Ousman Ahmad
The Muslims who reach the age of puberty (with exceptions of: menstruating, being to ill or experiencing post-partum bleeding) have to pray to Allah minimum 5 times a day. This Arabic word "Salah," doesn't only mean "prayer," because "pray" basically means to address a prayer to God or another deity, according to the Oxford Dictionary. "Salah," is a word with a broad meaning, which doesn't only mean prayer, but also means goodness, righteousness and godliness (*). In Salah, we not only ask from Allah but we also thank Him, praise Him, and at the same time receive guidance from Him. Salah in the true sense is programming or conditioning. The prayer conditions us to stay away from forbidden and shameful actions, and encourages us to do righteous and sensible actions. Since we humans have no free will, this conditioning will help us and enable us to stay away from forbidden things, and enjoin on what is not forbidden. A healthy body requires 3 meals a day. Similarly, the spiritual soul requires 5 times Salah a day.
The main reason why we offer salah, is to thank Allah and to praise him. This is not for his benefit, since he is free of all wants, as the Quran says in Surah Fatir 35:15. The benefit of prayer is what we derive, because it adds to our good deeds and increases our faith. But besides this, there are various spiritual and scientific advantages with offering the salah.
The salah programs the person into not doing evil deeds, by ensuring that the Muslims are God fearing people, and are aware of the wrong doing going on. Since there are so many evil doings occurring, the salah keeps us away from doing this, and guides the people into doing holy actions, not evil deeds like: swearing, adultery, rape etc. The salah also helps to strengthen ones faith, and keeps a person from being strayed away from the truth. Salah is also a great way to ask Allah's help, and is like a "hotline" to pray to Allah. It is very calming and relaxing, because in the salah, there are no actions which require a lot strength and power. Many people may claim that salah is like gymnastics, where you go: up and down, up and down, etc. Let us see the comparisons of gymnastics and Salah:
Salah improves social harmony and equality, while gymnastics does not.
Salah doesn't require: apertures, bars, hoops, rings, beam etc like gymnastics does.
Salah is cheap, since you don't have to pay anything. When you want to perform gymnastics properly, you have to pay through your noses (very expensive).
Salah can be offered by people of all ages (even if you can't stand, you can sit. If you can't sit, you can lye down). People of all ages cannot do gymnastic.
Salah can be offered wearing clean clothes, whereas your clothes get dirty in gymnastic.
You have to be clean, in order to offer salah. In contrast, you can be physically be as filthy and dirty as you want to do gymnastics.
Salah increases brotherhood in the nation. Gymnastics does not do this.
In Salah, the chances of gaining injuries are very little. In gymnastics, the chances of gaining injuries, accidents and broken bones are much much higher.
There are less risks in Salah, as compared to gymnastics.
If your not healthy (i.e. broken arm, leg, shin, foot etc) you cannot do gymnastics. In contrast in this situation, you can offer salah.
After you've eaten a meal, you can offer salah. If you do gymnastics after you eat a meal, you can easily throw up.
Salah programs you to abstain from evil deeds and enjoin good deeds. Gymnastics does not program you like this.
In Salah, you gain a lot of good deeds from Allah. Gymnastics does not have this advantage.
In Salah, you can offer it at home, at mosque, even outside. Gymnastics does not have this advantage.
Salah can only be done if you offer wudu (Islamic ablution) which has many scientific advantages. Gymnastics does not have this advantage.
Hence, we see that there is a vast difference between Salah and gymnastics, that Salah is far superior and holier than gymnastics. Gymnastics is nothing like salah, since when salah is offered correctly, the differences you can see is vast. Moreover, there are various scientific benefits of the salah, which include:
In salah, when we do ruku that is: bow down, extra blood flows into the upper part of the body. The spine becomes supple and flexible, while the spinal nerves are nourished. This relieves backache and pain. This is a good posture for flatulence. When we come back to the standing position (after ruku), the blood which has entered into the upper part of the body, comes back to normal and the body is relaxed.
When we do sujud, which is basically the prostration to the ground with are 8 parts of the body touching the floor, the forehead in on the ground which is the best position of salah. It is the most relevant part of salah. Daily, the human beings are propounded by electrostatic charges from the atmosphere, which gets perspirated in the central nervous system, which gets super saturated. These extra electrostatic charges, have to be dissipated and discharged, otherwise you'll have: headache, neck ache, muscles spasms, etc. No wonder people regularly take tranquillizers, and drugs, to relieve the pain. These electrostatic charges are dissipated and discharged, when the frontal lobe of the brain is put on the ground, in sujud. There is dominance of the frontal lobe, and the thinking capacity of the brain is not on the top of the brain, but in the frontal lobe. In doing sujud, there is less chance of getting: headache, spasms, aches, etc due to the fact that the electrostatic charges are dissipated and discharged. Moreover, the sujud allows extra blood supply to enter the brain, which enables the brain to become more healthier. In addition, extra blood flows into the skin, neck and face, which increases the circulation of the blood of the skin, neck and face, which is very healthy especially in the cold seasons. This is also very good for the brain. This prevents diseases, such as: fibrositis and chilblains. During the sujud, there is drainage of the paranasal sinuses, this there is less chances of getting sinusitis, which consists of inflammation of the linings of the sinuses that surround the nose. In certain forms of yoga, some adherents stand on their heads for the purpose of blood flowing to the brain, which we Muslims have been doing for centuries.
