Episode 134:
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Host: Adee Simon Macdowell.
Guest: Sheima Sumer.
Sheima Salam Sumer has a Master's degree in Counselor Education from the University of South Carolina in 2007 and worked as a professional counselor in a variety of settings - school, home, and office.
She's the author of the book "How to be a Happy Muslim", Choosing Inner Peace and Joy with Ideas from the Quran, Sunnah, Counseling, and Health Fields. She is also the author of a book called "The Basic Values of Islam".
She has done two full length interviews with us where she talked about her book and how to be a happy Muslim.
https://untoislam.com/podcast/author-of-the-book-how-to-be-a-happy-muslim-explains-how-to-succeed-by-converting-to-islam
https://untoislam.com/podcast/raise-your-vibration-from-the-islamic-perspective
Today Sister Sheima will answer the following question:
Does Islam Agree With the Law of Attraction Philosophy?
If you have a question for sister Sheima please submit it though our contact-us page at untoislam.com
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Contact Sheima:
Website | http://howtobeahappymuslim.com
Email | howtobeahappymuslim@outlook.com
Book Trailer | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euQtTW34OmM
Purchase the book | http://howtobeahappymuslim.com/?page_id=44
Does Islam Agree With the Law of Attraction Philosophy? (Sheima Sumer Series)
Well first of all, what is the law of attraction?
So basically the Law of Attraction says that what's happening in your outer world experience is simply a reflection of your inner world experience. And your inner world experience would be your thoughts and your feelings. The law of attraction is also referred to as the law of vibration. What this means is that your thoughts, which cause your feelings, create a vibration that you're in. So you could be In a positive vibration or negative vibration and you are going to attract events and objects and situations that match your vibration. So basically your thoughts and your feelings affect your outer world. They affect what you attract. That is the law of attraction. And so your thoughts and your feelings have a frequency and when you feel bad you are emitting a negative frequency and unfortunately your negative frequency will be reflected back to you through certain life events. And if you feel good you have a positive frequency which will attract to you positive life situations. And for example good feelings/good frequencies in order of their power would be love, gratitude, joy, hopeful expectation and satisfaction.
Good feelings make you feel empowered. Bad feelings include depression, hatred, jealousy, anxiety, guilt and anger. Of course we have bad feelings sometimes but the idea is to recognize your bad feelings and do something to feel better and to shift your frequency or vibration.
Another interesting point is that if we think about something that we do not want for a long period of time or with great emotion, then we are likely to attract what we do not want. So the law of attraction teaches us to think about what we want; Focus on what you want, not what you don't want. Because if you think about debt-if you're in debt and you think about your debt then you attract more debt. Instead you want to think of attracting more money, of abundance.
So the law of attraction which was really publicized by the Secret movie and Secret book is saying that we can have what we want in life but we need to stay in a positive frequency or vibration, which is created by our thoughts and our feelings.
So your thoughts cause your feelings. One of the things that the law of attraction says is that the little things often come the fastest and easiest because with little things, for some reason, we have less resistance to their arrival and we also believe they will come, and they come, because we see them as being little.
So again the law of attraction is saying that your inner thoughts and feelings directly impact your outer life events/things that you attract in your outer world.
So, does Islam agree with the law of attraction philosophy? In my opinion yes it does. A very clear verse of the Quran that supports the law of attraction is found in chapter 13 verse 11 which states:
"Surely Allah does not change the conditions in which a people are in until they change that which is in themselves" (13:11).
Very clearly stating that if you want your outer conditions to change, then you need to change what is inside yourself, which is of course going to be your thoughts and your feelings, your inner self, your inner world. Another verse of the Quran is chapter 14 verse 7 which states:
"If you give thanks, I will give you more" (14:7).
So Allah, glory be to Him the most high is saying that if we are thankful, we will receive more.
That is exactly what the law of attraction teaches- - that when you feel gratitude, you will attract more things to feel gratitude for.
Another verse of the holy Quran states in chapter 2 verse 152:
"Remember Me. I will remember you. Be grateful to Me and never show me ingratitude." (Holy Quran, 2:152)
OK so again, remember Me, Allah is saying if you remember Me, remember Allah, Allah will remember you; The law of attraction. When you think of Allah, Allah is going to think of you and remember you.
The Secret, the law of attraction which is the secret, is reflected in these verses and there is also a Hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him says that Allah the Most High says, I am with my slave whenever he thinks of Me and I am with him when he mentions Me. For if he mentions Me to himself, I mention him to Myself; and if he mentions Me in a gathering, I mention him in a superior gathering. If he approaches Me by a hand's width, I approach him by an arm's length; and if he approaches Me by an arm's length, I approach him by two arms' lengths. And if he comes to Me walking, I hasten to him swiftly." (Bukhari and Muslim).
So the secret, the law of attraction states that like attracts like. What you are thinking and feeling and doing attracts more of the same.
So the secret law of attraction like attracts like, and this is exactly what this Hadith is saying, actually this hadith is saying that Allah will even do more for us than what we do for Him.
So if we remember Allah then Allah remembers us in a superior gathering. So this proves just how loving and kind and generous Allah is.
