Page 147 - Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an
P. 147
Harun Yahya
One very important aspect of prayer is this: In addition to praying
out loud, it is also important for a person to make every effort to pray
through his or her deeds. Prayer by action means doing everything
possible to attain a certain wish. For example, in addition to praying, a
sick person may also have to visit an expert doctor, use medicines that
will be of benefit, and receive hospital treatment if necessary, or some
other form of special care. Because, Allah has linked everything that
happens in this world to specific causes. Everything in the world and
in the universe happens in accordance with these causes. Therefore, the
individual must take the requisite measures in accordance with these
causes, and yet await the outcome from Allah, with humility, submis-
sion and patience, in the knowledge that it is He Who brings about
their results.
The positive effect of faith and prayer on the sick and the way
these accelerate treatment is a matter that has attracted the attention of
and is recommended by doctors. Under the heading "God and Health:
Is Religion Good Medicine? Why Science Is Starting to Believe," the 10
November, 2003, edition of the famous magazine Newsweek took the
curative effect of religion as its cover story. It reported that faith in
Allah raised people's morale and helped them recover more easily, and
that science had also begun to believe that people with religious faith
recover more easily and quickly. According to a Newsweek survey, 72%
of Americans say they believe that praying can cure someone and that
prayer facilitates recovery. Research in Great Britain and the USA has
also concluded that prayer reduces patients' symptoms and accelerates
the recovery process.
According to research conducted at Michigan University, depres-
sion and stress are observed to lesser extent in the devout. And, accord-
ing to findings at Rush University in Chicago, the early death rate
among people who worship and pray regularly is some 25% lower than
in those with no religious convictions. Another study conducted at
Duke University on 750 people, who underwent angiocardiography,
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