Hadith falsifications on workout / exercise

[Heba E. Husseyn]

As-salaam Alaikum and peace dear all.    As we know Abu Huraira and his companions were supposed to have ‘brain storage ability’ more than Samsung Galaxy smartphone 64GB.  No matter what issue or topic of life we are focused on, it takes little time for our jurists to collect a bunch of ahadith narrated by these people for a concocted, un-Quranic ‘verdict.’  If you raise the question of the ‘verdict’s’ non- compatibility with the Noble Quran, they claim that the authenticity of the ‘verdict’ is to be assessed based on (forged) isnad or the chain of narrators of those ahadith.

Keeping this unfortunate issue in mind, let us take a look at another practical sphere of life – physical activities or exercises / workouts.

Our bodies have a complex physical mechanism as designed by The Almighty, The Most Exalted.  Our mortal physical bodies are given to us temporarily as a trust from Allah and we should take care of it as best as we can, not abuse it.  However that doesn’t justify constructing unreasonable tales from nowhere.

Islamic Workplace which links exercise with “Sunnah” says “Even though preventing illness or injury is often out of our control, there are many conditions brought on or made worse by our own lack of attention to diet and fitness. “  True, agree.   The same outlet also claims “Obesity or an inadequate diet, laziness and weakness are all afflictions for which we will be called to account. “  Not true, disagree.  This is too hasty a statement and much too generalized.  Such statements, if not enumerated individually and explicated comprehensively, can cause widespread confusion in peoples’ minds.  Lot of blameless people may end up thinking they are sinners for reasons beyond their control.

Inadequate diet can have multiple causes beyond our control like poverty, residing in a poor country, natural lack of appetite etc.  Inadequate diet isn’t always a result of intentional crash dieting to stay slender.  Similarly obesity isn’t always caused by overeating or lack of workout.  It is very often a genetic or hormonal phenomenon.   You could starve yourself and still remain weighty compared to normal people.  Similarly physical weakness is seldom self-inflicted.  It has a slew of other reasons like aging or age-related chronic health issues, poverty and lack of affordability etc.  While laziness is a bothersome trait that often makes us end up wasting quite a bit of our precious time, there is certainly no indication in the Noble Quran to assume that it will get us into any kind of serious trouble on the Day of Judgement as long as we continue to sincerely love Allah with a strong iman and not transgress indulging in wrong deeds.  In such cases laziness is not from Shaitaan which our ulemas perpetually claim to cause us guilt.  In majority of the cases laziness sprouts from acute physical fatigue, preoccupation, depression, extreme stress and endless worries that can have many reasons.  The important thing is to continue holding on to Allah and never let go of ourselves.  Every believer does not have the same capacity and emotional strength to fight stress and no one understands that better than Allah Almighty Who is a Watcher over all things.

Al-Tabarani claims, quote:  “Prophet Muhammad said, “Any action  without the remembrance of God is either a diversion or heedlessness excepting four acts: Walking from target to target [during archery practice], training a horse, playing with one’s family, and learning to swim.”  Here, acts such as walking (or archery), horse training,  playing or sports and swimming are viewed as workouts.    This hadith has two parts.  The first part is right.  Certainly the thought of Allah Almighty is a must in every act and every domain of our lives.  But the second part of this hadith very rudely overrides the first part by excluding physical activities, insinuating that those acts don’t require the thought or remembrance of Allah.  They certainly do.  Whether it’s a workout or eating our meals or driving a car or starting a new day, a sincere and humble believer always begins with “BismAllah Ar Rehman Ar Raheem.”   This forgery by Tabarani consists of a big blunder.  The Prophet (pbuh) would never ever say anything with such a huge oversight. 

Further quoting the same source which is staunchly focused only on all sorts of ahadith and completely dismissive of Quranic values. Quote: “In Sahih Muslim,  Prophet Muhammad (s) said a strong believer was better than a weak believer. The Prophet (s) said,  “The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, while there is good in both.”  He was talking in terms of faith and character but also indicating that physical strength i.e. optimum health and fitness were desirable, providing God gave us the ways and means of attaining such strength.”  Unquote.  Indeed it must refer to the strength of Faith NOT physical strength.  While it may be good for you if you are physically strong and healthy, it is not by any means a quality that can bring you close to Allah.  There is not an iota of evidence in the Noble Quran supporting such notions.

The big problem with many of our so-called scholars who speak on diverse topics is that they won't attribute the contents of their talk to their own decent common sense, instead, are hell-bent on forging the name of the Prophet (on whom be peace) for whatever they want to say.  Subsequently that creates the dire necessity for setting up a factory for manufacturing hadith forgeries, generation after generation.

[N. Truth Seeker]

The big problem with many of our so-called scholars who speak on diverse topics is that they won't attribute the contents of their talk to their own decent common sense, instead, are hell-bent on forging the name of the Prophet (on whom be peace) for whatever they want to say.  Subsequently that creates the dire necessity for setting up a factory for manufacturing hadith forgeries, generation after generation.

This is really and absolutely spot on.  Can’t agree more.

If I like workouts and consider them to be a useful part of maintaining good health, I should speak based on my personal Halal findings.  I don’t have to drag the name of the Prophet (pbuh) every time I talk.  That kind of approach is bound to cause a ton of forgeries in every generation.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Yeah, for every topic there is a bunch of ahadith ready to bamboozle us.  Since use of chemicals and parabens have become so common in modern times in foods, medicines, toiletries, cosmetics, cleaners etc. I won’t be surprised if Abu Huraira or Abu Dharr suddenly display a load of hadiths on chemicals and preservatives. 

Very needful clarifications, sister Heba. 

[Zainab_M]

An example of that is already around.  Hadith says plucking of eyebrows is Haram.  Quoting the forgery “Abd-Allaah ibn Masood said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah (sal Allaahu Alaiyhi wa sallam) say: “Allaah has CURSED the woman who does tattoos and the one who has them done, the woman who plucks eyebrows and the one who has it done, and the one who files her teeth for the purpose of beauty, altering the creation of Allaah.” (Bukhaari, Muslim).

Plucking eyebrows initially started in late 1800s CE while this hadith is of late 7th or early 8th centuries, compiled around 9th or 10th centuries, more than 150 years after the passing of the Prophet (pbuh) in 632 CE.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Ok, so did people of Arabia did tattoos in those days?  And what is filing the teeth supposed to mean?  I only know of filing of nails, not teeth.

[Zainab_M]

I have never known of any rudimentary skin tattoos being customary in ancient Arabia, and certainly not in the case of women.  Teeth filing is same as dental contouring done professionally at the dentist’s clinic to slightly change the shape, length or width of teeth .. reshaping of teeth in other words for cosmetic purposes.  This too I doubt very much if it existed in the 7th century.

[N. Truth Seeker]

😄I have seen a few tik-tokers and youtubers using nail file to file the teeth.

[Ruhi_Rose]

I have seen a few tik-tokers and youtubers using nail file to file the teeth.

Were they hadithists  .. ?

[N. Truth Seeker]

No, they were these American teenagers .... no less crazy than hadithists.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Maybe we should ask our scholars what did Abu Huraira say about the treadmill ......  ?

[N. Truth Seeker]

😂


I really won't be surprised if some day I hear a hadith on treadmill.

[Ruhi_Rose]

Yeah, with Abu Huraira and Abu Dharr's 64GB mind running at 3200MHz speed .......

[N. Truth Seeker]

🤣

[Zainab_M]

😃