Prayer therapy (recitation of surah Al‐Hamd and Towhid): its effects on quality of life in patients suffering from with multiple sclerosis (MS)

The study aims to examine the effect of intercessory prayer on the lives of MS patients. This before ‐ and ‐ a􀅌er study was performed on 12 MS pa􀆟ents admi􀆩ed to a health care clinic. The patients were told about the intervention and filled in the informed consent. Every week Hands – on and remote recita􀆟on of Hamd and Towhid surahs was performed for 8 consecutive weeks. Quality of life was measured before and after the trial with Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life (MSQOL – 54). Wilcoxon signed ranks test through SPSS version 10 was used for non – parametric statistical analysis. The results showed a significant enhancement in the area of "physical health", "energy", and "physical health composite", P=0.04, P=0.02 and p= 0.02 respec􀆟vely. All of them also announced subjective improvement in their motivation and mood. This study shows the effectiveness of intercessory prayer on some aspects of the quality of life in a chronic disease such as Multiple Sclerosis. Controlled studies with larger sample size and longer follow‐up period are recommended to support this effect.