Normally during the day, the human beings have an upright posture. The maxillaris sinus, the opening is in the upper medium part. The secretions cannot be drained, due to the upright posture which people have. Therefore when you do sujud, there is drainage of the maxillaris sinus, which is very healthy, and decreases the chances of infections occurring. It also causes drainage of secretion of the frontal sinus, ethmoid sinus as well as the sphenoid sinus. This all decreases the chances of a person getting sinusitis. Moreover, someone who has sinusitis, the sujud is a natural treatment. The sujud position is also a natural treatment for a person suffering from bronchitis, which is inflammation in the lungs. The sujud position also causes drainage of the secretion of the bronchial tree, thus prevents bronchitis. It prevents the accumulation of the secretion in the bronchial tree. It is also helpful in other pulmonary (lung) diseases, in which secretion are acclimated. Besides this, other things like: dust and bacteria can accumulate, which the sujud is a prevention from.
Normally when you breathe, only 2/3 of the lung capacity is used. The remaining 1/3 of the lung capacity, the air remains in. Therefore, it is only 2/3 of air which comes in as fresh air, when you breathe and 2/3 goes out. The remaining 1/3 is called as: residual air. When you do sujud, the abdominal viscera, they press against the diaphragm. The diaphragm presses against the lower lobes of the lungs, which causes the person to exhale the 1/3 residual air. Once this residual air goes out, more fresh air comes in, which is responsible for a healthy lung. When you do sujud, due to the decrease of the gravitational force, there is extra venous return from the abdominal organs. Therefore, the extra venous return (volume of blood returning to the right atrium of the heart) is increased, which makes the heart healthy. This also supplies fresh blood to all body tissues. In the sujud, the weight is concentrated on the knees, and your legs are flexed. The soleus and the gastrocnemius muscles (muscles of the leg) are also called the peripheral heart, because it has an extensive venous return, which is responsible from increasing venous return, of the lower heart of the body. This also causes relaxation in lower half of the body.
In sujud, the knees are touching the floor, including the hands and forehead. This posture is helpful in diseases of the cervical spine, because this helps the intervertebral joints, which allows the spine to move more flexibly. The posture of the sujud is also helpful in cardiac diseases. When a person rises from the sujud from the squatting position, the blood which has flowed into the upper part of the body comes back to normal sea, and the body is relaxed. There is extra blood flowing in the muscles and nerves, of the thigh and the back, so the back muscles of the back are relaxed. It is helpful and useless in constipation and indigestion. Is is also helpful for a person suffering frompeptic ulcer and other stomach problems. When a person gets up from the squatting position to the standing position, his weight is concentrated on the ball of the feet, which improves the strength of the back muscles, thigh muscles, knee muscles and leg muscles.
The ruku and sujud (bowing down and prostrating to the floor) are great postures against femoral and esophageal hernia. These positions in the prayer are also prophylaxis treatment, of a person suffering from hemorrhoids (inflammation of veins in the rectum and anus) which in layman's terminology is called as: piles. These positions of salah are also helpful in prolapse of the uterus. Also, there have been ways which western countries give, in where you can exercise without standing up, one of which is: turning your head left and right. Similarly, in the salah, we do this after every prayer. At the end of the salah, we first turn right and say: "Asalam wa alaykum rahmutula," and then we turn left and say the same thing. Salah is light exercise and is heavy in spiritual deeds, so you getting a 2 in 1 workout.
We Muslims do not offer salah for these medical and scientific advantages. These are our side dishes. Our main reason to pray, is to praise and thank Allah. We offer salah for guidance and unity in the Muslim nation. The scientific benefits may attract a person with less faith or even a non Muslim, but the main goal of saalah is for righteousness, guidance, praise and thankfulness to and from Allah.
These body movements performed during the salah are an excellent source of exercise for our heart as well. According to a Hadith, Prophet Muhammad said:
"There is an organ in the body, when it is healthy, the whole body is healthy, and when this is sick, the entire body becomes sick".
It is the heart. A tissue in our body is the cartilage. It is unique in being a living tissue with no direct blood supply. The only way it receives nutrients and oxygen is by movements of the joints. The pumping effect forces blood into the joint area which would otherwise be bypassed. Those who sit at the terminals are in greater danger of ending up with dead cartilage tissues that will subsequently wear away. This will leave us with arthritis, painful joints and paralysis. Bacteria and viruses find safe haven in joints for this reason as no blood cell can get at them and in most cases neither can antibodies. Salah therefore, has many orthopedic benefits for all Muslims. There are various tables from the following site(*) which highlight the other medical beneifits of salah.
We Muslims do not offer salah for these medical and scientific advantages. These are our side dishes. Our main reason to pray, is to praise and thank Allah. We offer salah for guidance and unity in the Muslim nation. The scientific benefits may attract a person with less faith or even a non Muslim, but the main goal of salah is for righteousness, guidance, praise and thankfulness to and from Allah.
Not equal are those believers who sit (at home) and receive no hurt, and those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah hath granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who sit (at home)(4:95)
