Nadim Ali – Healthy Lifestyle Imam

Indeed, all praise belongs to Allah, the most

high. We thank him and we seek his

aid and we seek his forgiveness. And we

seek refuge with him from the evil of

ourselves and from our bad actions.

Whomever Allah guides him, there is no one

who can mislead him. And whoever Allah causes

to go astray, there's no one to guide

him. And I bear witness that there is

no deity except Allah who is unique and

without partners. And I bear witness that Muhammad

is his worshipper and his messenger. May the

peace and blessings of Allah be upon him

and his family and his companions and those

who follow them with good intentions until the

day of judgement.

All you who believe fear Allah as he

should be feared and don't die except as

Muslims.

Indeed, oh, you who believe, fear Allah,

as he should be feared and don't die

except as Muslims. And oh, mankind, be careful

of your duty to your abhu, created you

from a single soul and from it created

its mate. And from the 2 of them,

he spread forth many men and many women.

Be careful of your duty to Allah whom

you demand your mutual rights and be careful

of your duty to the wounds that bore

you. Indeed, Allah is

over you. The

truth, he will cause your deeds to be

beneficial and he will forgive for you your

sins. And whoever obeys Allah and his messenger,

then he has truly achieved a tremendous accomplishment.

For indeed, the best speech is the book

of Allah

and the best guidance is the guidance of

Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and the most

evil of all affairs are newly invented matters

which has no precedence in Islam. And indeed,

all innovations are astray and each astray is

in the hellfire. Oh Allah. Save us from

it. Oh Allah.

Accept our du'a.

And,

we'll

to make the akuqah brief inshallah

because of the delay.

And,

we

all should make du'a,

that Allah gives us the blessings of the

storm and seek refuge in Allah from the

wrath of the storm.

Allah says, all you who have believed, eat

from the good things which we have provided

for you and be grateful to Allah. It

is indeed him that you worship.

And the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam said

that the strong believer is better and more

beloved to Allah than the weak believer, while

there is good in both. Again, the strong

believer is better and more beloved to Allah

subhanahu wa ta'ala than the weak believer, while

there is good in both. And that's again

from a Muslim hadith. And we have to

understand that

as Muslims, we should always practice

a healthier, a holistic lifestyle.

And again, holistic just means basically that that

you are healthy in mind, body, and spirit.

Mind, body, and from a spiritual perspective. You

know, we should be at the forefront of

you here about the organic foods and the

the the healthcare movement. We should be at

the forefront

of all of these things as Muslims. And

I always to say that Muslims should just

mean activists because we should be, you know,

not just active, but we need to be

radioactive for the most part. We need to

be active in all spheres of our lives,

and yet specifically in how we take care

of ourselves.

You know, the Quran gives us good understanding

of, you know, of of what types of

food that we should be eating. You know,

what foods are beneficial? It talks about the

honey. Talks about the vegetables such as corn

and and the herbs, and talks about the

fruits and all the the olives and the

dates and the grapes. And these are all

mentioned, the pomegranates,

all mentioned in the Quran. In bananas, we

have to look at all of the fruits

and the foods that Allah has given us.

He tells us to eat of the good

things, the pure things. And then also he

talks about the

milk. You know, he says Allah says, he

created the cattle for you wherein is warmth

and many gains and and and you eat

thereof.

And we and again, we see that milk

is just a gift that Allah has given

us. He says that, for you, there is

in the cattle a lesson. We give you

to drink what is in their bellies from

betwixt the chyme and the blood pure milk,

easy and palatable for those who drink it.

And again, seafood from the sea, a lot

tells us from the sea is something that

we have something to show gratitude

for. It is he who has made the

sea of service that you might eat fresh

fish, meat from it. And again, also some

birds are lawful and from the meat of

the fowls of what they like. So we

see that we have a dietary plan

already in the Quran for the past 1400

years or over 1400 years. Allah has given

us the the dietary plan that we should

basically

follow

follow. You know, as Muslims, you know, we're

not supposed to say we're not gonna eat

any meat. I remember I was off meat

for 2 years prior to coming to Islam.

And then I remember my brother, you know,

he said, well, the Prophet ain't me.

A brother, you know, he said, well, the

prophet ate meat.

