results upheld his hypothesis of the positive effects of tarawih on mental and spiritual well-being.
Brain Activity
Yet another explanation of the beneficial effects of tarawih on mental health may be found in the results of the studies conducted by a University of Missouri neuropsychologist Brick Johnstone and by the Professor and Director of Research Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine Andrew Newberg.
The studies on the brain activity of Francescan nuns and Buddhist meditators during their prayer and found that during spiritual experiences the activity of right parietal lobe of the brain is significantly decreased.
Right parietal lobe is a small region near the back of the brain that constantly calculates a person’s spatial orientation, the sense of where one’s body ends and the world begins, in other words, it is a part of the brain responsible for the sense of self.
During intense prayer or meditation, and for yet unknown reasons, the right parietal lobe becomes a quiet oasis of inactivity. “It creates a blurring of the self-other relationship,” said Professor Newberg, “If they go far enough, they have a complete dissolving of the self, a sense of union, a sense of infinite spacelessness.”
Decreased activity of right parietal lobe induces the sense of selflessness, and the experience of selflessness, in the opinion of Johnstone positively affects the psychological health especially among people with strong faith in God.
“Our research focused on the personal experience of spiritual transcendence and does not in any way minimise the importance of religion or personal beliefs, nor does it suggest that spiritual experience are related only to neuropsychological activity in the brain,” Johnstone said. “It is important to note that individuals experience their God or higher power in many different ways, but that all people from all religions and beliefs appear to experience these connections in a similar way.”
The functioning of the brain during spiritual exercise is yet a field in which very little research has been done. The results of the studies of Johnstone and Newberg, the relaxation response theory of Benson and the neurotransmitters explanation of Syed, only partially answer the question of how prayer in general, and tarawih prayer in particular, benefits the mental health and the spiritual well-being.
Yet even though the ‘how’ is still largely unknown, the positive effects of tarawih during Ramadan and of everyday salat in the lives of Muslims are obvious even without scientific data to prove it.
After all Allah tells us in the Quran: “Indeed whosoever purifies himself shall achieve success, and remembers the name of his Lord and prays” (Surat Al-A`la: 87:15-16), and “O ye who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer; for Allah is with those who patiently persevere.” (Surat Al-Baqarah: 2:153).
What to Do When You Feel Lonely
Last month I met a guy who was sitting on a park bench with an empty look on his face. I sat beside him and started chatting with him. In the middle of the conversation he suddenly asked me “Brother, is there anything I can do to cure my loneliness” At that moment I was unable to answer him, but his question made me consider that most of us have this struggle in our daily lives and we are also looking out for some ideas to beat up that feeling.
Everybody has to accept this ugly truth that loneliness is an unavoidable part of human emotions, but it’s up to us to make up our mind how much room we give that emotion to dominate our lives. We can let it play a bossy role in our life or we can take a stand against it.
Effects of loneliness
In fact loneliness is a state of mind; as a result it can dramatically bring about many psychological and physical damages.
- Loneliness can cause us to forget the meaning and purpose of life by making us feel empty from the inside.
- It can also fill us with harmful habits, such as smoking, alcoholism, eating junk food, spending more time watching TV, staying up all night online etc.
- Sometimes loneliness instigates a mental state called “Social Anxiety Disorder”, commonly known as “Social Phobia”. It’s an intense fear of possibly being humiliated or embarrassed in social situations.
- Long-term exposure to loneliness can also lead to difficulties in attention, learning and memory. As this emotion develops our life will undergo lots of negative changes.
- Loneliness can spoil both quality and quantity of your sleep; those who are lonely tend to wake up more during the night and spend less amount of time in bed actually sleeping.
When we recognize what loneliness does to our brain, body and behavior, we can more easily give it less control over our lives.
What are some productive things to do when you feel lonely?
Keep a hobby: Everybody should have a hobby. Having a hobby helps us enhance our well-being and it can also give us an interesting personality by helping us to connect with like-minded people and stay social.
Talking to someone: Sometimes talking to someone you trust and love is the most efficient way feel less lonely. It can also help you work out why you experience loneliness. If you don’t have anyone you can talk to, you can always talk to friends and family via your mobile phone.
Reading: It’s apparent that reading can serve more than one useful purpose at the same time. It’s one of the best productive way to spend your time. As Dr. Robert P. Friedland said. ” In the same way that physical actions strengthens the heart, muscles and bones; intellectual activities fortify the mind against disease.
If you are online and feel lonely, you can try some of these resources:
Learn something new from YouTube: YouTube has been an incredible asset for researching and simply understanding random things.
Other video websites you can visit:
Register with Quora or Yahoo answers: These two are the best resources in the internet where you can Share your knowledge and information with others while expanding your own.
Some other “Q and A” sites you can visit:
Start blogging: There are many free platforms where you can create your own blog and start to demonstrate your writing skills to the entire world. It is also a brilliant way to generate an income from your blog.
Here are some well-known blogging platforms:
These are some practical methods to cut down your loneliness. There may be many other fascinating ideas you can implement. Please share them with us.
PASS THE KNOWLEDGE (LIGHT & LIFE) 