Book of Healing - Qur'anic Healing - Prayer - A Heavenly Medicine
Prayer - A Heavenly Medicine
Tags: Heavenly Medicine, Prayer, Du`a, Tazarru`, Supplication
1. An extremely effective, healing, successful and beneficial medicine, has been sent down from the heaven of mercy. It is extremely precious and priceless; it is available in one sense, but rare in another. It appears to be common, but is the most special. It is beyond praise and description, because it is the panacea or universal remedy for thousands of diseases. From the above title, you may have realised that such a miraculous medicine is Qur'anic prayer (du`a), which has been sent by the heavenly Doctor, having mercy on the pitiable plight of countless sighing and moaning, sick and ailing people of the world. This elixir-like medicine is as old as the history of humanity itself. Further, the astonishing thing is that, if research is done on its benefits in the light of modern sciences, it can prove itself to be the most modern and the results of its miraculous effect can be extremely wonderful and marvellous. As for the spiritual cycle of the future, there will be only the sovereignty and sway of prayer.
2. In order to adopt the real spirit of the prayer which is in the Qur'an, it is necessary to act strictly and regularly upon all those conditions which are mentioned in connection with the great Qur'anic subject of "Prayer", such as, faith, piety, benevolence, sincerity, hope and fear, humility, having recourse to God in difficulties (ruju`), etc. Without fulfilling these conditions, neither can the door of acceptance of prayer open, nor can the spirit of the Qur'an be acted upon. Thus the holy Qur'an has not only commanded to act upon these conditions, but has also mentioned many effective and impressive practical examples, such as: "And when they embark on the ships they pray to God, making their faith pure for Him alone, but when He brings them safe to land, behold! they ascribe partners (unto him)" (29:65). In addition to this, see also verses (10:22; 31:32), so that from the collective meanings of these verses, it will be clear that although the sincerity, humility, having recourse to God, etc. of these people on the ship when encountering fear and danger is not permanent, but transient, how wonderful it is that the importance of the fear of God and the acceptance of prayer can be estimated from it! This hidden humility of the heart is called tazarru`-i khufyah (6:63), which implies weeping and crying of the heart and this meaning is so comprehensive that it contains and comprises all the conditions of acceptance of remembrance and prayer. See the subject of tazarru` (humbling oneself, imploring) in these seven noble verses: 6:42-43, 6:63; 7:55, 7:94, 7:205; 23:76.
3. In connection with prayer, numerous spiritual benefits are gained by tazarru` i.e. imploring, giryah-u zari, i.e. weeping and crying or doing munajat. Thus, it is necessary for the wise people to do tazarru` again and again, both individually and collectively and protect themselves from all calamities, afflictions and diseases in the presence of God, lest the law of nature, due to the disobedience of man, visit him with the provisions of tazarru`, as it is said in verses (6:42-43): "And We have sent (Messengers already) unto people that were before you, and We afflicted them with tribulation and adversity, in order that they might grow humble. If only, when Our disaster came on them, they had been humble (then We would have removed it from them)! But their hearts were hardened and the devil made what they used to do seem fair unto them". At this place, it is necessary to think well why tazarru` or giryah-u zari is so important? Does this cleanse and illumine the mirror of the human heart? Is, in such a state, every good prayer accepted very quickly?
4. The purpose of the creation of jinn and mankind is the worship of God, the True Worshipped, (51:56) and according to a noble hadith, the essence of worship is prayer (du`a) (Tirmidhi, II, 631). Perhaps there is a miraculous wisdom hidden in this superiority of prayer. Prayer or du`a' means to seek something for oneself from the presence of God. Now the question arises that, whereas worship constitutes other parts, why is the part of prayer which means asking for something so important? The answer is:
- Prayer is a practical worship, in which, the mu'min presents his needs in the presence of God, the Blessed, the Exalted, with utmost humility and this is an occasion on which, by making his heart pitiable, he can attain His mercies and blessings.
- The Lord of the world is All-sufficient, but man is extremely needy, thus it is man who can attain the fruits of all worship through prayer, as the fruit of iyyaka na`budu (You alone we worship) is attained in iyyaka na`budu (from You alone we seek help). This is the example through which we can be sure that a special reward of worship is received in the form of acceptance of prayer and Divine help (ta'yid).
- If prayer is done in the state of giryah-u zari, then there is a possibility of receiving abundant favours and blessings.
