Episode 4: Your Body as a Trust | Dr. Omar Suleiman — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Everything that God has given you is a
2. 0:03blessing
3. 0:04as much as it is an opportunity.
4. 0:07It's an opportunity to do something
5. 0:09greater with it.
6. 0:10And when we talk about blessings, there
7. 0:13is no greater blessing after faith from
8. 0:15an Islamic perspective than your health.
9. 0:18When God gives you health, you have to
10. 0:20honor that health by taking care of it,
11. 0:23by nurturing it, and by using it in the
12. 0:26best of ways to benefit with what God
13. 0:28has given you of strength and
14. 0:30well-being. And so we find that the
15. 0:32emphasis on being healthy and fit in
16. 0:35Islam
17. 0:36is not for the same reasons that you
18. 0:39often see the emphasis in our modern
19. 0:41society. In our modern society, it's
20. 0:44more about a display of happiness rather
21. 0:46than actually being happy. It's more of
22. 0:48a display of health than actually being
23. 0:50healthy. And so when you think about the
24. 0:52commercials and you think about the
25. 0:54advertisements that talk about health
26. 0:57products and the importance of being
27. 0:58healthy, it's usually so that you could
28. 1:01be perceived in a certain way by your
29. 1:03peers. That if you look this way, then
30. 1:05others will look at you this way. But in
31. 1:07Islam, the emphasis on health becomes an
32. 1:10emphasis on honoring what God has given
33. 1:13you so that you can do the best with
34. 1:15that blessing. It's not so that others
35. 1:16can see you in a certain way, so that
36. 1:18you can look a certain way, so you can
37. 1:19be perceived a certain way,
38. 1:21but it's so you can act in a certain
39. 1:23way. That this body is ultimately a
40. 1:26trust from God. The Prophet Muhammad,
41. 1:28peace and blessings be upon him, says
42. 1:30that on the day of judgment, a person
43. 1:32will be asked about four things. Their
44. 1:34feet will not move until they are asked
45. 1:36about four things. They will be asked
46. 1:38about their lives and how they lived
47. 1:40their lives. Meaning the years that you
48. 1:43had on this earth, how did you use those
49. 1:45years on earth? And then he said, peace
50. 1:47and blessings be upon him, "You'll be
51. 1:49asked about your body, how you consumed
52. 1:52it. So what did you use your health for?
53. 1:55What did you exhaust yourself doing? And
54. 1:58of course, just like, you know, any
55. 2:01other blessing, when you are grateful
56. 2:03with that blessing, God increases you
57. 2:04with it. And gratitude with that
58. 2:06blessing requires honoring that blessing
59. 2:08and taking care of it. And so, you're
60. 2:10asked about your body and how you
61. 2:11consumed your body. You're asked about
62. 2:13your wealth and how you spent it. And
63. 2:15how you earned it. You're asked about
64. 2:16your knowledge and how you benefited
65. 2:18other people with that knowledge. And
66. 2:20so, when it comes to your health, when
67. 2:21it comes to your body, this is a great
68. 2:24blessing that God has given you. God
69. 2:26expects you to take care of this body.
70. 2:29God expects you to take care of this
71. 2:30health. God expects you to use this
72. 2:32health in ways that are more honorable
73. 2:35and in ways that are beneficial to the
74. 2:37people. The description of the Prophet
75. 2:38Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon
76. 2:40him and his companions, are a people
77. 2:42that were insistent upon these things,
78. 2:45that had a reasonable intake with their
79. 2:48appetite, that used to discipline
80. 2:49themselves even with their food. The
81. 2:51Prophet, peace and blessings be upon
82. 2:53him, taught us that there is no vessel
83. 2:55that is worse in filling than the vessel
84. 2:58of the stomach. He also taught us that
85. 3:01we should leave room for our breathing.
86. 3:04We should leave room for our drinking
87. 3:07and eating. We should leave room to
88. 3:09where we only eat to a point that we are
89. 3:11functional and that we are satisfied,
90. 3:14but we never become excessive. We never
91. 3:16become extravagant because once you
92. 3:18reach that place of wastefulness, then
93. 3:20you're not looking at what you're
94. 3:22putting into your body nor how you are
95. 3:24using your body. And in Islam, there is
96. 3:26this strong emphasis that you really
97. 3:28cannot be disciplined in anything unless
98. 3:30you're disciplined in everything. So, if
99. 3:31you're not disciplined with your food,
100. 3:33you're not disciplined with your
101. 3:34fitness, how are you going to be
102. 3:35disciplined with your soul and with the
103. 3:37greater values that come with spiritual
104. 3:40well-being and spiritual pursuits of
105. 3:43God's pleasure and reaching our greatest
106. 3:45human potential. And so, he has
107. 3:47described himself, Prophet Muhammad,
108. 3:49peace and blessings be upon him, as
109. 3:51eating very moderately, and as someone
110. 3:53who used to walk very fast. In fact,
111. 3:56when he used to walk, it was as if he
112. 3:58was walking downhill at all times
113. 4:01because of the speed of his walking,
114. 4:04peace and blessings be upon him. And
115. 4:06that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and
116. 4:07blessings be upon him, was brave and
117. 4:09courageous. And when he was in the
118. 4:11battlefield, that he himself
119. 4:13demonstrated the greatest strength. And
120. 4:15when there was sports, that the Prophet
121. 4:16Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon
122. 4:18him, was always the most able with his
123. 4:20sports. And that when the Prophet, peace
124. 4:22and blessings be upon him, perceived a
125. 4:24threat to the city of Medina, that he
126. 4:27was able himself to mount a horse and to
127. 4:30immediately go to the outskirts of
128. 4:32Medina without the reins of a horse,
129. 4:34without the typical mechanics that are
130. 4:37necessary to do so because of his
131. 4:40strength and because of his fitness and
132. 4:41because of his courage. And all of that
133. 4:43comes from a place of what? From a place
134. 4:45of being prophetic in everything that he
135. 4:47did. And so, as people of faith, we are
136. 4:51inherently people of fitness, we're
137. 4:53inherently people of discipline, we're
138. 4:55inherently people who take every
139. 4:57blessing that God has given to them and
140. 4:59seek to turn that opportunity into a
141. 5:02greater blessing of God's pleasure and
142. 5:04greater benefit.