Prayer is the healing method Allah the Exalted taught in Islam. Relying on one’s self and spiritual concentration is also a form of shirk [associating partners with God]. However, when a person prays to God, all these things are annihilated, and the person then runs towards the true refuge. So, remember that prayer alone is the real thing; everything else is sheer madness.
I have experienced the amazing, wondrous effects of prayer. Once I was in severe pain from a toothache. A superintendent named ‘Umar Daraz was visiting us, and I asked him if he also knew the cure for a toothache. He said the remedy for a toothache is to extract the tooth. When I heard this, I thought tooth extraction is also a torment. I was sitting on a mat then, and due to the discomfort of the pain, my head was placed on the side of the bedstead. At that moment, I felt a little drowsy and received the revelation:
1وَاِذَا مَرِضۡتَ فَهُوَ يَشۡفِيۡ
[When you fall ill, He heals you.]
And along with it, the pain went away instantly.
I know for sure that there are thousands of treasures of cognisance hidden within the realm of prayer. One who goes elsewhere will be deprived of these treasures. When a person leaves the path upon which there are shade-giving trees and water supply arrangements, will he not deprive himself of all these comforts? No one possesses two hearts, so one has to choose a side to focus on.
The misguided sects suffered loss because they left the true path. Shias etc., who keep chanting ‘Husain, Husain’, became wretched because they idolised a human being, and the light of cognisance disappeared from their bosoms.
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), Malfuzat Vol. VII (Tilford, Surrey: Islam International Publications Ltd., 2024) 289-290.