Body

You know, the early muslim community was known to be much more healthy than other people around them.

They followed the way of life lived by the Messenger,

and that proved to be good for them in this life as well as the next.

For a start, the most important way of behaving that made them different from those around them, was the attention they paid to being clean,

both outside and inside.

On the outside they washed themselves several times a day so that they could be clean to make their prayers,

and as they lived in a town in the middle of a desert with hardly any water available, all that washing must have seemed very strange indeed.

And the Messenger liked to be even cleaner than was absolutely necessary.

For instance, he paid great attention to keeping his teeth very clean.

He used a brush made from the miswak bush to clean his teeth regularly during the day.

He liked to keep his mouth clean for the times when he was speaking speaking God's words in the Qur'an.

And he also made sure that the muslims around him knew how important it was that their food and drink were clean and pure,

and that eating and drinking more than they needed was bad for them.

The month of fasting in Ramadhan was not the only time that he went without food.

Despite being the ruler of the muslims, he often used to go hungry,

and it is said that he would regularly fast on Mondays and Thursdays each week.

But even though he kept his appetites under control, he did not go so far as to make himself ill.

We are told that he said that our bodies have a right over us,

that it is our duty to do what we need to keep them healthy.

They need to be exercised,

and for when they do get ill we need to learn of the different kinds of medicine that will help them to get better.

Being good in this life, to please God, means that we are also being good for ourselves,

keeping ourselves healthy so that we can serve others in the way that God wills

and the way that God's Messenger Muhammad showed us.