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Sufism

World

The healing power of music is even greater than that of sight or touch, because music, either with or without words, has its influence upon the soul. Music can heal diseases, as well as infirmities of the human character. The Sama uses singing to heal the obsessed and also for the treatment of mental illness, sleeplessness, hysteria and consumption. The Samas of Oriental Russia as well as the spiritualists of India, Arabia, Tibet, China, and Japan have special instruments to accompany their singing for healing. A particular kind of music can make a particular effect upon a person and he becomes kind or gentle, virtuous or spiritual according to its use.

The musical Healer must have studied the mystery of tone and rhythm, as every different tone or rhythm has a particular influence upon the human soul.

The Sufis have music in their assemblies, called Sama, and heal the heart frozen by the thought of self and illuminate the soul overclouded with illusion. The intoned Recitation of the Qur'an, which is called Qar'at, and the reciting of Darud and Namaz are all used for the same purpose. The proof of its healing power is shown clearly, as each word sung or recited devoutly, it deeply touches the heart and illuminates the soul. It seems as if it were long known to the soul and yet was lost from its memory. This sustains the soul just as food nourishes the body. The Sufis have called music Ghiz-i-Ruh, "the Food of the Soul."

The Healer in Consciousness has had little inclination to heal another; he only frees the consciousness from the objective world. The joy of his ecstasy is so great that he is then totally unaware of any physical existence. A good or bad action evokes neither his blessing nor his curse for he is equally unconscious of both; but his very presence creates peace on earth and love in men. A certain mood of his brings about earthquakes, floods, storms, disasters and wars; and again in a different mood he can bring peace, calm, and all the blessings of God to the earth. It is well known among Sufis how the words of Baba Farid of Moultan made the lightning to flash and the rain to fall.

A small gift given by the healer as a souvenir, or something to eat or drink, or to wear produces the effect of healing. A healer gives Tawiz, a charm, mostly of words chosen from among the Ninety-Nine Names of God which may be suited for the purpose. Also he magnetizes water by touching the rim of the glass and breathing over it; the same process can be repeated over the patient for his cure.

The first aspect is health, the possession of which is heaven, and the absence of which is hell. No matter what we have in life, wealth, name or fame, power or position, comfort or convenience, without health it is all nothing. When a person is healthy he does not think about it, he does not value it. He cares about things he has not got. He tries to sacrifice his health for pleasures, for material wealth; he is ready to sacrifice his health for his intellectual fancies, for gaiety, for merriment, for a good time, for an ambition he wants to fulfil. But very often before the ambition or the desire is fulfilled the collapse comes and then he begins to realize what health means. Nothing can buy it, nothing can be compared with it. If we gather together all the blessings that can be received in life and weigh them on a scale, we will find that health weighs heaviest.

It is health which enables man to be material as well as spiritual; its lack robs him of materiality as well as of spirituality. It robs him of materiality because his condition is not in order, and of spirituality because it is the completeness of health that enables man to experience spiritual life fully. I do not mean that it is a sin to be ill and a virtue to be well; I mean that health is a virtue and illness a sin.

Rhythm is most important in Qasab, for there ought to be a balance in the breath. Inhaling and exhaling must be even in rhythm, but the holding of the breath should not necessarily be even with the rhythm of inhaling and exhaling. For it makes three bars of an even rhythm, but three bars make a phrase or sentence of music odd in rhythm; to make it even, four bars are required. Therefore, the holding should balance evenly with inhaling and exhaling both, in order to make it four bars.

But it is difficult for everybody to hold the breath for that length of time. Also, if a person can hold the breath, he cannot retain it in the proper place where it ought to be. Therefore, when breath is held it may sometimes enter into any function of the body, which may perhaps cause injury and may result in danger. Those who practice the breath by the help of books or by the advice of an inexperienced teacher call such breathing deep breathing, often not knowing how long the breath should be inhaled, how long it ought to be held, and how much longer it ought to take to exhale.

The breath makes a difference in every direction in which it is sent, difference in mind and difference in the body; and when man thinks that simply deep breathing is beneficial, instead of doing good to himself he does a great deal of harm. Often, insanity and nervousness are the consequences of wrong breathing exercises. At the same time, if it is right, it can cure one of any disease and weakness, since

on the rhythm of the pulse and beats of the heart and head man's health depends.

And doctors can sometimes realize by the change of rhythm the condition of a person's health. The rhythm has a great influence upon the state of man's mind and body, and the rhythm can be kept even by keeping the rhythm of the breath even. For the breath is like the pendulum in the clock, on the movement and rhythm of which the regularity of the clock depends -- so on the rhythm of the breath the order of the body and mind depends.