Distinguished Spiritualists Book Brings Distinction to Pakistan

The last century has seen rapid advancements in the various fields of medical science. Medical science is also credited with the increase in the average life span of human beings during the past fifty years. The achievements made by medical science are no doubt praiseworthy, but do also have some inherent shortcomings. Mostly the medical treatments are very expensive, time consuming, painstaking, involving surgeries, extensive traveling and bringing about side effects and many a time the disease is stubborn enough to come back after some time. Also the medical science is still unable to find a cure for many of the diseases such as HIV, Cancer, Asthma etc. For the treatment of mental, emotional and spiritual diseases such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, amnesia etc. the allopathic medicine is often found less effective. As a consequence of these shortcomings in the field of medical science, many of the universities of the world are doing research in the field of alternative medicine and alternative healing methods such as homeopathy, herbal medicine, acupuncture, spiritual healing etc. In the late nineteenth century, a Professor of Theology in Kyoto, Japan, by the name Dr. Mikao Usui was asked by one of his students to give a practical demonstration of the healing miracles performed by the Prophet Christ. Dr. Usui was unable to give any practical demonstration and henceforth left his job and went in search of an answer. He spent more than a decade in his search for the source of these miracles. Eventually he succeeded in finding out some guidance in the Sutras (spiritual laws) of Patanjali (an ancient Indian philosopher and spiritualist) and in order to acquire this miraculous power, sat in isolation on mount Kurama and fasted and meditated there for 21 consecutive days. On the last day of his fast on Mountain Kurama, he gained a miraculous power of healing. He gave it the name Reiki a Japanese word for The Universal Life Force. He formally introduced it in 1914 and enthusiastically practiced it till his death in 1926. He performed countless healings and also prepared a number of disciples to further the task. This system of spiritual healing turned out to be so effective and successful that it spread throughout the world like breeze. Due to its efficacious and astounding results, all the religious and spiritual circles of the world tried to seek their associations with it. Buddists for example, claim that since Dr. Usui was primarily a Buddist, they therefore, deserve the credit of laying the foundation of Reiki. Christians, on the other hand, claim that since the cause of

exploration of Reiki was the miracles of Christ and it was Christs personality which inspired Dr. Usui to make a vehement quest to find out the spiritual healing principles, the followers of Christ are the actual heirs of this great system. Yogis found their concept of exclusive ownership of Reiki because Patanjali, the giver of the spiritual principles, subsequently explored by Dr. Usui, was a great Yogi. The Taoists also made a number of attempts to illustrate the closer proximity between Reiki and Taoism. Unfortunately, due to linguistic, geographical, political and religious barriers, the Muslim Sufis who were contented with their highly sublime and comprehensive spiritual heritage, did not pay any attention to Reiki nor did Reiki practitioners tried to fill in the vacuum. The situation of the indifference of the Sufis towards Reiki and vice versa, changed with the publishing of a book on the comparative study of Reiki and Sufi Healing titled as In the Paradise of Reiki and Sufi Healing, by a distinguished Pakistani spiritualist, scholar, Iqbalist and Reiki Grand Master, Prof. Dr. Abdul Ghani. This book has been published by the famous publishing house LapLambert of Germany on November 12, 2010. This day has marked the beginning of a new era in the history of Reiki. With the publishing of this book many prevailing views about Reiki have undergone a drastic change and many claims of its exclusiveness have witnessed a conceptual shift over. The book seems to be the cause of a change in the outlook towards Reiki. Many of the questions which awaited an answer, an answer neither given by Dr. Usui nor by any of his disciples, have finally been answered in the 15 detailed chapters of this book. In this short article we cannot discuss all these questions but some of these and their answers as provided by the author are given below: 1. Was there any other person/s who knew the use of this divine energy after Christ and before Dr. Usui? The versatile writer has proved that Reiki was used not only by Prophet Christ but also by many other Prophets such as Prophet Abraham, Moses, Joseph, John and above all Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The author has included many of the miracles of spiritual healing from the life of the Prophet of Islam (SAW). The writer goes on to write that the energy used by Prophet Christ (P.B.U.H) to perform his miracles is the same as the energy used by the Prophet of Islam (SAW) and that is why we see an astonishing similarity between the miracles performed by the two Supreme Prophets.

