Journal of Muslim Mental Health

Journal of Muslim Mental Health
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/15564908.asp

Article:Islamic beliefs and mental health http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/conferences/shift/islam_mental_health.pdf

Planned Home Births vs. Hospital Births

The following is the abstract from a study conducted by Dr. Patricia Janssen. I have worked with Patti over the last 5 years and she is an amazing, innovative researcher.

Disclaimer: This study represents only low-risk/ uncomplicated births

Outcomes of planned home births versus planned hospital births after regulation of midwifery in British Columbia

CMAJ • February 5, 2002; 166 (3)

Background: The choice to give birth at home with a regulated midwife in attendance became available to expectant women in British Columbia in 1998. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety of home birth by comparing perinatal outcomes for planned home births attended by regulated midwives with those for planned hospital births.


Methods: We compared the outcomes of 862 planned home births attended by midwives with those of planned hospital births attended by either midwives (n = 571) or physicians (n = 743). Comparison subjects who were similar in their obstetric risk status were selected from hospitals in which the midwives who were conducting the home births had hospital privileges. Our study population included all home births that occurred between Jan. 1, 1998, and Dec. 31, 1999.

Results: Women who gave birth at home attended by a midwife had fewer procedures during labour compared with women who gave birth in hospital attended by a physician. After adjustment for maternal age, lone parent status, income quintile, use of any versus no substances and parity, women in the home birth group were less likely to have epidural analgesia (odds ratio 0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.14–0.27), be induced, have their labours augmented with oxytocin or prostaglandins, or have an episiotomy. Comparison of home births with hospital births attended by a midwife showed very similar and equally significant differences. The adjusted odds ratio for cesarean section in the home birth group compared with physician-attended hospital births was 0.3 (95% CI 0.22–0.43). Rates of perinatal mortality, 5-minute Apgar scores, meconium aspiration syndrome or need for transfer to a different hospital for specialized newborn care were very similar for the home birth group and for births in hospital attended by a physician. The adjusted odds ratio for Apgar scores lower than 7 at 5 minutes in the home birth group compared with physician-attended hospital births was 0.84 (95% CI 0.32–2.19).

Interpretation: There was no increased maternal or neonatal risk associated with planned home birth under the care of a regulated midwife. The rates of some adverse outcomes were too low for us to draw statistical comparisons, and ongoing evaluation of home birth is warranted.

Springing back to Health

by Nabila Hanson

This article is from the Zaytuna Institute Seasons Journal Spring/Summer 2003 issue.


Nabila Hanson is a licensed acupuncturist and homeopath.

In traditional Chinese Medicine, the Five Element Theory states that each organ of the body relates to a particular season. The liver and gall bladder are the organs that relate to spring. The liver has many functions, some of which are to store and distribute nourishment for the body, to form and breakdown blood, and to filter toxins from the blood and break them down for elimination. When the liver is overburdened, it is less able to detoxify the body, and poisons remain which can potentially lead to chronic and debilitating illnesses, including cancer.

The emotion related to the liver is the emotion of “anger” which can include feelings of frustration, repressed anger, resentment, and irritation. If the liver energy is flowing smoothly, the emotional state will be happy and optimistic; conversely, a poor emotional state will affect the smooth flow of the liver energy. In the fast pace of American life, many people experience much stress in their daily lives. It is important to preserve the harmonic balance of the body by finding ways to balance these stresses through prayer, meditation, exercise (yoga is excellent), and enjoyable, relaxing activities.

Diet plays a large role in maintaining the integrity of the body. Taking a moment to relax before you eat allows the body to preserve its energy and ensures that food is eaten slowly and chewed well, which is the first step in good digestion. Never eat when you are tense, upset, or in a stressful environment. The foods that benefit our bodies are called “whole foods,”which include fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains (millet, cracked wheat, rye, oats, quinoa, etc.), seeds (raw sesame and sunflower), and nuts (especially raw almonds, pecans, and walnuts). Dairy foods may be consumed but should be consumed in moderation due to their tendency to cause mucus in the body, and meat should be eaten in moderation (once or twice a week). It is important to protect the body from products that will harm the body such as white flour, white sugar, caffeine, processed foods, and food with added chemicals.

We live in a very toxic age, and it is advisable to support the liver on a daily basis with herbs that tonify and support the liver energy. Milk Thistle and Dandelion are an excellent herb combination that can be taken in liquid form. There are many teas that aid in liver function such as dandelion root tea, sassafras bark (especially useful during the springtime), chamomile flowers, bupleurum, and Oregon grape root.

