Ready.
Islam is not a health-and-fitness movement. But it does foster good health (&fitness).
After a worshipper (or, a few) has/have prayed (any farz and meditation), Allah may gift what was requested (or, even finer than the requested), too. We have known this, for millenia. The health-wise bonuses that we find around, is the newer information. With the advance of our this-worldy knowledge (science), we reflect to notice them,
This is a reason, why I expect, that even if you are not a muslim, you will (maybe gradually) behave more and more like a muslim (as I have stated at the page Islam).
Islam does foster health, with namaz/salat (&abdest), fasting, miswaq, etc. And there is a forbidden-list, too. e.g., not to consume alcohol, not to eat pork, etc.
There is the ban against substances which numb your mind (alcohol, narcotics, etc). It is a firm-rule, anti-abuse. Even when under external pressure (whether socially, or satanical/witch-being pressures), most (religious) muslim people, altogether avoid them. By contrast, even when the state-laws may fight against alcohol and narcotics (attempt to limit, and punish), the net outcome is never a victory. The alcohol-ban of USA, in the 1920s, was itself abolished. The world-wide war against narcotics, is not won [yet], either. The Netherlands has already legalized the less-potent narcotics.
A lot of people (including myself) who do pray-with-namaz everyday (five,
or more times), may rarely ever have gone to jogging, although they may
acknowledge jogging as healthy. i.e:
Even if jogging is healthy, it may get indefinitely postponed. (Namaz/salat
is obligatory five times a day, and quite a few of us observe most of it.)
Even when some claim the ill-effects of something-banned has been overcome, something else can crop up. For example, it is said, heat treating pork may kill some of the microbes Yet, Influenza A epidemics are contagious from alive pigs. And further, is heat-treating also relevant to mental-deficit caused by pork?
That does sound similar to some case, where you hear the broadcast that tells you to go back to your office "situation normal," although the problem may linger, and the building may collapse. The scientists cannot override a ban, when they cannot see beyond their horizons, whereas Allah is the Creator, in charge of everything, any time.
Namaz combines all the health&fitness, and the spiritual (&social) aspects into a choreography. A composed masterpiece, we are discovering the utilities of it, piece by piece as science advances, as opposed to something like a shopper-wish-list strategy that tells you, for example: Get warmed up, do your (bodily) gymnastics, then eye-gymnastics, "then" sit and do meditation for x minutes, etc. Not to even compare with a garbled salad - a list without any "then," and no provision for (mosque) co-ordinated action. For example, if your "salad-manual" would suggest in what order to eat:
Without the explanations, it would not appear immediately obvious. And as we are mere human-range, we may err, too - when we arrange that list. Allah is always right, though. We only realize later, why the whole thing was ordered that way.
Allah is the Creator. With Islam, we have access to the knowledge of Him, for a fine-tuning of our potential. e.g: A fair-play, for sex, through marriage. No excess.
The med-info (tibb-ul-nebevi), from our prophet Muhammed (s.a.s.), is very popular&prestigious for the Islamic-people. Although many of them are the routine-marvel (e.g: the tooth-polisher miswaq), a few other advices were explicitly for health. He lived among the people, and he has offered various remedies, when people were ill.
That kind of this-worldly knowledge (in the range of medicine, or so), may represent
He warned that we should filter/reflect, when we follow what he offered, if it is this-worldy - although his suggestions are very well. Therefore, I infer that,
He heartened the people for explorative research, too. e.g: He said "Allah has created a remedy, for every ailment - except death, and old-age. Find those remedies."
He said "A piece of knowledge-to-learn is a lost item, for a muslim. Even if it is in China, go learn it." That may offer, by inference, that we may weigh the alternative (folk) medicine varieties, too, from all around the world - as with a med-ed.
An integration is quite easy, at least, if any two medic (from different approaches) may refer to an identical infirmity (e.g: what to do with a heart-palpitation), or to a known remedy (e.g: for what, is the St.John's Wort, a remedy? Hint: depression, or digestion, or both?)
The rise-and-dominance of the hospital-centered allopathic/western medicine, does not imply the incapability of the folk-medicine (varieties) that had existed (all around the world). The problem with folk-medicine, I think, was that the folk-medicine people had to maze for the remedies, but they rarely did it. They were relatively isolated (what was good, what was lethal, when), as opposed to the professional M.D. / Ph.D. networking (through med-school, in symposia, with drug-companies, etc.), and also probably (in some cases), the lack of standardized-availability of an ingredient. e.g: The honey, or the mineral-water, of a region, may present different remedies than the honey, or the mineral-water of another region.
To pray-with-namaz is meditation. It is for the favor of Allah, that most people pray-with-namaz. And actually, that is the rule for our heavenly (other-worldly) gain. Does that reduce any (this-worldly) health gain? No, it is the vice versa. That devoted interacting-with-Allah thinking/feeling is reported as extra-healthy, in-this-world, too.
The popular-academic term "timeless health" is re-inforced with Islam, as most of it does not take any time, either. e.g: to avoid a sin, to appreciate the craft of Allah (as exemplified around), to keep warm when we talk with our family, etc. A well-thought muslim would very probably, prefer to keep his/her attitude that way - within the range of farz & meditation, as Allah has favored. These are heavenward, and healthy, too.
A real devotion, or an honest work, may request your attention. An accountant would know it. A programmer who is working in a nuclear-reactor, would, too.
Although most people certainly accept that Islamic religious-experience is fond for a heart, the task may sometimes overhelm. But the point is that, the concept of obsession-and/or-compulsion is not limited to religious people. And if it is, in fact, invoked by the satan (or, evil genies), we are closer to fight it., when we know that.
Later I also intend to tell about the Islamic social support system, with examples throughout the history of it. A few words, for the moment:
The Islamic health-(financing-)help is not-forced, but very-well promoted. That is, you are not forced to give to the ill, but if you can and if you do, you receive favor of Allah, this worldly, as well as the next-worldly. e.g: zekat, donation/sadaqa (to the needy) stops or lessen the troubles that are to come as hadiths of our prophet Muhammed (s.a.s.) had already informed us of. You can even find people who actually testify that they have experienced it in first person, i.e: donation/sadaqa really changed their risk, the money they earn, and their recovery from already contracted diseases.
When you give away (money) to the needy, please make sure it is really delivered. Arrange someone whom you really trust, or do it yourself. There are a lot of charlatans, very much unqualified - neither to collect money, nor to represent Islam in any post. Beware such!
In my case, even when you are convinced with my ideas, what you should do is to apply them yourself, probably also organizing people around yourself, too. Do not send me any money. It is irrelevant. No money transfers, at all.
Islam is not a health movement, but Islam-and-Health, is for real - as a bonus, to those who live with it. That is an indirect path to health-knowledge, for the faithful.
An infirmaze is for welfare, the right way.
2002. Craving $Health, in an Ex-state
Everyday, fine-living. e.g: An apple-a-day vs. a pill-when-ill. i.e: Know your worth, when healthy, too - not only when a surgeon tells you, the price of an operation, or an injection/pill. e.g: The (inherent) preventive-medicine, with the very food we eat - if/when we eat the right amount of the right food. (cf. farmaze, too.)