2. What is the origin of Reiki? The erudite writer has proved in this book that the source of Universal Life Force/Reiki is Allah. The author quotes from The Quran the term Qudra which has been used in The Quran to convey the meaning of the Ultimate Power. The author concludes that it is the same energy referred to as Reiki by Dr. Usui. The writer proclaims that the agnostics, who practice Reiki, might get confused while looking beyond Reiki, as there is contradiction among Reiki practitioners regarding its origin and source, but the believers in Qudra will never get desperate whenever they try to look for the source of Qudra Allah. 3. Did anybody ever attune anyone to Reiki before Dr. Usui? The author narrates the undeniable facts of attunement from the life of the Prophet of Islam (SAW) quoting various Hadiths and goes on to write that attunement has ever been a regular practice of a Sufi. He has used the terms of Bait and Izn to describe the process of attunement or initiation in detail. The spiritual healing knowledge, as the writer narrates, can be found in the history of Sufism under two heads: i. ii. Salb-ul-amradh (extraction of diseases) Ilaj-bit-tawajjuh (healing through concentration)

Some of the eminent Sufis, both of the past and present, cited by the author in this book along with many others, in whose books, letters and lectures we can find details about these healing methodologies include, Sheikh Ahmed Sarhindi, Shah Waliullah, Shah Abdul Aziz, Naim Ullah Behraichi, Shah Ghulam Ali Delhavi, Hisham Muhammad Kabbani, Muhammad Zuhri, Ismail I. Ishaq and Mir Hadian. The writer says that the healing system, particularly the one used by the Naqshbandis, embosoms all Reiki and much more. 4. Was Reiki really rediscovered by Dr. Usui? Now we come to the most astonishing discovery made by the author which has resulted in the redirecting of Reiki history and the opening of new vistas of research in Reiki. The author says that a spiritual healing system, far more advanced, reliable and better documented than Reiki itself, was being practiced and taught in the Sufi circles long before the birth of Dr. Mikao Usui. The author has provided a photocopy of a 5 paged rare letter as an Appendix-B in this book which was written by a Naqshbandi Sufi, Shah Ghulam Ali Delhavi (1745-1824) to his nephew which describes in detail a Sufi healing system. The Appendix-C of the book contains four introductory pages of the book Tibb-i-Roohani, written by a Naqshbandi Sufi, Mian
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Ahmed Jan Ludhyanvi, in 1879 fully explaining the Sufi healing system presented in Shah Ghulam Ali Delhavis letter given in Appendix-B. This book has revolutionized the way spiritual healers looked at their spiritual healing methods in general and Reiki in particular as the writer has repudiated many of the claims made by the Reiki practitioners throughout the world such as: 1. Dr. Usui is the pioneer of Reiki 2. Reiki is an exclusive property of a certain religious/social group 3. Reiki is the most advanced form of spiritual healing The writer goes on to write that Reiki being a legacy of the Prophets is compatible with all the religious and spiritual systems of the world. Through this book the meritorious writer has removed a lot of debris of misunderstanding existing in the pro-Reiki and anti-Reiki spiritual circles. As we all know, many people of the world influenced by the anti-Islamic propaganda launched by some misled extremists, perceive Islam as a might is right kind of religion having no proper spiritual tradition. This book diffuses this propaganda. A reader of this book will know what a Sufi is and what he is really capable of doing. Healing is not the only aspect of Sufism, though it has always remained an integral part of a Sufis life and hence a disciple, who has received Izn from a perfect Sufi, by placing his hand on a patients head can remove his migraine or can stop the bleeding of a person or can even prevent a heart attack! This book includes healing methods for many chronic and fatal diseases and also describes ways for age regression, body purification and increasing the immunity of the body. The author has provided the readers with some easy exercises and meditations which anybody can do to heal himself or to help others in achieving a healthy life. The author has also included a complete chapter on the subject of Distant Healing in this book. This advanced healing method, being no exception, was being used and taught by Sufis throughout the various ages. At the end of the book the author has given a detailed Bibliography. The bibliography of the book shows that the author has studied hundreds of books on the subject of Reiki and Sufi healing published during different parts of the history, from various parts of the world and in different languages. This also reflects the linguistic command of this literary giant on various international languages including in particular English, Arabic, Persian and Urdu.

What also distinguishes this book from other books on similar subjects is that the authors style of writing is academic rather than emotional. He has described in this book a complete healing system being used by the Sufis for generations and has also given scientific reasons behind various Sufi miracles. The book also speaks of the majesty of the author who has done complete justice to this subject and has offered the spiritual world a true masterpiece in the form of this book. The distinguished author has been honoured with distinction in Masters in six academic disciplines including Masters in English (Literature), TEFL, Arabic, Persian, Urdu and History. He is a double PhD having one PhD in Iqbal Studies for which he received Iqbal Award and the other in spiritual sciences upon which he received a Gold Medal. The book under review is a somewhat modified and revised research work of the author Reiki and Islamic Concepts of Spiritual Healing, on which he was awarded a PhD from the University of Colombo in 2004. The author is also a Reiki Grand Master and is renowned nationally and internationally for his research work in various disciplines of spiritualism, academics and poetry. The quality of the research work been carried out by the author can be seen from the fact that the author has studied 115 different types of Reiki in order to write this book. The whole Pakistani nation can take pride in the fact that this book has been declared the first book on the subject of Reiki and Sufi healing. This book indeed is another feather in the crown of the illustrious author and his motherland, Pakistan. Kamran Khursheed National Centre for Physics Islamabad