Indian Natural Remedies : Turmeric

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

 Fresh turmeric

I would dedicate some of posts for Indian natural remedies. I actually love Indian herbs and it is because they are low in cost and can easily be found in our country since our climate is almost the same to Southern India. Most of all I don't have to waste money for chemical stuffs which is not really good. I just wanted to record some benefits of turmeric. It is a kind of herb which the God has created for the benefit of human-being and His creatures. 

I always avoid many kind of meats except for chicken and that is only if I do not involved in the slaughtering process. It happens since I was a young kid. I would rather fast than eating meat including fish. When I saw mum slaughtered dead fishes, I felt nauseated looking at blood. When I saw my late grandpa slaughtered a chicken, I did not take the chicken meat and just giving it to others after it was grilled. I guess there also lies a wisdom by the God that I did not take any medical course. I had also been offered a course by public service commission just after undergoing the National Service program to be a pharmacist but I refused to go there and just remain in isolation. Many people had also criticized me for that, lol. So, when I was a kid I took veggies more and that sure affected my growth. I look like a retarded guy while I am already 25 years old and my hair turned to be red because of the lack of nutrients, hahaha.  

 

Turmeric trees

In South East Asia, we sometimes take herbs as our side dishes beside of rice. Rice is of course our staple food here as we would at least have it twice a day. Last time I would enjoy having rice with herbs and vegetables even without any meat. We can't afford to buy mutton, beef, chicken, and etc for daily food. When I was 13 years old, I began to avoid beef too. I was introduced to turmeric by parents. We are not Indian and turmeric sounds like Indian for me. After I had fresh turmeric with rice, my tongue would turn to be yellow. I don't know how to tell turmeric taste but I love the taste, haha.

Turmeric actually is good to heal sinusitis. Last few weeks I did not know what to do when my face had grown pimples and it was so painful. One reason for pimples perhaps is pressure and polluted environment. My room is also dusty and sometimes I had no time to clean it up like I was in my previous hostel during first degree time. I used to polish up the floor of my room in previous hostel for my roommate, brother Zaidi to perform prayer services in the room. I insisted him to be my imam for most of prayer services in the room and it still remain shining when I visited a friend who coincidentally live in the same room last month. I had took bath early in the morning like half an hour before Fajr prayer service with water mixed with turmeric powder. It heals also itches and rashes at skin. Glory be to the God, He is indeed Wise in His creations because the effects took place very quickly!!! 

Although it is an Indian prescribed herb, but it is still created by the God. I heard that Hindu fellows had also used turmeric for purification and concentration in tasks purpose. I was not really sure about that but I had done this since long before I heard about their medical system called Ayurveda. Perhaps there are some similarity in customs that we received from around. In countries like Myanmar or Thailand, people sometimes mixed up turmeric with rice powder beads and put the paste at their face as the effect of the color from turmeric would not too obvious. Indian ladies usually put merely turmeric at their face to heal pimples and those Hindu or Sikh girls who are about to get marry will also purify themselves with turmeric water before wedding ceremony took place.     

When some of my friend had flu or cold, I would suggest them to find dried turmeric, pound it and mix it with water. Then put it on their nose and drink some pure honey mixed with warm water. I also read the information provided at the packet of turmeric I bought and it says that turmeric powder is an antiseptic agent, not only used for food flavoring and color. It removes odor in food and giving fresh fragrance for food. Malays would also use turmeric powder to marinate meat, chicken and fish before frying them. In Indian cuisine, perhaps they mixed turmeric in their curries or boiling lentils. It only costs me 0.60 cents or 0.80 cents rather than buying chemical stuffs. 

I would suggests sisters who wanted to clean up their face to try turmeric powder and mix it with water. It is very useful and your painful pimples would be dried in few days. When we clean the floor of house, ants, insects and termites would stay away from it. It is also good to plant turmeric in our garden. We can also eat it and it is easy to be grown. I don't know about in Europe but in South East Asia, the climate is just fine. If we are lazy to plant flowers, just plant turmeric trees all over our house to make our compounds looks green and environmental friendly, hahaha.

Turmeric is good to prevent hypertension. Some people would take the juice from turmeric in the size of a thumb and mix it with a tablespoon of honey and a tea spoon of black pepper powder. They drink it twice in the morning and evening. I never try this. I just take a pinch of salt after I clean up myself when waking up from sleep and drink it with plain water. After Fajr prayer service, I usually take a tablespoon of honey mixed with a glass of warm water. Recite the Name of the God and asking Mercy and Blessings, drink.  

I also had read some information saying that turmeric was introduced to Europe in 13th by Arabian traders. It was called as Indian saffron. In Sanskrit it is called as Haridra while its Latin name is Curcuma Longa. Maybe I could use this to find other products made of this herb with the name. I wish it is beneficial for health care of brethren. 

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!

Salat: Concentration in Prayers I

Assalaamu'alaikum wa Rahmatullah!
Notes from the lecture of Ustad Yeop Sa'idin 

All praises belongs only to Allah 'Azza wa Jalla, Lord of the Universe. Praising Allah, the King of kings... O our Lord, open up for us Your Wisdom and gather for us from the bountiful of Your blessings. O the One who is Merciful full of Blessings! 