You better than the prophet. And so that

ended my my vegan days, you know. But

even that, you know, when you look at

the prophet peace be upon him, he didn't

overeat meat. He didn't saturate his diet with

meat. He ate very little meat, but he

also ate meat. And so we have to

understand, we can't basically do something that's inconsistent

with Islam. We can't say, well, we're not

gonna eat animals

because some people take the position that you

shouldn't eat any any animal. And so as

Muslims, we can not eat vet, eat eat

meat, but we can't just say it's haram.

We can't do that, you know. And so

and we we have to basically look at

the fact that no matter what we eat,

we need to basically

be minimized.

You know, but as the prophet salallahu alayhi

wasalam, he says, you know, we have

to be be not be excessive in eating.

Not be excessive in eating because even if

it's halal, you know, we'll say, oh, it's

halal so we can just eat all we

want. No. You know, you know, it's you

know, even whether it's halal or it's a

behamid, we have to also not be of

those who overeat.

As the law says, eat and drink, but

do not commit excesses. Indeed, he does not

love those who are excessive.

Another frequently cited hadith says that that the

prophet

said that we should fill our stomachs 1

third, you know, 1 third with food, 1

third with water, and 1 third should be

left empty or 1 third air. In other

words, don't be gluttonous. Don't be gluttonous.

So we have to be of those who

are practicing

again a lifestyle

that's about life and not a lifestyle that

that leads you to death. Because most of

the diseases

that we are faced with today

can be traced back to

what we're eating, or how what we're not

eating and how much we're eating. You know,

again, as the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam

talked about that the the the belly can

be the the source of a lot of

diseases. So we have to be of those

who are conscious. We have to be of

those who are health conscious, you know, again,

in mind, body, and spirit. These are some

of the things that we have to do.

You know, we've been faced with this pandemic,

you know, throughout the past year. It's a

test big test that Allah has given us.

And as Muslims, you know, again, we should

be of those who,

relearning

the health

benefits of just the practice of Islam, healthy

lifestyle. And it helps to basically

increase your

immune system, gives you a healthier immune system.

So these are some of the things that

we have to look at. You know, I

know there's many positions on taking the vaccine,

but we want to get into the position

of of of of of of promoting

good knowledge and healthy knowledge based on the

science. And the prophet said the science is

his weapon. And so we if he if

he was living during this time, would he

be taking the vaccine?

We Allah knows best. But we have to

be of those who

get get all the research in and then

make a decision. I know in the Majlis,

we put a letter out saying it's up

to you. Make make the decision as to

whether you wanna take the vaccine or not.

But all of the imams in the Majlis,

from my knowledge,

they all took the vaccine. My myself included.

I took it in January.

So and I haven't grown another head. So

I'm just saying that, you know, we wanna

try to get back inside to the Islamic

Center. We need to basically not only practice

healthy

lifestyles on so many different levels, but we

have to not be a source of the

virus because they have this new variant that's

out that's more deadly than the old variant.

And so and so we have to start,

again, practicing a lot of wisdom or hikmah

in how we live our lives inshallah. If

I've said anything that's inconsistent with what Allah

and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has given

us, I take full responsibility for that. If

I've said anything in which you have gained

some new insight. As always, all praise is

due to Allah.

Beautiful sound

that rained.

Ten lessons that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa

sallam taught us in order for us to

live healthy.

Again, as I mentioned earlier, eat in moderation.

Eat in moderation.

Not just eating in moderation, but he says

to eat slowly. It was narrated that the

prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was a strong advocate

of eating slowly to aid the digestive system.

And when you look at scholars

in, dieting and and all of that, you'll

see they tell you to count your shoes.

So a lot of the knowledge that people

have gone for PhDs,

to get PhDs for the prophet salallahu alayhi

wa sallam who was the unleaded person. He

was an unleaded person. He gave them this

knowledge 1400 years ago. Eat slowly. Helps to

digest our food. He also talked about the

importance of activity, physical activity.

Some of the brothers we've been walking,

every morning. And then there's a brother that

been running the the program, for the past

few years walks, you know, frequently around the

park. And so we wanna increase our activity,

our physical activity. You know? And then the

prophet also, he he promoted archery and sports

and horseback riding. You know, again,

as, as we we we recited earlier, a

strong believer is better endeared to Allah than

a weak believer, although and both of them

are good. The one who is physically strong

is better before Allah because they are more

active and energetic in their performance and their

worship,

and and they're taking care of the needs

of others. And also the importance of prayer.

