There is a collection of quotes of the Prophet Mohammad in Islamic culture, that are separate from the Qur'an, called Hadith. In these quotes, there is a mention of Harmala, aka syrian rue. Here is a brief description of it based on some discussions I have had with an Iranian friend of mine:

From this page:

http://www.hadithcity.com/Hadith.aspx?id=1782

In the original Arabic:

مَن شَرِبَ الحَرمَلَ أربَعينَ صَباحا كُلَّ يَومٍ مِثقالاً لاَستَنارَ الحِكمَةُ في قَلبِهِ ، وعوفِيَ مِنِ اثنَينِ وسَبعينَ داءً ؛ أهوَنُهُ الجُذامُ .

In Persian:

هر كس به مدّت چهل روز ، هر صبح ، يك مثقال هزارْ اسپند حل كرده در آب بخورد ، نور حكمت در دلش روشن مى‏شود و از 72 بيمارى كه كمترين آنها جذام است ، ايمنى مى‏يابد .

In English:

Whoever for 40 days, eats 1 mesghal harmala mixed in water in every morning, the light of wisdom will turn on in his\her heart and he\she will be immune from 72 diseases that the least of them is leprosy

Note: 1 mesghal = 4.64 grams

Apparently this means mixing seeds in with water and drinking the whole mess, although it doesn't look totally definitive to me. That would be a pretty big dose to take every morning for 40 days!

I personally wouldn't interpret this as medical advice on how to treat leprosy, but as an emphatic endorsement of the benefits of harmala.

This has been added to my to do list.

Fascinating...thanks ouro

How much harmala alks are normally found in one gram of rue?

3-6% average if i recall correctly.

..we like to use a jabana from red polished clay (for cold soaks)..maybe a superstition?
We really ̶l̶̶i̶̶k̶̶e̶ love the shape of old school hadendowa bottles...


here is ours, complete with filter:

we don't have such a nice pillow tho..

Intezam, are you saying that you drink Harmal from your Jabana?

Also, is it possible that the uncrushed seeds were simmered in water? Because 4.64 grams is a lot... 2.0g does me in good. I'm a soft head.

yes, but not 40 days ..can try to let the whole uncrushed seeds soak in cold water for some hrs ...then just drink the slightly bitter water...(..the seeds would still sprout after that...can throw them in a cemetary, wilderness, or desolate, neglected spot...)

BTW: 40 days = chilla nashini

@ 3-6%, 4.64 grams would be about 135-200mg of harmala. That sounds reasonable. That's around my normal amount that I have been dosing every other day.

6% is actually more like 275mg harmalas. I think with a thorough precrushed brewing you can usually get much more out of the seeds than 3%. People obviously differ though in what doses effect them in what way. Some are floored for hours on end by under 200mg. And taking very active doses frequently can get bizarre pretty quick.

The point about how they were prepared is a good one...If it's just soaking the seeds in hot water for a few minutes, then maybe that explains why they took such a high dose. But who knows!

I just found this:


The Quraish had started a fierce economic struggle against Muhammad, The Messenger of Allah (SWT) and his followers. One of the inhumane weapons they used against the Muslims was economic pressure and boycott of any sort of transactions with the Muslims. Bani Hashim and Bani Abd Al-Muttalib joined Abu Talib after the boycott was enforced and withdrew to a narrow glen or wadi known as Sheb Abi Talib. It was the seventh year of Muhammad, The Messenger of Allah's (SWT) mission. Weeks and months had passed, and the people of Hashim lived in misery and hunger. The ban was so rigorously enforced that Muhammad, The Messenger of Allah's (SWT) clan was reduced to eating acacia leaves and the cries of hungry children reverberated all over the valley.

We recommend Al-Kawthar brand (click picture)
This or this or this essential oil maybe interesting for birnds with arthritis...



Yes, in Ixlam we know, that when one plans a serious spiritual undertaking such as hajj, khalwa, chilla and the like, one is required to (also mentally) enter a state of ihram first. This is a 100% no-kill zone to the extent of not even cutting the hair, killing (incl. some holy plants), not combing one's hair (other then with one's hands), wearing a two piece cloth (unstitched), going barefoot (or having unstitched sandals), not seeking man made shade (other then wild trees and natural caves)......etc. Some fuqara enter a permanent state of ihram....(some use cannabis for that). State of Ihram is very similar to some forms of Jain practice.



