Allah says in the Qur’an “Seek help with steadfastness and prayer– though this is hard indeed for anyone but the humble”- (Quran 2:46) This is one of the many bounties bestowed upon Muslims by God Almighty because of prayer.

Prayer had always proven meritorious; with many scientists endorsing the positive physical and spiritual impacts it has, given the meditative state it entails, a supreme form of worshiping and visualization of Allah’s presence. A complete state of rejuvenation of  all elements of the body.

And that’s why Muslims are invited to such spiritual encounter with Allah the Almighty, to gain more of its spiritual bounties and re-connect to their Creator, which re-establishes the bond with one’s self.

An article published on Huffingtone Post discovers or if I may say explores new dimensions of the meritorious impacts of prayer on human physicality, psyche, and spirtiuality, stating that people who are religious, especially women, are more likely to live longer lives, and enjoy better health.

“There is of course an intellectual problem involved, and scholarly interest in such matters traces back several hundred years to the philosopher David Hume, who wrote about the reasoning and evidence needed to establish the existence of miracles. But these days, I think people ask about prayer because the “science” of modern medicine is often too quick to reduce health to simple mechanical cause-and-effect relations, and so many patients feel a dissatisfaction and frustration with sterile medical care that sidesteps the human spirit.”

The article raises the question, whether prayer extends life…?

Howard S. Friedman, Ph.D.Health psychologist, research scientist, the author states:

“Our findings confirmed that individuals who were religious, especially women, were more likely to live longer lives.

As for the reason, Friedman states:

“The very religious women tended to be quite friendly and sociable, but were also inclined to be worriers. We found that we could explain their long lives by taking into account their outgoing-yet-worrying personalities, and their good, helpful social ties and behaviors. In other words, for these individuals, religion was a core and stable part of who they were and how they behaved — and it served them well in terms of long life.”

Read the full article Here

Wassalaam,

By: The Muslim Tribune Staff

Posted on: June 10, 2011