A Summary of the Book, “The Secret,” by Rhonda Byrne

downloadImportant Note Before You Read This Post: I am not a scholar of Islam and I admit that many of the ideas in the book, “The Secret,” are not Islamic and would offend many Muslims. It is not my intention to offend anyone, but I wanted to share my perspective as a Muslim and a trained counselor who has gained some benefit from this book. Since it has been called the “biggest phenomenon in the history of self-help,” I found this book important to read. I believe that as Muslims we will face many ideas that are unIslamic and that is why we must seek Islamic knowledge in order to discern truth from falsehood.

When I first read “The Secret” 4 years ago, I was quite disappointed. I felt that most of the book contradicted the teachings of Islam, except for a few parts, such as the section on Gratitude. I dismissed the book and never saw the Secret Movie, which actually came before the book, until much later.

I decided to revisit “The Secret” in both its book and movie form years later, kind of on “accident”. This time, it was quite life changing, Alhamdulillah. Some parts of “The Secret” still bother me as a Muslim, but by looking at the deeper meanings, I was able to see how “The Secret” does correspond with Islam in some ways.

My hope and goal for this article is to convey to my fellow Muslims the positive aspects of “The Secret”. It is a very deep message. It can be life changing if you deeply understand the message. This book contains a message that has been around for thousands of years. Thousands if not millions of people have used the message in this book to bring positive circumstances to their lives.

This article may be controversial to some. My intention is that it will bring some benefit to all who read it.

In this article I will first try to explain The Secret and how to use it in one’s life. Then I will try to give some rational reasons about why the Secret is a real, true law of the universe. This article is a summary and reflection on the Secret Movie and book, which are more complex than this.

WHAT IS THE SECRET?

“Therefore remember Me. I will remember you. Be grateful to Me and never show me ingratitude.” (Holy Quran, 2:152)

“If you give thanks, I will give you more” (14:7).

Here is an explanation of this deep secret that I’ve understood from watching the movie and reading the book multiple times:

The Secret is The Law of Attraction: you attract what you think about most. What you focus on focuses on YOU. What you think about long-term will come to you. Like attracts like. Your outer world is a reflection of your inner most thoughts, whether conscious or unconscious. As within, so without. Thoughts become things.

The Secret is a Law of the Universe: It is the LAW OF ATTRACTION. Whatever is in your life, You Attracted it to yourself due to your thoughts and feelings.

The Secret is reflected in the 2 verses quoted above. Allah (swt) is telling us that if we remember Him, He will remember us. Allah (swt) is also saying that if we are thankful, we will attract More things to be Thankful for.
I cannot emphasize enough the fact that this is a Law of the Universe.

Ponder on this hadith Qudsi:

“Allah the Most High says, ‘I am with my slave when he thinks of Me and I am with him when he mentions Me. For if he mentions Me to himself, I mention him to Myself; and if he mentions Me in a gathering, I mention him in a superior gathering. If he approaches Me by a hand’s width, I approach him by an arm’s length; and if he approaches Me by an arm’s length, I approach him by two arms’ lengths. And if he comes to Me walking, I hasten to him swiftly.” (Bukhari and Muslim).

The Secret is that Like Attracts Like, as reflected in this hadith. (Actually, this hadith is really saying that Allah (swt) will do even more for us than what we do for Him, which proves how loving and kind and generous Allah is.)

SO WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT THIS “SECRET”?

If we learn to control our thoughts, we will have more control over our life, because our thoughts directly affect what we attract in our life. Of course, all power is with Allah (swt), and nothing can take place without His permission, but at the same time He gave us limited free will. So…thinking good thoughts literally brings good things into your life.

HOW DO WE THINK GOOD THOUGHTS?

The answer is to pay attention to your FEELINGS. Your thoughts cause your feelings. Your feelings tell you whether you are on track or off track. If you feel good, you are thinking good thoughts. If you feel bad, you need to stop feeling bad or by the Law of Attraction you will attract bad things in your life. How do you stop feeling bad? This is a complicated question, and the answer is going to depend on the person and the situation. But find a way, do something, correct something to stop feeling bad!

Why? Because thoughts (and feelings, which are caused by your thoughts) have a frequency. If you feel bad, you are emitting a negative frequency and unfortunately that negative frequency will be reflected in your life. If you feel good, that positive frequency will attract positive things to your life.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said,
“To harbor good thoughts is part of well-practiced worship” (Mishkat al Masabih, Volume 2, book 24, Chapter 17, p. 1048).

And, “A believer loves for others what he loves for himself” (Mishkat Al Masabih, volume 1, book 1, chapter 1, p. 16).

