Islamic Garden

Islamic Garden
Islamic Garden in Lausanne, Switzerland

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Miraculous powers of the Basmalla

"All power is from Allah Almighty, and we must always ask for His support, because we are in need, we are weak ones.Allah Almighty ordered His Beloved Prophet Muhammad (sal) to inform his Ummah that anything that is not begun with His Holy Name : "Bismillahir-Rahman-ir-Rahim", will never be supported by Allah; it means it will never give fruit, and it must fail.

If you say Allah's Holy Name, you will take benefit from that action, and any harm that may be in it will leave you. Whoever is feeling weak should say it, and power will come to his physical body and to his heart. The Basmalla is the most important key for opening all treasures in the Heavens and on earth, and for opening all forms of knowledge. Allah Almighty has put three thousand of His Holy Names in it: 1000 Names that are known only to the Angels, 1000 Names known by the Prophets, 999 Names contained in the 4 Holy Books, and His Greatest Name.

All of these Names are contained in the Basmalla. Whoever is able to reach to the secret power of the Basmalla should be dressed in miraculous powers. We, as servants of Allah, should say it at least 100 times daily. If a person continues for 40 days, he should find some power, some changes in himself, especially if he says it one thousand times between Fajr and sunrise. From unseen worlds, from Malakut beautiful views will appear to him. According to the thickness of the veils of his heart, from 1x 40 days, up to 7x 40 days, there should be an opening. If not, it means that his heart is too occupied with Dunya, and he should try to put Dunya last, and then try again.

It is a rule which can't be wrong. Even in one day it may be opened, because it is so powerful. Every time you say: "Bismillahir-Rahman-ir-Rahim", it means that you are remembering the Lord: "Oh My Lord, I am remembering You!" And then Allah says: "Oh My servant, I am remembering you!" Don't forget! If you forget, you will be forgotten."

Source:- Sohbet/Spiritual Talk by As-Sayyid Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Qubrusi ar-Rabbani al-Haqqani al-Hassani al-Husseini

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Al-Fatiha's spot in the brain?

Scientists searching for brain's 'God spot' find belief circuits

Scientists searching for the so-called "God spot" have identified parts of the brain which control religious belief.

By John Bingham Last Updated: 1:00PM GMT 10 Mar 2009

A study involving practising Christians, Muslims and Jews found that some areas of the cortex "light up" in response to religious statements.

Scans carried out on volunteers as they processed a series of remarks about God showed how areas of the brain which evolved more recently and not present in other animals were often more heavily involved – suggesting that faith is uniquely human.

"We're interested to find where in the brain belief systems are represented, particularly those that appear uniquely human," said Prof Jordan Grafman of the US National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Maryland, who led the research.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, undermined the idea that a single area of the brain – nicknamed the God spot – controlled religious belief.
Instead, the scientists found that several different pieces of cerebral circuitry are used to process different aspects of religion.

A group of 40 volunteers, drawn from the main monotheistic religions, were asked to listen to a series of statements about God and asked to say whether they agreed or disagreed while having their brain scanned.

When statements about God being involved in the world were read, the lateral frontal lobe areas – one of the part of the brain which enables us to empathise with other people – were engaged.
But when it came to comments such as "God is wrathful", activity was centred on the medial temporal and frontal gyri.

And when more abstract or doctrinal questions were raised, it was the right inferior temporal gyrus – the circuitry which helps us understand metaphor – which was most engaged.

"Our results are unique in demonstrating that specific components of religious belief are mediated by well-known brain networks, and support contemporary psychological theories that ground religious belief within evolutionary adaptive cognitive functions," said Prof Grafman.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/4966118/Scientists-searching-for-brains-God-spot-find-belief-circuits.html

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Alchemy in Islam

Marie Louise von Franz, close collaborator of Depth psychoanalyst, C.G. Jung in his work on Alchemy offers this observation in her book "Psyche and Matter:"

"European alchemy therefore gradually died away. Its traditions moved to the North African realm, which remained pagan, especially to Mesopotamia, where later it flourished under Islamic rule. The Islamic culture has brought forth several important creative alchemists, such as Mohamed ibn Umail (tenth century), who became famous in later Western alchemy under the name of Senior (which is the translation of sheikh).

Jung has pointed out that Islam is a religion of pure eros. Accordingly, coniunctio symbolism, the hierosgamos of the sun and moon, plays a great role in the writings of Senior. In itself, the motif of the sacred coniunctio also springs from the Egyptian ritual of the dead and again comes up in the Komarios text, which I mentioned before. From then on, the motif of the hierosgamos, the sacred marriage, remained the central theme of alchemy. It denotes on the one hand chemical affinity and on the other the union of psychic opposites in the process of individuation, which Jung has so deeply interpreted in "The Psychology of Transference" and Mysterium Coniunctionis." (1992, p. 152).

~Excerpted from "Psyche and Matter" by Marie Louise von Franz, distinguished analyst and founder of the C.G Jung Institute in Zurich.