The importance of prayer and the importance of

sleep, getting your rest. As the prophet

says that your body has rights over you.

The body has rights over you. Sharing food,

as he said, if there's enough for 1,

there's enough for 2. Again, he is not

a believer who eats to his full, but

his neighbor goes without food. And the prophet

said, well, he was salam talked about that.

The principle of improving

the the public's general health is is is

again is thankful to the prophet. We should

be of those who are sharing, you know,

with one another. You know, fostering a strong

community. In other words, having strong relationships.

Again,

and again, the scientists would teach you that

having healthy relationships

can aid in longevity and and aid in

your quality of life. And again, as prophet

salallahu alaihi wa sallam say, eating together and

not separately for the blessings are associated with

the company.

Also, fasting. Of course, we know the benefits

of fasting throughout the month, but also during

the month of Ramadan and just throughout the

year. Now, the new fad has become intermittent

fasting intermittent fasting. I wonder where they got

that from. Intermittent fasting. And again, they say

it improves the insulin sensitivity, speeds up the

metabolism, and curves hunger, and improves eating pattern.

You know, and also talked about dental hygiene.

Prophet Sallam Islam talked about dental hygiene using

the MSHWAC.

And so

I I I challenge anybody to find any

of his contemporaries, whether in Europe or Africa,

who that were promoting these types of concepts,

to drink water slowly. Drink water slowly. You

know, and so again, science today talks about

that the importance of drinking water slowly. The

prophet do not drink water in one gulp

like the camel, instead in small sips.

And he also talked about mental health. Having

a peaceful mind through accepting of life's changes,

who we'll say, In sha Allah and Ma

sha Allah.

He encouraged them not to be, engulfed with

anxiety or depression, not to worry, and specifically

anger,

don't get angry. He said, advise me and

don't get angry. He said, advise me and

don't get angry because anger is like a

form of an adrenaline can intoxicate you and

then you can make

impulsive decisions that you could regret for the

rest of your life. And so these are

the 10 points that the prophet gave

us, left us, you know, to promote a

healthy lifestyle. He's just he wasn't just a

person who was just a preacher. He was

a person who was a reacher.

And one of the things that I noticed

when I was in Chicago last week, there's

a group called Iman. And we have a

local Iman here in Atlanta.

But I looked around. They have a wellness

center. They have a mobile health clinic. You

know, they have houses for people who are

formerly incarcerated.

And

may Allah allow us to be of those

because even though this community is being gentrified

as the philosophy,

I'm a paraphrase a great philosopher

by the name of Pryor. You know, the

Muslim live here. You visited. You know, so

we have to understand that we're vested in

this community. And so as one of the

politicians said that people who graduated

graduate from Washington High can't afford to live

in this community now. And so we have

to make affordable housing. We have to make

health care affordable as or free. So these

are some of the things that we want

to envision. And if you close your eyes

and envision that to be able to buy

up some of the properties, fix them up,

and make them affordable, and not just basically

just for the gentry class. So these are

some of the things that we hope to

do with the Islamic Center and beyond.

And so I want you to basically dig

deep today, brothers and sisters, because again,

we're we're we're on the cusp of refin

of finishing the Islamic Center, but we also

have daily needs for people who come and

basically seek our help in many different ways.

So I want you to dig deep brothers

and sisters and and do what you can.

And even if all you can give is

a dollar, give a dollar. But if you

can give more, give more. If you can

pledge more, we have, you know, just several

ways in which we can go through. Zelle,

Cash App, you know, or you can write

a check and, you know, cash works too.

Cash works too. So these are some of

the things that I really, you know, again,

want to start to accomplish before Allah takes

me away from here. You know, because we

want to establish a a long term presence

here, long term presence and not just be

those who just pray

or, you know, that we want to be

of those who are helping our neighbors, helping

the Muslims and the not yet Muslims.

Our lord, take us not to task if

we forget or fall into error. Our lord,

lay not on us a burden such as

you did lay on those who have gone

before us. Our lord, lay not on us

a burden which we do not have the

strength to bear and overlook our faults and

forgive us and have mercy on us. You

are our protector and grant us a victory.