The Qur'anic verse above reveals in a very condensed form the entire mystic relationship between Allah and His human creation. He says that He made the human being out of the elements and then breathed life into the body. The Qur'anic words used here are significant.

Allah uses the word nafas for His own breath, and He uses the word Ruh. for His own soul. These same words are used to mean the human breath and human soul--confirming the fact that we are originally from Allah, of Allah, for Allah, and in the end will return to Allah.

Of all of the physical realities that have a bearing upon health, that which is least often considered in medicine and healing is the breath. The breath has the following important relations with health:

1. It is the agent upon which the divine permission (idhn) is borne.

2. Breath is responsible for conveying the divine attributes from the heart to the various centers of the mind, body, and soul.

3. Breath creates the equilibrium and harmony of the temperaments of the body.

4. Breath carries life-supporting elements from the exterior of the body to the interior physiological functions.

Breath is not synonymous with air, nor with oxygen. Breath is that which emerges from the divine origin and has as its essence the temperament of the celestial realms. Breath is a luminous substance, a ray of light; breath is the life force of Allah Himself!

Breath is the regulator of joy, sadness, delight, anger, jealousy, and other emotions. Both the quantity and quality of breath have a definite and direct effect upon human health. This is so because various physical events can alter or in a sense cover over the divine essence that is being conveyed on the breath. Industrial pollutants, alcoholic beverages, and various foods can all intermingle with the breath and disturb its intended purity of action.

All of these actions are changed by age, climate, and habits. An example will make this clear. When one experiences great depression, there is a weakening of the natural powers and a concentration of the breath. This concentration causes a violent aggregation of the breath, which consequently obliterates part of the natural heat and gives rise to an imbalance of coldness. Depending upon how prolonged the depression is, the cold imbalance can extend into one or many organs of the body, thus producing varying degrees of disease.

The emotions of dread and the effects associated with great and impending danger also dissipate the natural heat. Anger will cause an increase in the amount of yellow bile essence created. If the anger is sustained, the diseases associated with excess yellow bile will occur.

Therefore, medicines must be chosen for their effect on the breath and its temperament (or its altered temperament). This is why compound medicines are frequently used, to balance not only the physical symptoms but also the underlying temperaments of the physiological essences and the essences of the breath.

This is also why flower essences, in the form of attars, are so effective in producing cures. It is vital that they be given at the same time as medicines that strictly affect the physical symptoms. Flowers have the greatest capacity to rebalance the breath and the internal essential temperaments.

The breath is the nexus between our Creator and ourselves. The healing methods of the Sufis have placed more importance upon the breath than on any other factor of life.

In February 1979, I received a letter from my old friend Yunus Maharaj, the head of the families who attend to the dargah of our Chishti headquarters at Ajmer. "Man does not come to earth to stay forever," he wrote. My heart was pounding, knowing what was to follow. "Hazrat Maulana Sufi Darveesh Wahiduddin Begg completed his breathing practices on the 12th of Rabia al-Awwal, A.H. 1400. It was an auspicious time, just after sunset. The day was more auspicious still: it was the birthday of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.)." Although there were many feelings I experienced in association with the passing of my shaykh (may Allah cover him with mercy), I was struck by the unique view Yunus Maharaj had expressed to me: that life, considered from its beginning to end, is one continuous set of breathing practices. This is the view of the Sufis.

The Holy Qur'an, in addition to all else that it may be, is a set of breathing practices. In fact, the very first command of Almighty Allah was to recite the Qur'an. The first verses that were revealed by Gabriel to Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) were as follows:

Recite! In the name of Thy Lord
Who createth man from a drop of sensitized blood
Recite! And thy Lord is Most Bounteous,
Who teacheth by the pen
Teacheth man that which he knew not.

The Arabic word iqra' is rendered here as "recite" because it means to read from some book, from actual letters. Now, the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) was an ummi, an unlettered one who could not read or write, so the command seemed puzzling, even terrifying, to him at the time. But the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) was able to memorize each of the verses as it came to him, and thus could "read" it from his memory, although actual physical written copies were produced during the lifetime of Muhammad (s.a.w.s.).

One of the Companions of the Prophet related this comment by Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) on the value of reciting the Qur'an: "Reciting the Qur'an out of memory carries one thousand degrees of religious merit, while reading the Qur'an from the Book itself increases [the merit] up to two thousand degrees."

The benefits and effects of reading the Qur'an are like a seed that eventually sends out twigs, branches, roots, and leaves of sustenance in every direction. The Hadith state: "Whoever reads the Qur'an and acts upon what is contained in it, his parents will be made to wear a crown on the Day of Judgment, the brilliance of which will exceed that of the sun, if it were brought down into your houses." So, if that is the reward for the parents, what do you think is the reward for the person who acts upon it himself?

The most important consideration regarding the Qur'an is that Allah states in the Book that it is not of human origin; it consists of the actual pre-eternal, uncreated speech of Allah Himself. As such, no other book exists which carries the degree of perfection and balance in its words. Even the most disinterested observer cannot fail to be impressed upon hearing the Qur'an recited. It is of surpassing beauty, melody, and majesty.

Another important point about the Qur'an is that within the first seven lines, virtually all of the sounds that occur in Arabic are uttered. One of these letters is ghayn, which when uttered causes a kind of growling, guttural sound in the back of the throat. Each letter sets off a vibratory pattern that travels in a specific direction, lasts a specific duration, and produces specific physical, mental, and spiritual effects. The sound of the letter ghayn (and also kha, 'ayn, and others) is usually not made in the English language. This means that the effects associated with such letters are not felt unless one recites the Arabic. It is a bit curious that most of the sounds that occur in Arabic and not in English are associated with the sounds of choking in English!

Even more important, the various combinations of vowels and consonants combine to stimulate and disperse the divine attributes throughout the body of the reciter in perfect measure. One of the attributes is al-Ghafur (the Forgiver), which contains the letter ghayn. One who never recites this letter is deprived of the full measure of forgiveness in his or her own soul.

There are three basic vowel sounds in Arabic: the letters alif, waw, and ya'.

All languages utilize these three basic long vowel sounds, and they can be thought of as universal harmonic constants, uttered not only by humans, but by every being in Creation. Once one has become attuned to these sounds, one can listen in on the conversations of all of nature!