1. Frequently
Asked Questions (From Kasana, Qutab, Anger sessions)
Over the years, I have heard almost
every manner of question about this method of healing, ranging from the weird
to the wonderful. The most insightful and interesting of questions come
from those who have undertaken the therapy and also passed it on to others.
They have positioned themselves for real learning.
More generally though, I believe
that the answers to our questions are inside us, and that they reveal
themselves at the right time. There is no question inside us for which is the
answer is not already present inside us too. In fact, it is on the basis of the
answer being there that the question arises. This is how we are created. And it
is only when the answer comes from inside you that you accept it. Otherwise you
can listen to a lecture all you want, and it makes no difference. Nothing beats
the self-practical. You have to have experienced a situation yourself and come
out on the other side to be convinced of the answers. It is like someone never
having had their hand burned asking what it feels like. How does one explain it
to them? You can try to warn someone away from danger, but often, until they go
through that danger themselves, they are not convinced it can harm them.
Despite this however, there are
questions that consistently come up about this remedy, and so here are a set of
FAQs that I hope are helpful in clarifying some basic principles to the reader.
I.
Who can undertake this therapy?
It is a remedy for any adult having
any sort of problem, whether that is financial, social, familial, physical,
mental, psychological, political, or anything else. It is not for children to
listen to though. Children are innocent. For those whose children are unwell,
it is their parent or parents who should undertake this therapy. By children, I
generally mean those under the age of 12 years.
II.
Why Surah Rahman?
It is the chapter of a holy book in which every line talks of our
Creator’s mercy and His love for us. And what better to remind ourselves of,
when we are sick or stuck than the inherent goodness and the inherent mercy
that surrounds us? After all, when we desperately need help, we appeal to that
person’s goodness, their softness. We do not appeal to their sense of firmness
or fairness. We appeal instead to their generosity, even though we may, in that
moment, be undeserving of it. Through Surah Rahman we call on our Creator’s
perpetual, unconditional love for us.
III.
Why Qari Abdul Basit’s recitation
specifically?
My teacher, Makhdoom Syed Safdar Ali
Bokhari, or Baba Ji as I called him, recommended this specific recitation. He
tried this remedy using other recitations of Surah Rahman, but he got the best
results with the voice of the late Qari Abdul Basit of Egypt.
IV.
So is there something special in Qari Abdul
Basit’s voice, an energy or a radiation?
Whenever
and wherever the Quran is recited with extreme love, its impact will
also be extreme. Our Beloved Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him, had four muezzins, for
example. The one we all know is Bilal. His name is instantly recognizable. For
the other three muezzins, scholars would have to look in a book to tell you
their names. Not that they were not passionate in their work, but Bilal clearly
had something different about him. Even though he had a lisp in his speech and
he was not Arab. In the same way, Qari Abdul Basit’s voice is special. The
results we get with his voice are excellent. But ultimately, anyone can try any
recitation of the Surah they want.
V.
What is the significance of drinking water at
the end?
Sound impacts water, and drinking water in the
manner prescribed, as part of this remedy, is a healing for our bodies.
For those interested in studying this further, look at the work of
the Japanese scientist Masaru Emoto. Emoto researched the effect of sound on
water. In his experiments, Emoto exposed different glasses of water to
pictures and sounds, including words and music. He then froze these glasses of
water and studied the frozen particles under microscope. His conclusion was
that the molecular structure of water changes in the presence of human
consciousness. He subsequently published a New York Times best-selling book
called The Hidden Messages in Water.[1]
Mainstream science is quick to dismiss Emoto’s work today, but it is possible
that Emoto has touched on a core, universal truth, one which mainstream science
has not yet reached.
VI.
What if someone is unwell or unconscious, and
cannot drink water after listening to the recitation?
The part
about drinking water does not apply to an unconscious patient. But their bodies
will still have absorbed the sound and energy of Surah Rahman. Anyone who is
hearing impaired, they too undertake this therapy. Again, it is the energy, or
the frequency of the recitation that will be felt and absorbed by their bodies.
VII.
What if someone, for whatever reason has an
unusual routine, or don’t feel able to listen to the Surah three times a day as
prescribed?
Those
people can listen to Surah Rahman once a day for seven days. That is enough for
them.
VIII.
Are there special times in the day to listen
to Surah Rahman during this therapy?
No. You
can listen at times convenient for you. And even if you miss one of your set
times on any given day, make sure you listen to the Surah at least once that
day, even if you are only able to listen for a short while. The idea is to
present oneself daily to the Divine via this particular sound, or frequency.
IX.
Does one need to listen to the recitation
sitting down, lying down, or in any particular way?
Listen in whichever way is convenient.
Some patients cannot sit up while listening. Or they have not been able to
bathe themselves. But they can still listen to the Quran. For reading the
holy scripture, personal cleanliness is important. But this is a matter of
listening. And God Himself says that when His book is being read out, we should
listen carefully and with concentration, so that we may receive mercy. And He
says that once the recitation has finished, we should call out to Him, either
silently in our hearts, or out loud. Hence this sequence in Surah Rahman
Therapy. First we listen to His words, then we call out to Him in our hearts
with extreme love, and then we drink a half a glass of water in three
sips.
