Law of Attraction In Islam

The basic premise of Law of Attraction is simple – thoughts become reality. In essence it says that what you think about manifests itself in your reality, therefore if you want something just think about it and it will enter your reality. I wish it was this simple. What Law of Attraction really says is that you do not attract the words by which you have formulated a thought, but the emotions you are predominately experiencing. For example you state that you want to earn Rs.100,000 next week so you have stated your desire or let’s say ‘placed the order’ in the shopping cart of universe.com. But as you all know just adding items to your cart is not enough. We have to proceed to check-out and make the payment. Here is where Law of Attraction becomes both difficult and fun. You see the currency of the universe is not the desire which you have launched and added to your cart, but the vibrations or frequency of our predominant emotions. Most people when they want more money, or better relationships are always focused on the lack of these things in their life. They are worried if the money does not come what will happen? Their heart sinks when they see yet another bill come in the mail. They feel alone and wonder why they have such dysfunctional relationships, what is it about them that they do not get happiness? They are depressed, frustrated at the lack of these things and keep telling themselves what they want, concentrating really hard on these desires. However their desires do not come true and so they give up and say it doesn’t work. But it does work and it worked for them as well, it attracted into their experience not the words of their desires but the emotions they were constantly experiencing, and what were those emotions? Want, lack, frustration, worry, loneliness etc. So instead of getting more money they got more bills, more unforeseen expenses etc. You see the universe tunes in to the frequency of your emotions and you attract circumstances which match those emotions.

For most people especially us Pakistanis this is an extremely uncomfortable thought because this means that we are responsible for our circumstances and we are a nation that abhors responsibility. We need something to shift the blame on for our failures, be it the society, the government, the rich, or when all else fails Qismat or Destiny. Then we say that everything is in Allah’s hands and so Law of Attraction cannot work because this means that we are creating our circumstances not Allah. Absolutely wrong. If we were not the creator of our experiences we would not have the concept of Dua. What happens when we pray or say a Dua? We state our desire, we tell Him what we don’t want and what we would like instead. In other words when you say I don’t want to be sick and dependent on others and Allah please give me health and keep me able bodied till the end of my life, we are launching a desire in the universe. Now comes the most difficult part – letting go. If you have asked Him for something now let Him answer it as He thinks fit, but instead we constantly fret, worry and basically show a lack of faith. We have to get out of the way in order for our prayers to be answered. That is exactly the second step of Law of Attraction, ask and then let it unfold, the more you focus on it the more you give attention to why it is taking so long, the longer it will take.

During the last 9 years of her life my mother was admitted to the hospital 5 times and 4 of those were in ICU. The doctors would tell me she was serious and my reply was always “she will go home with me don’t worry”. As I sat in the waiting area of the ICU I witnessed people’s despair and desperation, they would pray frantically, fight with the doctors, visit their patients with tears streaming down their faces. I on the other had usually got hold of a good book and from 9 in the morning to 8 in the evening would sit in a corner and read. Some people looked at me as if what I was doing was wrong, their judgement – I didn’t really care about my patient. They were wrong but I never felt the urge to correct them or conform to their views, I simply read or played games on my mobile. I took my mother home every time. Many of the others took bodies of their loved ones. You see I had full faith that my prayers to take her home will be answered and I let Him get on with answering it. I’m not saying that I didn’t read the Quran or say any prayers during this time, I did but not out of despair but because it gave me comfort and that is a big difference!

According to Law of Attraction the higher the frequency of your vibrations the quicker you manifest desires. The higher frequencies are joy, love, compassion, optimism etc. while the lower frequencies which block manifestations are anger, guilt, worry, frustration etc. As Muslims one of the first Surahs we learn is Surah Nas, the translation of which is:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful".

Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of mankind,

The Sovereign of mankind

The God of mankind,

From the evil of the retreating whisperer -

Who whispers [evil] into the breasts of mankind -

From among the jinn and mankind."

Verse 4 says we seek protection from the ‘ evil whisperer who whispers evil in the hearts of men’, most people consider these whisperings to be thoughts which make us sin like murder, rape, deceit, robbery, lust, greed etc the big ticket items which will lead us straight to hell. However I feel this verse is far broader in its application and far deeper in its meaning. For me it is not just about sins major and minor, it is about self doubt, pessimism, guilt, frustration in short all the lower frequency emotions which block our abundance or ‘Rehmat’. Surah Nas is a prayer to ward off the ‘evil’ we all engage in our daily lives. Evil cannot and does not survive in gratitude, love, compassion, joy or hope, instead it lurks in self doubt, jealousy, anger etc.

Guilt is also a low vibration emotion which blocks us from manifesting our desires, but most people will say that guilt is good this means that we are remorseful of our actions. But in Islam remorse does not really have any meaning at all it is repentance that we have to seek for forgiveness. The difference between remorse and repentance is that remorse is just an uneasy feeling you have deep inside that you have done something wrong but repentance is to set things right and ensure it never happens again. This is the concept of Taubah in Islam, Taubah is not merely chanting ‘Asthaghfaar’ constantly but to make a commitment that you will never repeat this act again and usually it also has actions which we can take to set things right like fasting for atonement or feeding the poor etc. It is hitting the ‘re-set’ button’, Allah accepts sincere repentance by all and then that’s the end of that chapter . Get on with your life ensuring that you never go on that path again. Guilt does not have a place in our religion, to feel guilty and not atone for those actions simply means that you do not want to change.

Another thing which strikes me is that we start our prayers with ‘Auzubillahi minash shaitan ir rajeem’ I seek refuge in Allah from the outcast shaitan and then it is followed by Bismillah ‘In the name of Allah the most Gracious the most Merciful’. To me this means that we first turn away from negative thoughts and then we affirm that Allah is Grace and Mercy i.e. He is Positivity. If we truly believe this then prayers should uplift our souls, give us joy and fill our hearts with love. Remember we have already asked Him to protect us from all evil, even the benign garden variety type we all indulge in like envy, frustration, depressing thoughts etc. No religion in the world is designed to make us negative and take us away from our source, that is the doing of religious middle men who derive their power from the fears of others.

Lastly the very name Islam means to surrender, but remember He gave us free will and the power to make choices, to simply say surrender means being at the mercy of destiny and all negative emotions we constantly experience are just the outcome of that destiny is to reject the very essence of being human. Our choice does not simply lie in the realm of action but also emotions. Sabr and Shukar – contentment and gratitude are high frequency emotions and Islam urges us to be constantly in those states.

Yes practicing Law of Attraction is difficult at first, and yes controlling our emotions is hard and molding our negativity to positivity is harder still, but this is exactly what we were designed to do. If this was not inbuilt in our DNA Allah would not be telling us to do so. Faith is much more than practicing the rituals, it is about total acceptance of its truth and then using this as a filter to study and analyze all that comes in our experience.