Our First FECycle Khutbah at Masjid Abu Bakr, Walthamstow

🚲Our First FECycle Khutbah at Masjid Abu Bakr 🚲

Main crux of the khutbah was that due to colonialism and other reasons that our Muslim worldview has tended to divide *'*dini - Islamic'* and *'dunyawi - worldy'*.

However, the Prophetic epistemological approach has been holistic, organic and in line with what is defined as Tawhidic Universalism.

The Following hadith in al-Daylami is very interesting in this regard:
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said, *'Learn the casting of arrows (archery) and the Qur'an'*.

The physical and the spiritual go hand in hand with the Prophetic Pedagogy.

The hadith of the health practitioner who after a long stay in Madinah came to the Prophet and explained how he hardly had any patients. To which the Prophet (PBUH) replied, "we are the people who do not eat until we get hungry and when we eat we avoid overeating".

The overall lived experience of the sahaba was one where both the spiritual and physical health went hand in hand.

The Prophetic traditions point towards this:

... ان لجسدك عليك حقا...
... indeed your body has a right upon you...

...اعوذ بك من العجز والكسل
... Oh Allah I seek your protection from powerlessness and laziness...

"Compete in archery, have a fit body and walk barefoot"

"Any action without the remembrance of Allah is either a diversion or heedlessness with exemption to *four* acts;
1. Walking from target to target (archery);
2. Horse riding;
3. Playing with family and
4. Swimming"

"Learn the casting of arrows and the Qur'an"

There are numerous ahadith which emphasise the importance of walking🚶🏻, running🏃🏻, archery🏹, swimming 🏊🏾, spear throwing , wrestling 🤼‍♂ and horse riding 🏇🏻.

Coming back to the holistic approach of living Islam in today's modern context. 6 million people in Britain today do not take a brisk walk of over 10 minutes each month. Sedentary lifestyles take an estimated 85,000 peoples lives each year.

Today's health experts believe that cycling can make people healthy and live longer, cut public health costs.

This has enormous health implications, with inactive people significantly more likely to develop cardiovascular problems, type 2 diabetes, and various cancers.

See following short article:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2017/sep/17/the-miracle-pill-how-cycling-could-save-the-nhs

In conclusion, our Muslim worldview should include the physical alongside the spiritual and afford it the importance given by our Prophet (PBUH). I believe every masjid / madrasah should work towards having a Scouts Club, archery club and cycling club.

Hamid Mahmood