X.
If my problem disappears after undertaking
this remedy, is it Surah Rahman that healed me?
Surah
Rahman itself does not heal you, but the source behind Surah Rahman can and does
heal us.
We often
read the Verse of the Throne [in the Quran]. But it is not the Verse of the
Throne itself that has any power to help us, it is the One who occupies
that Throne. He is the one we need to focus on. Verses of the Quran are
just hints for us. And the first line of Surah Rahman is simply ‘The
All-Merciful.’ Its very start is with this statement.
The
preamble of the chapter too, like many other chapters in the Quran, speaks of
mercy and benevolence. So its starting introduction is that of mercy. He wants
us to know that we can always turn back to Him. We can always say that we are
lost and that we need Him. And like a mother He will make us clean again, new
again.
XI.
How is forgiveness linked to healing?
Forgiveness is a shortcut to healing.
Sometimes people come to me and say that they listened to Surah Rahman for seven
days but nothing changed for them. And I say to them that they have not
forgiven fully, that they are still holding a grudge. Forgiveness is the
shortcut to healing.
XII.
But it is hard to forgive, the hardest thing
even?
I understand that forgiveness is hard, at first. But anger and
hatred, these are the real illnesses.
Anger is an intoxicant for our bodies. Just like alcohol. Many of us are
proud to announce that we do not drink, but we do not know that anger has the same
effect on our body as alcohol does. Intoxicants cloud judgement. And the loss
of this is ours to carry. If we speed on the highway, how does it harm the
highway police? It does not. We are the ones at risk, risk of our own making.
And anger is within our power to control. Our
task is to control it, to stay away from it. To not indulge it. Not
doing should be easy right? Still, we slip. But our Maker is kind to us. The
moment we turn back to Him, and call to Him for mercy, He responds and resets
us.
XIII.
You say hurting others is risky business. Why?
It goes back to forgiveness. There are people who
are unable or unwilling to forgive. They cannot let go even though they know it
will help them. In those instances, I feel sorry for the people who have hurt
them. They must be stuck somewhere in their lives too. It’s a vicious cycle. So
try not to hurt other people. Try not to break people’s hearts. The karmic
impact of doing so can follow you and your generations to come.
A simple formula is to respect those that the
Lord has designated as worthy of respect. Your parents, your elder siblings,
and also your spiritual elders – whoever
has, in any way, looked after you when you were unable to look after yourself.
Looking the other way after having benefited from someone’s care and
consideration, this lack of gratitude, it is not liked by our karma.
XIV.
Some people carry on listening to Surah Rahman
beyond the seven prescribed days. Is that okay?
No, that is what I would call an
overdose. What these people need to do instead is that after their seven days
of sound therapy, they need to try to embody the words of Surah Rahman. They
need to act merciful themselves, to everyone and everything around them. They
can do this by sharing this remedy with others. This is an important part of the
remedy’s after-care, that you do not
hold on to this healing just for yourself, but that you give it to others too.
The other thing people should continue doing every day is the water part of the
therapy, that is calling out to Allahand drinking water in three sips. They
should do this three times a day, every day.
XV.
Has this therapy ever not succeeded?
What I have seen is that some patients
do not recover, or they take a long time to recover. These are mostly very
pious people, people who very aware of their own good deeds. On the other hand,
those willing to accept their mistakes and the idea that they could have made
mistakes, such people do very well out of this remedy.
XVI.
Explain this a bit further, that pious people
struggle with this remedy the most?
Such
people either do not get better or it takes them a long time. Because if I tell
them to forgive someone, they insist that revenge is allowed, that ‘an eye for
an eye is allowed.’ So I say, okay, take your revenge. And when they do, they
inevitably take revenge out of proportion. And this lack of proportionality in
their response flips their role from victim to aggressor. But because their
initial position is that of victimhood, they struggle to understand how it
could be that they might be to blame. So they remain stuck in an unhelpful cycle.
Also to
note that no Prophet in history came for the pious, ever. They came for the
wicked, the unholy, the lost, the cruel. So to be overly stubborn about your own
flawlessness is to reject help and healing.
XVII.
You are known to not recommend Surah Rahman
therapy for certain people. Why?
It is true that some people cannot handle
listening to the Surah. They cannot close their eyes or cannot keep still. For
them to listen to Surah Rahman or to be made to listen to it is like keeping
the heat on under boiling milk.
And so I play music for these people, to help bring them into
balance. Music is a way of bringing such people out of living too much in their
inner world. It is to help them balance their inner experiences with the
experience of living in this physical, material world.
XVIII.
Why don’t you recommend listening to Surah
Rahman for neurological conditions?