5. The word "muztarr" in the wise Qur'an is extremely thought-provoking and meaningful. It means forced, compelled, obliged, poor, destitute, helpless. According to the Qur'an, every mu'min who has been tested by a natural calamity is muztarr. In such a condition, the carnal soul dies, at least temporarily. Thus, this is the time of spiritual bliss, therefore in this state it is necessary to have recourse to the Sustainer, as it is said: "Or, Who listens to the distressed when he cries unto Him and removes the suffering and appoints you (His) vicegerents in the earth" (27:62).
6. If you want to see the Perfect Man or a true sufi in the mirror of this noble verse (27:62), it is possible to see that they are muztarr, in the sense that their religious life, both externally and internally, passes through numerous trials, in which they both, dying before death and having died spiritually, pray with full attention. God, the Knowing, the Wise, first of all removes their internal diseases and then confers upon them the crown of vicegerency in the personal world, namely, the microcosm. Thus, this is a sufic interpretation of the above-mentioned verse.
7. I, who am less than the dust under the feet of the dignitaries of religion, cannot explain the virtues of prayer, as they ought to be explained. Having melted through `ibadat-u bandagi and abundant dhikr, search in and reflect carefully on the Qur'anic prayers directly, which will result in this purport of the wise Qur'an: "God, the Exalted, accepts the prayer of His servants (Muslims and mu'mins) every time and always" 2:186). The spiritual benefit is alluded to more and more in this acceptance. Physical comfort is not that important, as the body is created to bear various kinds of difficulties and hardship, so that the soul may benefit. In other words, the body has to suffer afflictions and pain, again and again, for the sake of spiritual progress, so that the prayer is made in the state of giryah-u zari, self-effacement and annihilation and inner diseases are eradicated. Contrary to this, if only the physical diseases or any other physical difficulty were removed by prayer, how would it have been possible to have a separate prayer for the removal of spiritual diseases? For, it is the most difficult matter for every person to realise and feel his spiritual diseases, because the diseases of the intellect and soul are not visible, they are known only to the people of the inner eye.
8. Study verse (2:186), the explanation of the purports of which is: No servant of God can attain His proximity by his own struggle. But, it is the Prophet, through whose mediation the servants of God attain His proximity and their prayers are accepted in His presence, in the sense that their internal difficulties are always solved and sometimes their physical difficulties also. Thus, such servants of God, acting upon the Divine commands, should listen to the spirit and spirituality of the Qur'an and accept them, so that they may reach the perfect level of faith and attain the perfect light of rectitude and guidance. If this bliss is attained, it should be known that the spiritual diseases are coming to an end.
9. You may certainly know that different parts of medicinal herbs are used as medicine. Thus, the roots of some and the flowers, fruits, seeds, etc. of others are used. Thus considering the wise Qur'an as the supreme Paradise or the Garden of Rizwan, the holy verses of the former are compared with the medicinal herbs of the latter, then both in the exoteric and esoteric aspects of each and every verse, will be conceived nothing but healing or medicinal efficacy, particularly in their roots and seeds. By the root is meant the depth of the meaning and the seed alludes to the essence of wisdom. It is because of this that, it has been stressed to penetrate the depth of Qur'anic thought (47:24) and the essence of wisdom is given the rank of abundant good (khayr-i kathir) (2:269).
10. Prayer and munajat (supplication) is a healing medicine that has been sent down from the heavenly Paradise. It is not bitter like some physical medicines, rather it is extremely sweet and pleasant and enters the heart through the faculties of speech and hearing and thence spreads throughout the existence and encompasses it. There are many signs of the efficacy of this luminous medicine. The best sign is the shedding of tears with serenity and modesty. If a darwish-like Muslim receives this divine favour, he should prostrate in humility, so that his munajat may be stronger and humility greater. For prayer, giryah-u zari and prostration are such, that they are most liked by the Lord of Honour. Thus, if a mu'min uses this alchemic prescription, there is the glad tiding of internal health for him (17:109).
11. According to an hadith, there are two aspects of this world for a mu'min: (a) It is a prison for a mu'min and a garden for an unbeliever (Da`a'im, I, 47). (b) It is a farm for the next world (Ahadith-i Mathnawi, p. 112). Both these Ahadith (pl. of Hadith) are full of wisdom and there is no question of contradiction between them. This shows that, while living in this world, a mu'min has to suffer a part of pain and hardship in both cases, whether it is the hardship of prison or that of farming. But is it not better that, for the sake of the Hereafter, he should suffer the entire share of his hardship in the work of farming? So that the very concept of prison may vanish. For the allusion to the prison shows that, if a mu'min escapes from the hard work and toil of performing religious works, the divine law punishes him in numerous forms. This means that those mu'mins who work hard, with remembrance of God, prayer, worship and serve humanity (with sincere intention) can remain protected from many diseases.
3 Rajab, 1406/15th March, 1986.
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