What are good feelings? They are, in order of their power (to attract good things to your life): Love, Gratitude, Joy, Hopeful Expectation, and Satisfaction. Good feelings make you feel empowered.

Bad feelings include: depression, hatred, jealousy, anxiety, guilt and anger. Of course we are all going to have bad feelings at times, but the idea is to recognize these bad feelings and do something to feel better and shift your frequency.

Feelings are a gift from Allah (swt) to tell us whether we are on track or off track.

And as Muslims, the greatest goal is to earn the pleasure of Allah (swt).

One thing about the Secret Movie is that it seems materialistic/worldly. It talks about using the Secret to attract material things such as a luxury car. But the law of attraction can be used to attract anything that we think about for a long time. So it is no wonder that Islam teaches us to think about/remember Allah (swt) as much as possible. Inshallah we will attract Allah (swt)!

One interesting note: if we think about something we do NOT want for a long period of time, we will get what we do NOT want. What we think about we bring about. Think about what you want, not what you don’t want.

Think: I would like more money. Do not think: I don’t want to lose money. The feeling of fear/anxiety regarding losing money will bring more situations where you will lose money. For example, if you think, “I don’t want to spill this drink”, the law of attractions interprets your thought as “I want to spill this drink”. So focus on what you want, such as “I want to hold this drink up”. I know this sounds funny, but if you open your eyes you will see this law in your life.

The Secret is saying that we can have what we want in life, (by the will of Allah swt), but the catch is that it’s often the little things that come the fastest/easiest. With little things, we have less resistance to their arrival and we believe they will come, so they do.

Here are some real examples that happened to me. One day I was drinking hot chocolate and I felt inside that this hot cocoa would taste better with some peppermint flavor. I didn’t do anything about this. Then a few days later I was on a road trip, and on the way I stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch. I was looking at some candy that was on sale and I thought I would buy some after I eat lunch. When I went to the same place where that candy was (after lunch), I saw a container of “Peppermint Hot Cocoa”. I realized that the law of attraction had brought this to me (by the will of Allah).

Another little example: I was looking in a parenting magazine that showed a picture of a memory game (matching pictures) and how memory games are good for children. I thought that I wanted to get this simple game for my son. A few days later I was counseling a child for my job and we attended a school program where I won a memory game—the same game in the magazine. I honestly was not so interested in getting the game, but it just came to me, probably because I was not so anxious about getting it!

SOME RATIONAL REASONS THAT THE LAW OF ATTRACTION IS REAL

As Muslims we believe in One Creator, obviously. Well, because there is one Creator of an organized universe, it follows that there are laws that govern our universe. We know there is a law of gravity. Well, perhaps then there are laws we might not know about, such as the law of attraction.

There is a modern science called Quantum Physics that supports the existence of the Law of Attraction. Quantum physics teaches that everything is energy, because if you break everything down to its simplest form, it is an atom, and if you break an atom, you have…energy. Since everything is energy, and a thought is a thing, with a frequency, well, thoughts affect our universe. Quantum physics says that our world is shaped by our thoughts.
Dr. Fred Alan Wolf states, “Quantum physics…says that you can’t have a Universe without mind entering into it, and that the mind is actually shaping the very thing that is being perceived.”

WHY DON’T WE ALL GET WHAT WE WANT?

Most people think MORE about what they DON’T want than about what they DO want. When we complain about things, we are thinking about what we DON’T want, and thus attracting more of what we don’t want to us.

MINI-SECRETS MENTIONED IN “THE SECRET”

1. The Secret to Health

Our body is the product of our thoughts. Sickness is caused by the attention or focus given to the sickness. Sickness is our body’s way of saying that we are not being loving or grateful enough. Train yourself to be more loving and grateful. Hyphenate the word disease: Dis-ease. That’s a body that is not at-ease. Stress is what makes us sick. “Dis-ease cannot live in a body that is in a healthy emotional state” (Bob Proctor, philosopher, author and personal coach)

2. The Secret to Wealth

Think about wealth / abundance more than scarcity. Focus on abundance. Also feel good. When we don’t feel good, we are blocking good from coming to us, and that includes money. Is action required? Sometimes. But the point is to enjoy what you are doing, i.e. feel good.

3. The Secret to Relationships

Focus on what you appreciate about a spouse, friend, relative MORE than what you don’t like about them. Focus on what you love about yourself. If you don’t love yourself, how can you attract to you people who love you?

4. The Secret to the World

Focus on what you want to see in the world more than what’s wrong. The “War” on drugs, poverty, crime etc. actually creates more of those problems because we are focused on those problems! Focus on people respecting their bodies, people having enough to eat, people being happy. For us Muslims, focus on the Muslim Ummah turning more to Allah (swt) and solving our problems in the right ways (instead of focusing on terrorism or disunity or other things that make us unhappy about our ummah today).