It is only for neurological conditions such as a stroke, that I
recommend patients listen to Qaseeda Burda Shareef.[2]
This is because Baba Ji said that the brain is very sensitive. It often cannot
handle the strong frequency generated by the sound of Surah Rahman. This method
of healing is premised on the idea of frequencies and wave lengths and gamma
rays, and how the body responds to these.
XIX.
Why don’t you recommend that children under
the age of 12 years undergo this therapy?
For any child under 12 years of age who is unwell, it is not the
child, but the parent or parents who should listen to Surah Rahman. The principle
behind this is that pre-adolescent children are not the ones who are unwell. It
is in fact their parents who are unwell, and their children simply absorb and
project their energy.
XX.
Why hasn’t western medical science discovered
sound healing yet?
They are slowly coming round to this. The Sound Health Institute[3]
in America, which is a collaboration between the National
Institutes of Healisth and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is studying the impact of sound
on health. Labs have also had success killing off in vitro cancer cells using
Beethoven’s music. Slot Surah Rahman and Qaseeda Burda Shareef straight into
this theory. The frequency generated by
their sounds has the power to heal us on the inside, whether body or mind.
XXI.
Where can we
find Qari Abdul Basit’s recitation of Surah Rahman?
These days the easiest way is to download the app. It is called
The Ultimate Remedy. There is also a website: https://www.alrehman.com. Both the
app and the website have recordings of Surah Rahman (and of Qaseeda Burda
Shareef). The app and the website also have all the instructions. Both are 100%
free resources.
You can also listen to Qari Abdul Basit’s recitation
of Surah Rahman on YouTube, but those versions are often interrupted by ads.
The app I mention has a calendar function too, and you can track when you
started and how many days you have left.
By the way, this is not to say that we should
close down hospitals or stop following science. This remedy is cost free and
side-effect free. What is the harm in trying, especially for those who have
come to the end of the road with allopathic treatment.
XXII.
What if you struggle to focus during the sound
therapy, if your mind bounces around from one place to another and you are
unable to concentrate?
It does not matter. Concentration takes time. So
just try your best. The effort will count. Your body will still be listening to
and absorbing the sound. It goes back to what Masaru Emoto said, that positive
words and positive energy affects environments positively, and negative sounds and
negative energy affects environments and matter negatively. So try to submit
yourself fully to the sound. Don’t worry about the meaning of the words you are
hearing. Focus on the origin of the words. Somewhere along the way, at some
point during the seven days of the sound therapy, something, somewhere will
click.
XXIII.
You say that many conditions have been cured
by this sound healing. What about infertility? For an infertile couple, do both
partners need to listen to Surah Rahman?
Yes, both partners should undertake the therapy. They do not
necessarily need to listen to Surah Rahman together. And some people cannot,
due to the nature of their jobs, make time three times a day for this. That is
fine. They should listen at least once a day and they should listen for seven
consecutive days. If they skip a day in the seven days, they should start all
over again.
XXIV.
What about for Type II diabetes?
The sound therapy is the same for people with diabetes. The one additional
thing a diabetes patient should do is that while chewing their first three
bites of food, or slurping or sipping their first three mouthfuls, they should,
in their heart, say the name of their Lord with love. If they do this, high
blood sugar will not affect them at all. Many patients of mine with
uncontrollable blood sugar have managed to control their situation with this.
XXV.
What about
those with multiple illnesses? Can they undertake this sound therapy in one go,
for everything?
Yes, they should undertake the remedy once, for all of their
problems. When you send your car to a mechanic and it has multiple problems,
does the mechanic just fix one of those problems and send it back, or does he
look after everything? Or when you return a faulty product to its manufacturer,
they do a full overhaul of it for you, do they not?
XXVI.
Beyond continuing with drinking water in
three sips in the way suggested, and beyond telling those in need about this
sound therapy, what else should one be doing after the seven days of sound
therapy finishes?
Rahman means merciful, unconditional. Once your seven
days of Surah Rahman Therapy are over, start being merciful and unconditional
yourself. Start loving all of creation. Be Rahman. Be kind to everyone,
so that the universe may be kind to you.
XXVII.
When I tell people about this therapy,
they do not believe me, or they question the basis of it. What should I do?
Your job is only to tell them. Do not try to
convince them, or argue with them, or
make it into a religious debate of some sort. This is a method of
healing, that is it. And it is free of cost. Do not accept or expect even a
thank you in exchange for telling someone about it. And once you have told
them, the rest is up to that person, what they do or do not do with it.
[1] https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/The-Hidden-Messages-in-Water/Masaru-Emoto/9781451656855
[2] A hymn in
praise of the Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him. It was composed in the 11th century by Imam al-Busiri, during the partial paralysis of his body. The hymn served as an
intercessor for Imam al-Busiri, as having composed and recited it to
himself during his illness, in his sleep one night he saw the Prophet wipe his
face and throw on him his blessed cloak. After this dream, Imam al-Busiri’s
body made a full recovery.
