Pages

12 December 2013

Physical benefits of offering Salah (Prayer)




Salat is one of the five fundamental requirements that a Muslim is obligated to perform. Salat is given the highest priority in the Holy Quran. There are many benefits of Salat described in the Quran (29:46) It says “innassalata tanha anil fahsha'I” Surely Prayer restrains one from indecency. In chapter Luqman, We read that when Hadhrat Luqman was giving advice to his son, the first and foremost on his mind was to remind his son, ya bunayya aqimissalat "O my dear son,!observe Prayer." (31:8)
According to a Hadith the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) is reported to have said, inna fissalati shifa'a “verily there is cure in salat ". According to a Muslim scholar, as reported in monthly Urdu magazine, Tahazibul Akhlaq, Aligarh, India, a Muslim who offers salat regularly has very little chance of getting arthritis (inflammation of joint usually accompanied by pain, swelling and stiffness) as we exercise our bones and joints while we offer salat.



In the light of this Hadith we shall try to describe some orthopedic benefits of salat in this short note.

1. Regular exercise reduces cholesterol in the body. Cholesterol causes heart failures, strokes, diabetes and many other ailments. It is a known fact that people in professions where exercise is required have less amount of cholesterol in their bodies.



2. Salat is an excellent form of exercise to prevent indigestion. In the morning when stomach is empty, a Muslim is required to offer fewer number of Rak'aat whereas in the evening after the dinner we offer an extra number of Rak'aat.

3. By offering Takbir at the beginning of salat, we move hand and shoulder muscles thereby increasing the flow of blood towards torso this is because the blood supplies in our veins moves against the gravity (moves up) when it comes from our hand and other part down the abdomen toward the heart then to the lungs for removing carbon dioxide. But since Allah create us he know that in our head there is no muscle like in other body part then Allah makes the blood in vein to move with gravity. Diagram shows blood movement and blue is vein while red ones is the artery.




4. When rukkui in salat the health advantage we get is that first we compress our knee joints and some abdominal parts especially kidneys, this help to push the blood from vein to comes up also blood supply in our chest and abdominal part move easily since its movement is not against the gravity.





 5. The most important function in salat is sajdah where we touch the ground with our forehead. This posture increases fresh supply of blood to our brain. Also as mention above blood in vein moves against gravity force, on sajdah we make the blood in vein to move with gravity and making it easily move to our heart and as narrated from prophet on sajdah we are supposed to cool down for some second.




6. In tashah'hud position, our hip, elbow, knee joints, backbone, wrist joints move in a way that it provides a form of relaxation to our entire body. Pressure is applied on the body parts as if it was a kind of massage which releases tension.



7. Heart in the most important organ in the body. It supplies fresh blood to all body tissues. These body movements performed during salat are an excellent source of exercise for our heart as well. According to a Hadith of the Holy Prophet,"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.

8. A remarkable tissue in our body is 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. Salat therefore, has many orthopedic benefits for all Muslims. Next time you offer salat, thank Almighty Allah that He made you a Muslim.

Indeed, there is cure in salat.

1 comment:

  1. allahu akbar! masha allah..isl
    am is d true religioon

    ReplyDelete