5. Powerful processes to change your life: VISUALIZE what you want so you generate the FEELINGS of having what you want. Also, gratitude, gratitude, gratitude.

6. The Secret to Life: You deserve to be happy. Inner happiness is the fuel for success. Of course, as Muslims, inner happiness means feeling a connection with Allah (swt).

MORE EXAMPLES FROM QURAN AND HADITH THAT RELATE TO THE LAW OF ATTRACTION

The Secret encourages you to focus on what you want, and you will get it. Islam encourages us to ask Allah for what we want/to make duaa. By asking for what we want, and believing it will arrive, we are emitting a frequency that will attract what we want to us.

“And your Lord said, ‘Ask of Me, I will respond”. (40:60)

“The supplication (duaa) is a form of worship.” Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Tirmizi.

“Verily, your Lord is very modest and generous. He feels shy that his servant should raise up his hands for supplication, and He may let it go unaccepted.” (Jami’ Al Tirmizi).

Inshallah what we ask for is on its way, according to Allah’s time.

If we want our lives to change , we need to change our inner lives, our thoughts. We must train ourselves to think good thoughts, to feel good, to do good. Our behaviors are a reflection of our thoughts.

“Surely Allah does not change the conditions in which a people are in until they change that which is in themselves” (13:11).

Gratitude is a huge section of the Secret book because feeling gratitude attracts more things to be grateful for.

And of course, gratitude is a HUGE teaching in Islam. Gratitude is one reason we worship our Creator. And He promises, “ If you give thanks, I will give you more” (14:7).

It is interesting that in the Holy Quran, Prophet Sulaiman (Soloman) is mentioned frequently as being grateful to Allah (swt):

“…Hearing its (the ant’s) words Solomon smiled and said, ‘My Lord! Grant me that I should be grateful for Your favour which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I should do good deeds such as You are pleased with; and admit me, by Your mercy, among your righteous servants’
(27:19).”

“One (a jinn) who had knowledge of the Scripture said: ‘I will fetch it (the throne of the Queen of Sheba) to you in the twinkling of an eye.’ As soon as Solomon saw the throne set before him, he said: “This is of the grace of my Lord that He may test me whether I am grateful or ungrateful; and whoever is grateful, he is grateful only for his own soul, and whoever is ungrateful, then surely my Lord is All-Sufficient, Bountiful.” (27:40).

As you know, Prophet Solomon (pbuh) was a king who Allah (swt) granted not only abundant wealth but special powers, such as the ability to talk to animals.

This is a very brief introduction to the Secret movie and book. The movie is 2 ½ hours long and the book is 180 pages. So there is a lot more to say.

In conclusion, I hope that you will understand the power of your thoughts and feelings to bring good into your life. Remember: focus on what you want! And recognize the things you are grateful for!

1 Comment

  1. Ita

    Thank you so much for sharing your thought about the book (The Secret). I actually read about this in your book but haven’t got a chance to share it with you. I have similar opinion with you. When I read the Secret and watched the movie, I thought it simplify the connection between human and God. So, if people does not have a religious background, they would become self-centered thinking about what they want without thinking the role of “God” and their relation with God, and the aims of their life. Then it will lead to materialistic. On the other hand, in Islam, materialistic is only an intermediate tool to reach ultimate goal to be “in unity with Allah”, meaning that the material is only one of the ways to get closer to Allah by doing something good with the material we have.

    Luckily, I have Islam as my background, so when I read the book and watched the movie, one of the things that I recognise is about the importance of “Niat (intention)” and its integration with action in Islam. These two things are very important in Islam. It starts from a little thing, for example before we do any action we have to cite the intention. Before we pray we have to cite intention in our heart (or say it softly) then after that we start to pray. Also, before giving charity normally we have intention in our heart such as “In the name of Allah and may our donation will help other”.

    I think for muslim, “focus on what you want” is the integration of the “Niat” (intention) and action, and these two things are automatically present in our life because we are raised that way.

    In my life, something that I cannot forget is when my father wished that he could go to hajj with my mother in 1995. That time three of us (children) were at school and need a lot of money for the tuition fees. My mom is a housewife and it was so expensive to go Hajj for two people, plus we are not a rich family. Honestly, that time, I thought they could make it only after we grew up and finished our education, so that way, we (the children can help them to collect money).

    Anyway, my father’s intention was so strong, he worked hard, saved money, prayed and if people asked about his plan, he would say I planned to go to hajj with my wife. He waited for several years until finally they made it to go hajj in 1995, and Allah eased the process. He got permit from his boss easily, got discount price, etc.

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