Saad Tasleem – First Day at the Gym or MASJID

			Salam Alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu Welcome to this raw vlog.
		

			Today I want to talk about something that I have noticed when it comes to people going to the gym.
Now, I know not a lot of people are going to the gym right now, because of the quarantine. And
obviously this depends on where you are and what the quarantine is like. But I do believe there are
quite a few people who are trying to get in shape these days, maybe because of some of the weight
that they may have gained during the quarantine people trying to get healthier. And so because of
that I was reminded of this issue. Now, what am I talking about? What I'm talking about, or what I
want to talk about, is how sometimes people are shamed for going to the gym. Now what do I mean by
		

			that? Well, you see someone at the gym who is overweight, and they look like they don't, they
haven't been working out. And sometimes you may look down at that person, and the person may feel
themselves, they may feel shame coming to the gym, because you know, they just don't look as cool
working out. And we live in such a visual world now where everyone has to, you know, we do
everything for public consumption, right, we go to the gym, take pictures, everyone has to see us
working out and we got to look good, right. And so a person who may be overweight, you know, they
don't, they think they don't look good at the gym. And so they may feel shy and shamed and they may
		

			feel bad about their body. And what this is, is just another form of fat shaming. And it's even
worse, because the person who is in the gym, they have nothing to feel bad about. And actually they
have something to be very happy about. And that is the fact that they are actually in the gym,
they're doing something about their health. So when it comes to you know, and even if you're
struggling with this issue, never feel bad about your body, if you're doing something about it, if
you're taking positive steps towards improving your health, then there's nothing to feel bad about
because you're actually moving in a positive direction. And so when you're at the gym, or when
		

			you're working out, look at yourself and say, Look, I'm doing something about my health. And
likewise, I bring this up because there's very much a parallel when it comes to our spirituality
when it comes to our faith when it comes to our emotion. Because just like in the gym, similar
things may happen in the machine. Sometimes we may see someone in the machine who doesn't look the
part. So they don't look like a religious Muslim, or they may have certain external things that are
missing. And we may judge that person and we may start to criticize that person not and we see this
happen all the time someone comes to the machine. And you know, they start people start criticizing
		

			them for one thing or the other. And, you know, start shaming them. Now what it what is that it's
really shaming the person for that person not fitting, you know, the image of what a Muslim is
supposed to look like. The reality is that the very fact that the person is in the mesh, it means
that they're doing something positive when it comes to their spirituality, they're doing something
positive when it comes to their email, they are trying and as long as you are trying, then you
shouldn't feel bad about what you're doing. And even Allahu Allah to Allah. He says, de la Moscow
partem. Have the taqwa of Allah as much as you can, to the best of your ability. Have the taqwa of
		

			Allah, be conscious of Allah be pious, as much as you can, meaning try as much as you can. Look,
you're never going to be perfect. You know, we're talking about our bodies, our bodies are never
going to be perfect because perfection doesn't exist. But we can try, we can make an effort. And as
long as we're trying, we're making an effort. We don't have anything to feel bad about. Likewise
with our faith with our piety with our Eamon, as long as we're trying, we have nothing to feel bad
about. And as for the people who may be shaming others, then I hope this serves as a reminder that
instead of putting people down, we should encourage them. And that is why when I see someone in the
		

			mission that looks like they don't come to the mesh to the lot for whatever reason. It makes me very
happy. It makes me very proud. I'm like, I'm so happy to see that this person is coming to the
masjid. And it makes me want to go up to them and greet them and say set arms and you know, and I
hope our brothers and sisters are the same way. Same thing with a gym, right? You see someone when I
see somebody in the gym, who's like on the treadmill, and they're like struggling and it looks like
maybe it's their first day in the gym or they've just recently started the gym. I'm like, Yeah, man,
more power to you. Like all these people in the gym who are already in shape, great. They're just
		

			doing what they have been doing and they may look in the mirror and flex and whatever and feel good.
But like you are actually putting in like all this work like you have motivated yourself to come to
the gym and to work out and to make these positive changes in your life. And I almost
		

			Sometimes I want to go in like, give this person a hug, be like, man, I believe in you, like you can
do it. Just like how to love somebody who, you know, makes an effort when it comes to their
spirituality. So we should be trying to uplift these people as much as possible to encourage them to
keep going rather than putting them down. And I will say this, sometimes when we put other people
down, that's more of an indication about how we feel about ourselves. Sometimes it's our own
insecurities that causes us to put other people down, especially people that are trying like, you
know, when someone's trying to put that person down. It really says something about how we feel
		

			about ourselves. Anyway, just a couple of thoughts. I had just wanted to share that with all of you.
I'd love to hear your thoughts as well. Have you started working out and getting in shape since the
quarantine and have you had an experience, either in the gym or at the mission as well as a positive
or a negative experience? You know, some people I don't want to just talk about the negative the
positive as well because we do have people who do encourage others and uplift others. So I want to
hear those stories as well. So leave them in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you. And
until next time, a setup not equal to law heat or what I can't do.