Naeem's Blog

I was sitting in a meeting today at work and when talk of scheduling the next meeting came up, one person mentioned that Ramadan was right around the corner (they use the Hijri calendar for official meetings where I work). That's when it hit me - Ramadan is almost here!!

So in the spirit of my 'discovery', I felt it relevant to begin raising our collective spiritual awareness:

As some of you know, I've been trying (and failing) for years to get into shape. Regardless of my progress (or lack thereof), I have been able to gain some knowledge about how to get there.

Based on common practice, the most balanced approach to getting in shape consists of three things: healthy diet, weightlifting, and cardiovascular exercise. All three must be done in their proper balance in order to achieve sustained gains.

If you only go to the gym to lift weights without any cardio, you may end up with more muscle, but you will retain most of your excess fat. Conversely, if you perform cardio on a regular basis, but skip the weights, you may end up losing some fat but at the cost of losing valuable muscle. And its obvious that doing both while maintaining a diet of pizza and ice cream will get you nowhere!

The beautiful thing about all this is that Allah (swt) has designed the inner body to effectively mirror the outer body. In pursuit of purifying the nafs, a similar balanced approach is equally necessary. And if the balance is not maintained, the results will be less than optimal.

Part 1 - Cardiovascular Exercise

Let's begin with the cardio. As we do cardio to burn the fat on our body, we must likewise burn the fat off our inner hearts. Imagine if you ate junk food for years upon years shunning any type of cardio activity. How would that affect your physical body? Cholesterol level would be through the roof, arteries would become clogged, your body fat level would skyrocket - basically, your body would have deteriorated due to negligence.

The same has happened to our spiritual hearts. We have been indulging in all kinds of sins throughout our lives and this has resulted in layers upon layers of unwanted 'fat' surrounding our hearts. Our hearts have become rusted. Our hearts have become hardened. Our hearts have become veiled with darkness. We have neglected our hearts. We need to revive our spiritual hearts with its own type of cardio – Taubah (asking Allah for forgiveness).

Sincere taubah burns away the sins and their residual effects like cardio exercise burns away the fat. Taubah revives the heart. It begins to remove the accumulated rust from years and years of disobeying Allah and obeying our nafs. Asking Allah for forgiveness softens the heart that has become hardened over the years.

Also note that the one who jumps on the treadmill once a month and then expects to lose the unwanted fat is merely fooling him/herself. Similarly, occasional taubah and istighfaar will not suffice. It must be done on a regular basis. Remember, the Prophet (saw) used to make istighfaar over 70 times each and every day. How many times must we atone for our misdeeds? 1,000? 10,000? Maybe even more!

And just as a good cardio session can only come from a sustained effort resulting in a good sweat, sincere taubah can only come from constant istighfaar, resulting in its own form of 'sweat' – namely, tears.

If you don’t do your cardio up to the point of sweating profusely, you may have burned a few calories but you didn’t maximize your efforts. Similarly, if your taubah is not done with intense sincerity causing you to cry profusely out of shame and guilt, it may be accepted, but it is nonetheless lacking.

Part 2 - Weightlifting

Part 3 - Healthy Diet