Many health experts consider annual or biannual body cleanses and fasts to be an essential practice if one is to avoid chronic disease and maintain good health. A very effective and popular cleanse that gives most people energy while cleansing is the “master cleanse,” sometimes referred to as the “lemonade diet.” To prepare the lemonade, use 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed organic lemon or lime juice; 1–4 tablespoons of pure organic maple syrup; and 1/10 teaspoon of non-radiated cayenne pepper. Mix all the ingredients with eight ounces of pure spring water. Drink at least six glasses a day for one to two weeks. Also, it is important tokeep the intestines clean in order to clear the toxins, so one tablespoon of coldpressed olive oil should be taken twice a day. In addition, laxative teas such as senna leaf should be taken in the morning and before going to bed.

For more advice on fasting, Staying Healthy with the Seasons by Elson M. Hass, M.D., and Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford are excellent books. They provide information necessary for successful cleanses and good physical and mental health. Happy Spring!

nb: If you are pregnant, nursing, or have a chronic health condition, please seek the advice of a professional health care provider before considering a cleansing fast or a major dietary change.

The Female Spirit

I have recently realized that Sidi Hakim and Shaykh Abdullah Adhami have very similar messages with regards to certain issues, one of which is the nature of women. One of the interesting things that Sidi Hakim says is that the reason jamat is recommended for men is so that they can establish a connection with other people. The character of men is such that they need it to be set out for them. Women, on the other hand, by their intrinsic nature will seek out that connection and therefore, they do not need to be prescribed jamat.

The excerpt below is from http://www.sakeenah.org/. It is from a collaborative venture with Star Jones Reynolds in a book titled Shine: A Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love(New York: Harper Collins, January 6, 2006) where Shaykh Adhami writes about women and their spirituality. It is beautiful, eloquent and it reminded me of what Sidi Hakim says about women.

Women are endowed with a spiritual preeminence that stems from their devotion to genuineness and belonging. It is a yearning for what is viscerally authentic in all their connections and relationships especially with God. It is this very essence that makes woman profoundly soulful in her giving and at once so insatiable in her yearning. It is also what makes her so bewilderingly enigmatic, so disarmingly incomprehensible even to herself. Ironically, it is also this gift that makes her appear tentative, often uncertain when all that she wishes is for everything that she ever does to be meaningful, authentic and pure. Women usually need privacy when they pray to replenish their formidable repertoire of giving, though their very essence is a form of prayer; their speech is prayer; and (as distinct from their whims) their feelings are prayer too. Devotion is the secret behind a woman's eloquence and the essence of her virtue. This is epitomized by Mary in the Quran, and Fatimah in the prophetic tradition.

Deenport Interview with Sidi Hakim

An excerpt from the interview. The full transcript can be accessed at www.deenport.com


How does Islam's concept and application of medicine differ from other methods?

Islam and being Muslim should color all we do whether it be carpentry, medicine or politics. This was true in China. They say that the Muslim traders going there in the early days spread Islam by their scruples in business, it was recognized, the honesty and integrity.
We are very off balance and very asleep to what we have done to the world and our people. All people are our people and the animals, our animals as well. It is so, so out of balance it's become hard to see what is really important. Hard to have a sensible, objective, if you will, picture of what is needed .

Health is wholeness and this means integrity from the innermost spiritual to the outermost physical and that extends right on out to our greater body of family community, the whole world. All must have integrity and so Islamic medicine means, as it does in politics or any other profession that all parts of our being must have this wholeness and connectedness with integrity. Islam itself is nothing other than holistic medicine.The medicine of the Prophet, sallalahu alayhi wa salam, was Islam.


What then is health in a holistic sense and how do we attain it?

Honesty is not a minor thing. Not always an easy thing to achieve but a core piece in wholeness. 'True to thine own self and the rest follows' is a universal wisdom. From this, maybe more than anything, health can proceed.

Being connected to God allows for a sense of well being , fullness, safety and being OK. This informs the body and our organs, our dealings with others and whatever the circumstances Allah places us in. This doesn't mean we avoid the pain and grief of life, nor the joy, but we are OK with it and... thankful.

After many years of practice in medicine I have seen so clearly that attitude lies embedded in so much physical, chronic and even fatal illness. What a thing it is to see someone on their death bed and for them to finally see and speak this and still hold to the lie in themselves that takes them finally to their death! This is a hard truth to see and also must not be confused or twisted into a puritanical "it's my fault I'm sick, I've been bad " or any other shortsighted understanding of this, it's all opportunity by Allah's Rahmah. And Allah says in His Qur'an that He wants for us purification.

What is trauma therapy and what makes modern life so traumatic?

