Exercise and Physical Training

every person of faith knows that his body has been entrusted to his use for a short time in this earthly life; he is responsible for caring for it as best he can, so he is careful about his health. for this reason, he devotes some serious time in his daily activities for exercise or physical training. exercise and physical training help to strengthen the body, give it endurance and enable it to function in an orderly and healthy way and will make it possible for the believer to work even better to please allah and do right action.

a human being's metabolism is not in accord with inactivity, it is created to support movement. today it is recognised that exercise has many benefits: it strengthens the body's immune, circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems; it makes the body more resistant to germs and disease; it ensures the orderly functioning of the hormonal system, the heart and the arteries; it strengthens the muscles, joints and tendons; in improves conditioning and robustness; it helps maintain balance in the blood sugar, reduce the level of "bad" cholesterol and increase the level of "good" cholesterol.

another reason why people of faith make efforts in this regard is that physical health is a quality that allah draws attention to in the qur'an. for example, it can be seen in verse 144 of surat al-a'raf, in which allah speaks to musa (as) and chooses him to lead the children of isra'il, that accounts about him tell of his physical strength. another verse tells of the physical strength of talut (as) who was sent to rule over his people:

their prophet said to them, "allah has appointed talut to be your king." they said, "how can he have kingship over us when we have much more right to kingship than he does? he has not even got much wealth!" he said, "allah has chosen him over you and favoured him greatly in knowledge and physical strength. allah gives kingship to anyone he wills. allah is all-encompassing, all-knowing." (surat al-baqara: 247)

there is another reason why believers should be careful to take exercise: if a person who is communicating the teachings of the qur'an looks physically strong and attractive he will have influence over others; that person's noble and attractive outward appearance will make a positive impression on those with whom he is communicating.

for this reason, believers should always make the effort to maintain a strong and healthy body. they cannot be lazy, lax or careless in this matter.