Calm
Yourself
The Effect of Salaah and Wudhu on Feeling Calm
By Nermin Abd El-Moneim
----------------------------
"I can't seem to enjoy my holidays. I have this awful
feeling of depression that I think will never leave me. What
can I do?" We hear this question from a lot of people
today. What would you suggest to such a person? Because of
daily stress and difficult circumstances we face today, depression
and sadness become a part of life for some people, especially
the youth.
During adolescence the youth get depressed or become easily
angry because of hormonal changes and brain growth spurts,
and also as a result of either positive or negative changes.
No doubt the time we spend on cooling down and warming up
will improve our daily performance and help us to accept the
ups and downs of life, but we are living now in the "age
of depression." What can we do about this? Depression
has a dangerous impact on people. When you feel depressed,
you may do poorly in school; you may find it difficult to
communicate with your family and friends or you may aggravate
them. Moreover, you may tend to overeat or have a poor appetite;
you may tend to oversleep or suffer from insomnia. You may
also tend to smoke or drink alcohol or hang around peers who
are having similar problems. All this leads to feelings of
more depression.
Many
organizations for youth provide hotlines and 24-hour phone
services to help teenagers to get rid of feelings of depression
and its destructive impact on life activities. Did you ever
think that we as Muslims have our own hotline? Our hotline
is Prayer- Salaah. Salaah is an emergency hotline that you
can pick up at any time and ask for any help you might need.
Salaah, the second pillar of Islam-is a gift from Allah to
Rasulullah SAW and his Ummah-including you. So enjoy this
gift and invest in it well. It is a connection between Allah
and you. You can talk to Allah and ask for His guidance in
any problem you face. You can even complain to Him about something
you are expecting or afraid of. That is why some of the scholars
said, "If you want to talk to Allah, make Salaah. And
if you want Allah to talk to you, recite the Quran."
We believe that Allah is our only Creator and that He is the
One Who can guide us to what is best for us. So He is the
One Who can fix our troubles, the One we can rely on in times
of hardships and thank in times of ease.
Allah
ordained Salaah, your gift-five times a day as a way of maintaining
and fixing your heart, soul, and body. Likewise, you can pray
at any time once you feel that you need a counsellor or a
guide to show you to the right path. If someone invents a
machine and sells it to you, you have to go to him regularly
to maintain it and to fix any problem. You may not be aware
of the problem, as you are simply the user, but he is aware
of it as the inventor. And if something gets broken or out
of order in this machine, you will go to him to fix it even
if it is not time for its regular maintenance.
Seeking peace and calmness begins within you. You will never
have outer peace if you don't have inner peace. Allah says
[and stand before Allah in a devout frame of mind] (Al-Baqarah
2:238). So you should approach Salaah in peace, pray it in
peace, and finish it in peace, because Salaah gives you a
break, both mentally and physically, from the daily stresses
of life and in this way you will obtain peace. If you are
thinking of an important issue that you have to decide about
but you can't make up your mind, just give your mind a break
from tension and pressure and perform a prayer seeking Allah's
guidance. This will provide your soul with comfort and give
your mind a break and help you to think more clearly and practically
about the situation that you are faced with. As Rasulullah
SAW told Bilal, "Call for the prayers, it will comfort
us."
Furthermore, Salaah cleanses your soul of any daily sins and
helps you to get rid of feelings of guilt that are one of
main reasons of depression. So when you perform Salaah and
ask for Allah's forgiveness with a regretful heart, you will
have all your sins forgiven, Insha Allah.
Physically, the different positions you take in Salaah have
a great impact on strengthening your muscles. Also, performing
Salaah activates and stretches your spine, which contains
most of the nerves and energy centres of the body. Moreover,
Allah ordained ablution (Wudhu) before performing Salaah because
it prepares you to meet Allah in the best condition. [O ye
who believe! when ye prepare for prayer wash your faces and
your hands (and arms) to the elbows; rub your heads (with
water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles] (Al-Ma'idah 5:6)
Wudhu also has a great effect on the health of your body and
soul. It not only gets rid of impurities, but also sins. As
Rasulullah SAW told us, when a Muslim makes Wudhu in the proper
way, the sins he or she has committed come out of every part
cleaned and leaves it pure. Rasulullah SAW said, "Whoever
makes Wudhu and makes it well, his sins come out from his
body, even coming out from under his nails." (Muslim
3/133 and others) Your body is exposed to millions of germs
and microbes during the day, and the water of Wudhu keeps
the skin fresh and helps prevent infections. It also releases
stress, so when you argue with someone, all you need to do
is just make Wudhu and then you will feel calm and able to
have a fruitful discussion with him or her.
Now
is time to start! Never complain that Salaah is not fulfilling
your demands, for you are the one who should invest Allah's
gift in the best way. And be sure that Allah guides you to
the best even if it is not what you want. Also Allah likes
you to continue asking with a sincere heart; thus Salaah will
never fail you unless you fail Salaah first by neglecting
it or doing it insincerely.
|
| British
troops are getting ready to pull-out form the southern Iraqi
city of Basra. They will leave Iraqi soldiers in control of
the city in the grip of a brutal turf war between rival groups.
Former
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is ready to return home
before the month of Ramadhan. In Islamabad, the central working
committee of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz suggested that
Sharif will return by Sept 10.
Gauteng
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ANC
deputy president Jacob Zuma will appear in court again tomorrow.
Three separate appeals will be heard in the Supreme Court
of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
Bangladesh
and Pakistan have rejected accusations that their citizens
may have been responsible for the two bombings in the Indian
city of Hyderabad. The bombs, one at a popular restaurant
and a park in the southern city killed 42 people on Saturday.
Magazine
publication Newsweek, says US forces have made little progress
in their search for Usama bin Laden. The closest they came
to capturing him according to the magazine was in the winter
of 2004/2005.
Huge
fires continue to rage in Greece today. Firefighters have
however managed to save the ancient city of Olympia, where
the first Olympics is said to have taken place. |