There are numerous methods emerging for dealing with trauma that are somatic or body based, that, along with the spiritual or psychological aspects, work primarily through the body or nervous system. These new therapies are seriously changing the current way of dealing with trauma. The method I find most valuable was developed greatly by the study of animals in nature and how they release trauma. We have the same capabilities but these have been sorely debilitated by modern life with its disconnection from nature and each other.

Life has always had trauma, big trauma. In modern times it becomes different as we are disconnected from the very bodies that enable natural release: our senses, our families, physically, neighbors and community. These are all natural connections that enable our own nervous system to function and release in the same way that animals in nature can release severe trauma and be perfectly OK. This disconnection disables function.

The trauma of modern times is insidious, in past times a war, or a city being torn apart by battle or nature, the trauma of it was clear, we knew we had gone through a terrible experience . Today trauma lurks in so many things that we do not see as such. Birthing by caesarian section without the physical experience of struggle through the birth canal, bottle feeding, absent moms, anesthesia, and more dramatic maybe, the avoidance and disassociation strategies built into our lifestyle in so much of our technology, television, abstract, so called virtual life, which disables the natural nervous system function and we have a spiraling situation of trauma upon unresolved trauma. More attempts to release unsuccessfully through violence and more and more disassociation to deal with the charge that we cannot manage.

We become walking zombies (not even walking), hiding our heads and bodies as if it will go away or, not really caring, but posturing caring, in our state of shut-down.


What are your views regarding our responsibilities as Muslims towards our environment?

We have been placed uniquely in Allah's Creation and have the great trust of being able to mess up or care for the creation in all its aspects from our own selves to the trees, animals, even the stones and all the beauty that Allah has given it all. We talk of pollution if we're aware, or if we've been raised with some environmental awareness but it's more than that - it's desecration!
If we are not fully present we don't really see it, we will not really feel what we should about it and even though we may say it's wrong, real feeling initiates action. When actions are unfulfilled, we then additionally live with the yoke of these actions being suppressed and have more trauma. It also seems too much for us and we don't feel its possible to change, another natural strategy to manage it all. We're doing nothing, nothing even with what we know.

Thank you for allowing us to benefit from your knowledge. We pray Allah increase you in it and bless your work with success in this life and the hereafter. Ameen. As we conclude now, could you give us some nasiha insha'Allah. Jazakum Allah Khayrun.

Knowledge from the cradle to the grave does not mean more info. Knowledge means growth, change. The biggest nasihaa I can give is to keep good company!

One shaykh said the flood in the time of Nuh was one of water and in our times it is the flood of separation between each other. Make it a jihad to battle against the forces that conspire to keep you separate, to isolate, and these forces are pervasive, recognize this and however difficult. Eat together, travel together, talk, TALK!, read poetry to each other, laugh, cry, pray together remember Allah with enthusiasm together. Share your pain and your joy with each other while you can. Drink in your differences! When your red flag goes up with the stranger you've met, give it some time, some patience, don't tune out or walk out, see who he is. Give and take from each other and be with each other. Listen to your wives and your children, just listen to them! This is medicine, insha'Allah.

Thank you. I ask for Blessings and peace upon our Noble Prophet, his family, companions and all those who aspire to be as he was, ameen.

Nourishing the Soul

Sidi Hakim teaches that an essential part of good health is our connection to Allah. This connection opens our eyes and hearts to hamd and shukr. It enables us to recognize the pattern of Allah's creation and to accept the natural flow of creation.

I find that our lives are busy and complicated, and therefore, establishing a meaningful connection with our Rabb can often be difficult. In response to an e-mail I once sent Sidi Hakim about feeling far from Allah because of the demands of a schedule, he wrote me the following.I have returned to it for inspiration and solace time and again.

.....As a far as staying close to Allah, this is the question for us all. Once one finds a closeness, if it is genuine, there is nothng that will take you away, all situations are informed by that way of being. Insha'Allah, Allah guides us by our sincerity in this.

Shaykh al Akbar Ibn al Arabi said arrival is in setting out on the journey. Remember that closeness to yourself and being authentic so that you can be trusted-by yourself!- is the road to sidq. This means being honest at all times until you can be trusted (by yourself) then you can take counsel with yourself at all times.

Most people it seems don't believe they can be trusted in the first place and while we need nasiha and counsel from others , we also need to see that we are OK, just that, Ok , but most feel they are not, they're bad, or incompetent, or fake or not up to what they should be by the expectations put on them in the past to succeed, usually.

Rumi speaks of the fish seeking water as our situation. You are always close to Allah , or: "He is closer to you than your carotid artery.." In the same way we are beloved by Allah swt by virtue of our staying alive, breathing, sight, the Table spread before us each new day , cleaned from the previous and new with the birds announcing that. Our challenge is to awaken to this truth. Insha'Allah......