Our title today is about tama'ninah in salat. It means that our body stays still according to the pillars of fi'lee (acts) where it consists of i'tidal (bowing) and tama'ninah. 

Tama'ninah means that we stay still in our salaat while chanting glory be to Allah. Tama'ninah in this sense means, concentration and tranquility. There is a narration about Rabi' bin Haitham while he was performing his salaat. Rabi' bin Haitham is an example of a salafi or the earliest followers of the prophet s.a.w. While he was performing his salaat, there came a thief and stealing his horse. People around who witnessed the incident cursed the thief. Rabi' said that he saw the thief and he realized that he untied the rope which ties his horse. People around asked: "then why don't you stop your salaat and chase after him????!"

This incident has shown us that salaat is among important things for these people. Rabi' bin Haitham said that his salaat and prayers is more important than his horse. He can just stop his salaat if there are urgent things coming up like nature calls but he said that his horse is not as urgent as his obedience to the God. He can stop his salaat and chase after the thief but he refused to. He wanted to concentrate on his salaat and prayers because he had made his promise in the iftitah (opening) prayer in salaat: "I turn up my face only to You who creates the heavens and earth..." thus he must not go against his promise in prayers. 

We must strive hard to concentrate in our salaat due to that He prepares us the place of torment which is the Unfortunate Hell and losing focus in prayers is a sin (surah al-Ma'un). The God knows that we are able to concentrate because if we have no capability to do that, why did He asks us to do it? Let us check surah al-Mu'minun verses 1-9. Who are the ones achieving success in the world and the hereafter? It says that indeed the ones who are successful among the faithful servants males and females are the ones who concentrate in prayers and salaat.

The first source for us to achieve concentration in salaat and prayers is that we must take a good care on our food sources. They must be halal (legal) and no doubtfulness in it. We need to be careful with something which looks physically legal but it brings doubt because doubtfulness will lead us to prohibition or haram. Sometimes prohibited stuffs could look like the legal ones. Our noble prophet peace be upon him said, many people care less about doubtful stuffs and it is not good for heart purification. How could we concentrate in salaat with doubtful stuffs that we take? Through salaat and heart purification, we will gain the success in the world and the hereafter.

We pray and supplicate to Allah for us to be given goodness in the world and the hereafter, being saved from the torment of the hell. We can concentrate in our salaat. Our Lord gives us only one heart. If we have two hearts, then it would not be wrong if we think of many things while performing salaat which leads us to lack of focus to Him.  

There was an incident of another salafi brother of the past who prayed in an orchard and he saw birds in the orchard flying here and there. He was astonished with those birds and careless in his salaat. He had forgotten that he was in salaat, so he lament himself after he realized that. He sold out his orchard for charity because he had done a great sin. These people had reached the level faith where they feel so sinful although the error is only in one salaat. 

We aren't yet at that level of faithful servants. But we still need to strive hard so that we won't be careless in our salaat and prayers. At least we could imagine the letters of the divine revelation in the salaat, since we might not all understand Arabic because it is not our mother tongue or daily language. This is a jihad or an effort on our selves. It means that we have efforts to perform something diligently to please the Lord and not being an irresponsible servant of the Lord. We are not only performing salaat according to the thirteen pillars of salaat but also with our heart and soul facing Him. 

If jihad is about to kill others with swords or bombs, then we would have to bomb or kill ourselves because we are careless in salaat, hahaha. What a crazy notion. I hope cable medias could stop this nonsense sense on jihad or at least learn Arabic. Don't show that Western civilization are of the people who are lazy in pretext of academics because many people respect Western civilization especially after the establishment of the European Union. 

The same should also goes to the States. It is among the champion of humanity where many had fled to the States due to the messy situation in the Europe in the past. No need to be a Muslim to understand Arabic. It is among ancient dialects of Semitic world like Hebrew and Aramaic.

The meaning of certain words in these languages would be broadly translated. English only began as a rough tongue of barbaric Germanic and Scandinavian tribes in British Island around the 6th C while Arabic had been around the world since BCE with ancient Arabian tribes who were the nomadic people of the Middle East descended from Shem the son of Noah.

Umar bin al-Khattab may Allah be pleased with him had also cried while performing salaat until his beard becomes wet because of his tears. Abu Bakar may Allah be pleased with him can still concentrate in salaat while the house is burned down in a fire. He could feel the burning of hell fire if he runs away without completing his salaat and turning his face away from Him while in obedience.  

Allah 'Azza wa Jalla would at least would prevent us from the torment if we have the efforts because He knows that we have the effort to concentrate although the concentration is not coming. Honorable Imam al-Ghazali had said that keeping the salaat means that performing the salaat in term of the physical acts of salaat and concentration in salaat with care. 

There are 13 physical acts of salaat. We can check it in furu'uddin or the branches of the path. For example our forehead should not being covered with our scull cap since our neck should be lower (for male), or else our salaat wouldn't be complete. Because a physical part of salaat which is prostration is not complete. There are 7 parts of prostration which are the forehead, palms, knees, and six fingers at our feet.     

to be continued...