Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The strong believer is more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, but there is goodness in both of them. Be eager for what benefits you, seek help from Allah, and do not be frustrated. If something befalls you, then do not say: If only I had done something else. Rather say: Allah has decreed what he wills. Verily, the phrase ‘if only’ opens the way for the work of Satan.”
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2664
I often find myself reflecting on this statement, “The strong believer is more beloved to Allah than the weak believer, but there is goodness in both of them.“
Many classical sources say that strong is referring to faith rather than physical strength, other sources say that it may refer to physical strength and enumerate its virtues. I think that the ambiguity may be purposeful, especially taking into consideration the latter part of the Hadith, “Be eager for what benefits you, seek help from Allah, and do not be frustrated.” Whether a person excels in physical or mental virtues there are opportunities to turn this gift towards the service of Allah.
And in the complexity and glory of creation all parts of our existence can lend themselves to one another. If a person is more physically inclined the BDNF (Brain Derived Neurotrophic factor) which results in physical activity can actually lead to increases in cognition. If a person is more mentally inclined we are able to use our brains to determine the minimum viable dose of physical activity which will help us to improve our health and cognition. Alhamdulillah, the levels of activity needed to accomplish these results scale in correlation to lifestyle factors such as general activity level, so for the sedentary even light exercise such as walks can yield significant health results over time.
Thinking about this dance between mind, body, and spirit and the propensity for gains in one area to positively impact other areas, I’ve decided to begin to experiment on myself to determine to what degree I can, with the help of Allah, increase my cognition and capacity for servitude by building better habits.
Given the correlation between physical activity and increased cognition, as well as stress reduction/management on overall mental and physical wellbeing, I will begin to experiment myself in these categories, inshaAllah.
Mind games… body wins.
Or at least that’s the plan. My questions for myself are what metrics can I utilize to test baseline cognition and physical wellbeing as well as spiritual wellbeing…
hmm
If you have any suggestions or have run similar experiments on yourself, please feel free to contact me or comment below and open up a dialogue!
