Nothing beats “good old-fashioned hard work.” However, in today’s world, evil is made fair-seeming. Ease is the order of today. Whatever is “easier” is what we want to do. It takes work to improve our diet. It takes effort or work to lose weight. However, in order to truly reap the benefits of exercise, you have to work in “unity” with the entire body. Just doing sit-ups or crunches will not give you a “six-pack.” You have to combine a healthy diet with a full body cardio workout, like walking, in order to get rid of fat. Doing a full or total body workout will give you the best results.
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan said, “No matter how great our individual prayer, we fly faster when we pray together as a community. We move faster toward the goal of life itself when we find ourselves in unity with God, and in unity with the purpose for our existence.” (The Final Call, August 11, 2009, Vol. 28, No. 44). God wants the best for our entire body, not just one part. He created our body as a true example of “unity.”
As we strive to improve our lives and the condition of our bodies, we must keep in mind balance and gradualism. There is no bodybuilder that will just work out his biceps and no other muscle. We want every muscle to be strong: biceps, triceps, hamstring, quadriceps, calves, etc. Work to lose weight gradually. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said in the book, How to Eat to Live if you are eating three meals a day, reduce it to two meals and then one meal a day.
As we go further and further away from our law that was given in How to Eat to Live, our appearance suffers. Our mind suffers. Our body suffers and we may need a “crutch” or something to help us back up.
However, when we use a crutch too much, whether physically, mentally, or financially, we can become weaker. If you break your leg, you only use the crutch long enough for the muscle to begin the healing process. After a while you must start walking on the leg to build the strength up again. If not, the muscle will begin to atrophy (meaning: waste away or decrease in strength). Financial crutches reduce your spirit to work. With mental crutches, such as waiting for someone to give you the answer, you are less likely to study.
This society is full of “crutches” or quick diet schemes and pills. The quickest fix to get rid of fat may be surgery, but the most “effective” one is “work.”
Let us revisit the explanation of work in Study Guide Number 13 and the words of Minister Farrakhan. It reads, “What is ‘work?’ It is Force x Distance; the exertion of energy on an object that is not moving on its own, resulting in the movement of that object. No matter how much force is applied, if the result is not motion, there has been no work. In the April 10, 1988 issue of The Final Call, I wrote an article titled, ‘We Must Depend on Allah and Ourselves.’ In it I [Minister Farrakhan] reminded the Believers that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad has warned us against sitting at home waiting on a mystery god! He has said we can’t sit down; we can’t lay down. We must get up and go to work doing something for ourselves! In the Lessons given to us by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, we are given the following question and answer: ‘Will you sit at home and wait for that mystery god to bring you food?’”
Will you depend on a diet pill to lose weight? Granted, sometimes a pill may be taken for medicinal purposes, but what will help us long term is trying to treat our body in the best manner you can. Buy, plant and eat the best food.
Are we doers of the word or just hearers of the word? We have no problem with coming up with ideas, we just have difficulty implementing them sometimes. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad didn’t just talk about building a Nation; he started the process, “the movement” and began building the Nation. How? He used “good old-fashioned hard work that was backed by a tremendous faith in God. He didn’t wait for the government or anyone to give him anything. He created opportunities to build businesses and schools. He helped to resurrect thousands. Similarly, there are many mosques or study groups across the nation that have learned to put their “mathematical theology to work” and started building while resurrecting people. (i.e. Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Washington, D.C., etc.) One of the best feelings in the world is the feeling you get when you have honestly succeeded in accomplishing a righteous goal. The sense of accomplishment is a wonderful feeling. We must move toward achieving more righteous goals.
Lastly, start walking 3-4 times a week and make it a habit. Remember, the Holy Qur’an mentions that no good deed will go unrewarded. Let us eat to live, get fit for life while helping others do the same.
May Allah bless us all with peace, love, health, wealth and happiness.
(Audrey Muhammad, a certified personal trainer and aerobics instructor, is the author of “The Sister’s Guide to Fitness” and the creator of the KIBOS exercise video and the Get Fit to Live KIBOS Challenge. Please consult a physician before beginning any new workout or dietary plan. Send questions and comments to [email protected] Check out her website at GetFittoLive.com.)
