Steps to Exercise — Page 12
- 12 - it is yet the strongest proof that the Holy Prophet of Islam gave us the teachings on Divine Command and explained them in simple language and supplemented them with his actions. One wonders at the balance that exists in those teachings for humanity and the perfection that can be achieved spiritually and physically by following those teachings. There is a Tradition that one of the Companions of the Holy Prophet went to visit a friend and saw his wife shabbily clothed. On asking the reason, he was told, “Your brother is all the time busy in worship and devotion and pays no attention to me. Then why should I dress up and for whom?” That night the Companion of the Holy Prophet stayed at his friend’s house and stopped him from extra worship between Isha and Fajr prayer and also restrained him from fasting that day. When the Companion came and explained the situation to the Holy Prophet , he said, “You did well and you acted correctly. On every human being, his body has a right, his wife has her right and the guests also have a right on him. ” If the Holy Prophet wanted to be pretentious, he could have said, “You did wrong”, or “You stopped someone from praying”. Because his True Creator gave him a balanced teaching in which looking after your physical needs is also important, he passed on the same teachings which show that one must not ignore the physical needs either. The Holy Prophet of Islam was a human being. He ate, he married, he had children and was a loving father and he also paid attention to the rights of human beings. One particular aspect of the teachings he gave us is that the human body has been given a station in life that other religions have ignored and have considered the body a hindrance to making spiritual progress. A beautiful body is a blessing from Allah and the Holy Prophet of Islam used to show his gratitude to Allah for giving him a beautiful and pleasing body. Whenever the Holy Prophet saw his face in a mirror, he used to pray, “ O Lord! Make my nature as pleasing as my body. ” It shows that in religious matters, the human body is not an inferior thing. Without the body, you cannot have a spiritual life. It is true that the body is like a container and the soul is what is placed in that container. The body is only like a husk and the soul is a kernel. If we carefully analyse, we can see that if you break any container then the contents will spill. The soul and the body are also associated in this way and any damage to the body will affect the soul. According to the commandment of Allah the Almighty, whilst it is important to take care of your soul, it is equally important to look after your body. According to Islam, if a person deliberately adopts a lifestyle which results in his death, then he is a murderer and guilty of his own murder. God gave him a precious life as a trust and he wasted it. The rst thing that we must understand is that according to the teachings of Islam and nature, the body and soul are intimately related and if proper attention is not paid to one no progress can be made. From a religious point of view, it is the duty of every person to prepare his soul for its meeting with Allah Almighty in the next life. He should keep the body, in which his soul resides, clean and tidy so that his soul is not damaged. He should do this