Mohamed Siruhan

It grieves me to see how people these days, especially among the younger generation, are almost wholly preoccupied with negativity: through baseless arguments, gossip, and useless talk. Their time and energies are constantly being wasted on fruitless distractions that squander their potential, foster enmity, and make them unmindful of Allah’s remembrance. These habits are like an addiction. They are hard to shake off, and they are as effective as any intoxicant in making people speak and act contrary to good sense. I believe that the greatest way to repel such tendencies is to focus on Allah. This is not only a cure for negative thoughts and bigoted notions, but it provides relief for all the negativities, problems and worries of life. The remembrance of Allah calms and fortifies the soul. It cultivates fortitude and perseverance, moderates impatience, and repels depression and despair. Remembering Allah is also very easy. It is accessible to everyone. There are no prerequisites to ful...

Researchers find that a simple stroll among trees has real benefits. For stressed-out workers, this may someday be a doctor's prescription: Walk around in the woods. Scientists in Japan have been learning a lot in recent years about the relaxing effects of forests and trees on mental and physical health. Based on their findings, some local governments are promoting "forest therapy." Experience shows that the scents of trees, the sounds of brooks and the feel of sunshine through forest leaves can have a calming effect, and the conventional wisdom is right, said Yoshifumi Miyazaki, director of the Center for Environment Health and Field Sciences at Chiba University. Japan's leading scholar on forest medicine has been conducting physiological experiments to examine whether forests can make people feel at ease. One study he conducted on 260 people at 24 sites in 2005 and 2006 found that the average concentration of salivary cortisol, a stress hormone, in people who gazed...