Thursday, June 18, 2009

Solat: Kebaikan dari Perspektif Sains

During the last week of the semester, we were having a discussion with one of our beloved lecturers, Dr Hasanah. She later recommended this book, in which I wished I could buy it right away. But of course I did not, all thanks to the emptying bank account running fast to the deep, dark abyss. However, lucky for me! When I was back home in Ipoh, I found my mother was reading the very same book. Mothers! They're just too good at reading minds, don't they?

A bit about this book. It was written by three researchers and educators from our very own Universiti Malaya (OH! no wonder she bought it.). They are Fatimah Ibrahim, Wan Abu Bakar Wan Abas and Ng Siew Chook. All in all, these findings resulted from a series of experiments and studies conducted by a team of lecturers and students. I never knew its existence before, but they really had one project named as "Projek Kejuruteraan Biosolat". Cool eh?

The objective of the whole project is to find how prayers (solat) is correlated to the efficency of your bodies compartment; your cell membrane, your body capasity, your cardiovascular system, your muscle activities, erection dysfunction (yep!), all in all your anatomy. It also explains on how the experiments were done; the equipment used, the methods being done, the variables being considered etc.

Lets take one example. Basic Biology: so you know that human body consists of cell as basic living unit. And, one of must-have specification of a cell is its membrane, right? A cell membrane's permeability helps in preventing foreign objects to enter the cell, so that the cell won't get damaged. Long story short, that's how you get one healty body. So, one way of measuring your cell membrane's permeability is your phase angle (PA).

So you ask, what is phase angle?

Phase angle is one of the terms they use to measure the angular component of the polar coordinate representation. As phase angle is higher, the integrity of the cell membrane's permeability will get higher. One optimum for a Malaysian male is 7.4,as stated in this book.

Now, if I already bore you with those scientific gugu-gaga.

5 disciplines, and 47 males were divided into that 5 groups. First discipline was to complete all five prayers. Second discipline was to observe the proficiency in reciting the verses. Third discipline was how the solat is performed, jamaah or on his own. Fourth discipline is how their spine was while doing the ruku' (horizontally straight or not) and lastly, how the toes were bent correctly while prostrating.

And voila! the result shows that only those who completed all 5 diciplines passed the 7.5 of their phase angle (PA).

Okay, so i might not be the best Biology, Mechanics, Chemistry teacher you have here. But trust me, the book is worth your RM30.00. How does it work? Well, I'm sure you've heard how performing solat helps you in getting a healthy body before, but the story used to end there (for me, before). In this book, these three researchers have done their best in analysing and explaining how solat works in science perspective. This to show you, that solat is not some routine, but it is your cure to every physical aspects of your body. Your remedy spiritually, and how the doa it consisted brings you closer to the Almighty. Your own meditation, without having to fight over the yoga hoo-haa!

The book comes in full color graphic, that's a bonus. It is made available in both English and Malay Language.

6 comments:

  1. ada satu masa dulu, ada orang berbicara dengan . Bila semua amal ibadat dibincangkan dari perspektif sains pengakhiran dia orang akan solat sebab sains, sebab kesihatan. Bukan sebab roh.

    and it left me wonder by myself.

    tapi untuk menarik orang tak faham islam tentang syumulnye Islam method ini memang antara yg boleh diguna pakai. Tapi perlu diajar yang amal pengakhiran dia keredhaan Tuhan. Bukan semata keperluan materi

    Cuma pendapat.
    Salah silap mohon diampun :)

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  2. salam w.r.t

    (baca post berulang kali)

    First of all, thank you for commenting.

    Kedua, maafkan saya jika keseluruhan objektif penulisan post ini telah disalahtafsir. Tidak ada niat langsung untuk mengubah, apatah lagi untuk mengarah, bahawa kepentingan solat itu hanya tertumpu kepada sifat material.Sentiasa saya maklum, solat itu satu perbuatan yang terdiri daripada beberapa disiplin tetapi terangkat dek bacaan doa-doa yang pengakhirannya, ya, untuk mencari keredhaan tuhan.

    Seperti dalam firman Allah dalam surah Al- A'raaf, ayat 29. Nah, siapalah saya untuk menempelak yang Maha Mengetahui?

    Tetapi.ingin saya terangkan bahawa objektif penulisan buku ini hanya untuk menerangkan kebaikan solat dari perspektif sains. Analoginya begini, dalam sesuatu keadaan, ada kesan utama dan ada kesan sampingan. Kesan utama tetap mencari keredhaan tuhan, kesan sampingan adalah kebaikan-kebaikan ini dari sudut sains dan pengetahuan.

    Saya harap buku ini bukanlah hanya untuk menarik orang yang tak memahami syumulnya Islam, tetapi sama-sama kita memahami perintah Allah dan hikmahNya.seperti mana yang kita tahu, setiap perkara itu ada hikmah di sebaliknya. Ada cerita di sebalik sesuatu. Apatah lagi yang berkenaan dengan suruhanNya, pasti ada sesuatu yang ingin disampaikan.

    Melalui buku inilah, buku ini hanya membantu.

    Bagaimana hebatnya Allah, kita kupas. Allah menjadikan manusia sebaik-baik kejadian dan menjaganya. Sains hanyalah satu platform untuk kita berbicara. kerana yang sebenarnya kita membincangkan KEBIJAKSANAAN DAN KEHEBATAN ALLAH.

    Sekiranya post ini disalahtafsir, maafkan saya. Yang baik datang dari Allah, yang buruk juga dariNya tapi disandarkan pada saya yang lemah.


    :) right back atcha.

    no worries, i stand corrected. Tq. Assalamualaikum.

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  3. terime kasih dengan penjelasan tambahan itu
    moga2 apa yang keruh boleh dilihat dengan jernih yuk

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  4. wow aini.. u have become that person~ good2...

    science actually doesn't lead to absolute answers. When you do a study esp in medicine, from what I learnt lahh.. u only refine and validate the existing knowledge, accept or reject the hypothesis, or create a new knowledge.

    So as u can see, it's not about the absolute answers to a question.. Absolution doesn't exist in science, anything can be contradicted, anything can be questioned.

    In this case, I conclude that this book, refines and validate the existing knowledge that Solat can improve quality of life, spiritual and physical.

    Of course, the purpose of solat is never science. If it is, then, useless is the effort becomes.. This is why, when reading reporting of a research, the reader should be able to understand the research framework, should be able to validate, is this acceptable, or is it not?

    Weeeeee~

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  5. as for me, i've always thought that we humans are given/blessed with that questioning nature. even when our faith in the oneness of God is strong, that does not stop us from having questions. we see this even in the prophets (blessing be on them), musa (as) wanted to see God in one request and i don't think that is a reflection of his weak faith. rather to the contrary. sometimes when our questions are answered, it serves to strengthen the faith rather than replace it with some other motivation.

    having said this, i also believe that the faith has to precede scientific findings. we need to admit that even if there wasn't any research proving the wisdom behind solat, we would still perform it 5 times a day without fail, as a form of submission to him. in fact, scientific explanation for ibadat cannot take the place of our understanding of tauhid. what it can do, is merely solidify the understanding. no more.

    this is a good topic. thanks for bringing it up.

    ReplyDelete