Since there is another hadith that mentions -- there is an angel in every part of the harmal plant.......then why destroy their babies (seed) during a state of ihram......? It woudn't make sense (..we think). Those seed could wait for decades (in the desert) until they can actually sprout with sufficient rain or dew.....

Hence a cold extraction of un-ground or 'alive' harmal seed without vinegar wouldn't be as strong....unless one is also fasting....or chewing on talha root or kicker root miswak

...but there is still a good chance to meet the emanation of all 108 entheogen in person.

After all there is plenty of harmal (Ḥ-R-M-L) in the region.....

This is great.
Thanks.

-eg

I would suggest using the following scale, remembering that with water weights can be easily interchanged with volumes, since water has a weight that is equal to its volume. In both of these scales, the water and the rue, the teaspoon is the small semi-spherical thing in the cork-puller drawer, leveled off:

---- This is for water ----

1 teaspoon water = 0.16 ounces (5 grams)

3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon = 0.5 ounce (14 grams)

2 tablespoons = 1 ounce (28 grams)

4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup = 2 ounces

16 tablespoons = 1 cup = 1/2 pint = 8 ounces

2 cups = 1 pint = 1 pound

2 pints = 1 quart

4 quarts = 1 gallon

or, as I had learned as a childhood rhyme; a pint's a pound, the world around.

You must remember, this volume thing has its own traps. When you start using the volume measurement for things such as seeds, or bark, or leaves, or other biological things that are not of the density of water, they possess varying degrees of fluffiness, and the weights will be less than the volumes. The Rosetta stone translation that is appropriate here is based on the fact that the Peganum harmala seeds are just over half the density of water. And, since they may contain from 2 to 6% its weight of alkaloids, the following equations are useful:

---- This is for the seeds of Syrian rue ----

1 teaspoon rue seeds = 3 grams = 60-180 mg alkaloids

1 tablespoon rue seeds = 9 grams = 200-600 mg alkaloids

1 large (OO) gelatin capsule with ground rue seeds = 0.7 gram = 15-45 mg alkaloids

-shulgin ; TIHKAL

---

-eg

I ate comparable amounts of alkaloids every day for maybe a 9 months and it it worked great I didn't get leprosy once. Seriously though it's good for health. Blood pressure was great, and allergies were cured.

In the UK, our pints have twenty ounces, and thus our gallons are bigger too. A pint's not a pound the world around, Sasha (one pound and four ounces over here, mate!)

IIRC, US pints are 473mL whereas proper pints are 568mL. But if a pound is 454g, where does the extra 19mL come from in the US pint??

The link with harmel? S'pand, maybe? =D


Slewb, what kind of preparations did you make for the harmel diet? What were your concomitant practices?

Uhm N/A? I really didn't change my lifestyle much. Concomitant practices were normal workouts, whatever yoga postures I felt augmented strength training, and dream work. ~200-300 mg manske'd freebase rue alkaloids per day. Booze, cheese, and preserved meats were all major staples of my daily diet during that time. After beginning the harmala regimen I did ease into those things to make sure it was alright, but I never experienced any negative effects. I'll admit that I did not take the most holistic/cleansing approach. But the benefits have stuck around (it's been I guess 4 months since daily use ceased).

True that. Harmal (with ACRB) cured us of incurable palmoplantar pustulosis which made our life miserable for min 9 years (musicans need their hands). They pointed it out: There is something wrong with your health.

We replied: If you can see it, then please fix it! There was no reply, so we thought, They are fixing it now......and true. They fixed it. It completely cleared up and did not return....

Edit: we did not use any harmal oil back then...

Some miscellaneous information regarding harmala alkaloids and health.


Pharmacological and therapeutic effects of Peganum harmala and its main alkaloidshttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3841998/

Medicinal properties of Peganum harmala L. in traditional Iranian medicine and modern phytotherapy: a review.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25842736


Toxnet harmine/harmaline
http://toxnet.nlm.nih.go...n/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+7645

Alkaloids from the seeds of Peganum harmala showing antiplasmodial and vasorelaxant activities
http://link.springer.com...0.1007/s11418-008-0259-7

Pharmacological and therapeutic effects of Peganum harmala and its main alkaloids
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih....pmc/articles/PMC3841998/

-eg