So basically if we learn to control our thoughts we will have more control over our life because our thoughts directly affect what we attract in our life . Now as Muslims of course we believe that all power is with Allah and nothing takes place without Allah's permission but at the same time Allah gave us human beings free will . So we have a free will to think good thoughts. Thinking good thoughts literally brings good things into your life.
The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said,
"To harbor good thoughts is part of well-practiced worship" (Mishkat al Masabih, Volume 2, book 24, Chapter 17, p. 1048).
So having good thoughts is a form of worship of God.
The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) also said, "A believer loves for others what he loves for himself" (Bukhari, Muslim).
And that's just teaching us to feel love for everyone, not just for ourselves but when we love others that's a very good thing. Love is the highest frequency. Love is the highest vibration. The more love you feel, the better things you will attract in your life.
So the Secret Movie and book, if you watched the movie it does seem a little materialistic/worldly. But the point of the law of attraction is really about being aware of our vibration, of our thoughts and feelings so we can attract anything that we want. And Islam is really teaching us to think about and remember Allah as much as possible. If you learn more about Islam it's all about remembering Allah and thanking Allah and putting Allah first. And according to the law of attraction what you think about and feel about you attract and insha'Allah when we as Muslims think about Allah, we will attract closeness to Allah, which is really the best gift- to be close to Allah, near to Allah, pleasing to Allah.
And I personally have seen the law of attraction operate in my life. And part of Islam is using our reason and intelligence to interpret the signs around us. In the Holy Quran, Chapter 2 verse 164 the Quran states:
In the creation of heaven and earth, in
the succession of day and night, in the phenomena of ships sailing
across the seas... in the fall of
rain water from sky to quicken a dead earth, in populating the earth
with all species of animals, in ordering of winds and clouds between
sky and earth;in all these there are signs and pieces of evidence
for people who use their reason. (2:164)
So reason is praised in the Holy Quran and in Islam, and that's why I will use my reason to say that yes, I have seen the law of attraction in my life in many ways.
I have two small/cute examples that I will share but it's just something interesting. For example, one day I was drinking some hot chocolate and I felt that this hot chocolate would really taste better if it was peppermint flavored. And it was just a thought-I didn't really care that much. Then a few days later I was on a road trip, and I stopped at a restaurant. And they were selling some things in front of the restaurant and there lo and behold was a "Peppermint Hot Cocoa". And of course I bought it and enjoyed. But I thought that was interesting that it just popped up a few days after I had that thoughts.
Another little example: I was looking in a parenting magazine that showed a picture of a memory game (matching pictures) and at that time I had young children. So I had this thought, "That would be a great game for my son." A few days later I was counseling a child for my job and we attended a school program where I won pretty much the same memory game;the same game in the magazine. I honestly was not so interested in getting the game, but it just came to me, probably because I was not feeling anxious about getting it!
So there are many other examples I could give, but just 2 interesting ones there.
As Muslims we believe in One Creator. Well, because there is one Creator of an organized universe, it follows that there are laws that govern our universe. We know there is a law of gravity. Well, perhaps then there are more laws we are not even aware of, such as the law of attraction.
The Holy Quran states, "And if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea, with seven more seas to help it, (were ink), the words of Allah could not be exhausted (31:27)--
Meaning that there's so much knowledge, so much that we don't know. I don't see how the law of attraction could not be included in the knowledge that a lot people don't know about.
So again, the law of attraction in Islam is found in the Islamic teaching of dua, or prayer, calling on Allah. And Islam really encourages us to call on Allah for things that we want. And Islam encourages us to believe that we will receive what we ask for or at least to have a positive feeling about it, a hope that something will come. And so Islam does teach us to emit a positive frequency and ask for what we want.
The Holy Quran states,
"And your Lord said, Ask of Me, I will respond". (40:60) I will respond to you.
Duaa/asking of Allah is a form of worship in Islam.
Again, gratitude is really a big part of Islam and that's a huge part of the law of attraction. I've already stated the Quran says Allah says, "if you give thanks I will give you more" (14:7).
Prophet Soloman (pbuh) is known to be a very thankful prophet in Islam. Prophet Soloman actually prayed to Allah to help him to be grateful:
"... Solomon smiled and said, My Lord! Grant me that I should be grateful for Your favour which You have bestowed on me and on my parents...(27:19)."
There are multiple verses where Prophet Soloman talks about gratitude.
... As soon as Solomon saw the throne set before him, he said: "This is of the grace of my Lord that He may test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful; and whoever is grateful, he is grateful only for his own soul, and whoever is ungrateful, then surely my Lord is All-Sufficient, Bountiful." (27:40).
It's interesting to note that Prophet Solomon (pbuh) was known to be very rich. He was a king who Allah (swt) granted not only abundant wealth but special powers, such as the ability to talk to animals.
A last point is that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) encouraged us to pray for other people. He (pbuh) said:
"There is no Muslim servant (of God) who prays for his brother behind his back, in secret, but the angels say, "Amen! And you shall also have the same." (Abu Daud)
So again, this is the law of attraction. What you put out, your vibration, your frequency, your praying for another person, you're going to get that back to you, because you're putting out a positive frequency that will come back to you.
So for all these reasons I do believe that Islam supports the law of attraction, which is simply that you will attract in your life what is matching your feeling vibration.
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