Meditation--

 

Many of us imagine this when we think "meditation" 

The other day I was watching an interview of Oprah on some late night show and was intrigued my something she kept speaking about: how she now mediates every day and that helps balance her life. Oprah is a phenomenal woman and a huge inspiration to women and just people in general all over the globe. And of course when someone with as much respect as her says something, people listen.

In the interview she said that she meditates at least twice a day for 20 minutes, and she kept going on and on about the benefits you get from clearing your mind. All I could think of is "That's funny, Muslims have been doing this for hundreds of years, and people are only catching on this now?" This new found love for meditation in the modern world is quite simply adorned by many because of celebrity endorsements. But if we look at it, Muslims all over the world "meditate(pray)" each day. This also means that our generic way of thinking what "meditation" is, in fact may take different forms.

As it goes, Muslims pray five times a day (the times for each prayer depends entirely on how long each person decides to pray for). Now Muslims pray, of course, to get closer to God and they pray for God, but nevertheless there are several benefits you get from praying. When in prayer, your mind is completely cleared of all worldly worries and stress; you are to focus only on your prayer. This makes Muslims achieve a state of spirituality, and they do this five times a day. This is very similar to meditation, where people who meditate are to clear their minds and thoughts in order to reach a spiritual state and find themselves at peace. The two are exactly the same, just differing in why each one does said action. Furthermore, the Prophet Muhammad(S.A.W) used to take himself quite often to a secluded cave in his town where he would just meditate and clear his mind---and this was before he had heard of  God's words.

In all, it makes me quite excited that people are now taking a step and realizing the benefits of clearing your mind to purify your soul. And honestly, more people should be doing it. It's a peaceful approach in which you learn a lot about yourself, not to mention you feel extremely full of life when finished. Xx

Muslims praying