IslamoSophia - Food and Health

Our Holy Prophet (saw) said: Do not sweep your floors at night because it causes poverty Firstly, our physical jobs are meant to be done in the day time when the body is strong and when natural light works in our favor.  Night time is the time for our rest, relaxation, prayers, family, spouses and extra study. Secondly, at night we sleep in the atmosphere where we have swept before the dust has settled so all night we are breathing in this dust while we are sleeping causing heavy duty to our lungs. These factors together help us to understand how poverty and weak health are related.  In addition to the obvious reasons the fact that we will have to spend large amounts of money to become healthy again and for the period we are sick we cannot work to increase our livelihoond emphasises this point. Although this is not a mandatory rule but only recommended, following it protects us as all the rules of Islam do.

Islam has legislated cleaning after using the toilet.  This process stands for cleaning the urinal organ twice or, preferably, three times with water.  For the fecal organ, it is optional to clean with water or with a material that removes the feces thoroughly. The first way, however, is preferable, as jurists confirm.  This notable enactment creates body cleanness and protects against the microbes and the dirt of the urine and the feces.

 Islam has recommended using the toothbrushes.  The Prophet (saw) said, "If it was not that I did not want to fatugue my people, I would order them to use the toothbrush." Toothbrushes in the early era of Islam were the miswaks.  They are branches of a tree that includes  small fibers used for cleaning the teeth. Dr. Hamid al-Badri refers to some of the hygenic advantages of these fibers.  He says, "This plant is chemically composed of cellulosic fibers and some volatile oils.  They have aromatic rating and mineral salts such as Sodium chloride, which is the normal salt, and potassium chloride and gypsum oxide. Thus, these sticks are natural toothbrushes that are supplied with mineral salts and aromatic materials that help in cleaning the teeth. The Prophet (saw) and his companions used these matural toothbrushes many centuries ago, while the other toothbrushes were first used in 1800. It is worth mentioning that any negligence of the tee...

Ablution is obligatory befor the five daily prayers in addition to other obligatory prayers except the funeral prayer.  It is obligatory to wash the face and the two arms, and pass the hand over, for shias, the head and the feet. Similarly, it is recommendable, in the ritual ablution, to wash the hands and rinse the mouth and the nose in addition to the other actions. The specialist physicians mention important advantages for the ablution as follows: Water that is shed on the face and the hands helps in activating the dermal capillaries.  This increases thehart vivacity, activates the body respoiratory processes, and helps in inhalation and exhalation.  Consequently, the perceptive motivated nerves are stimulated.  Then, the stimulation moves to the whole cardiac, gastric and pulmonic nerves, as well as all of the organs and glands. Eyes are protected against opthalmia because they are washed with water several times a day. The nasal channels ar cleaned f...

Cleanliness is one of the most important elements of the composition and prosperity of the physical life since it protects from the lethal and epidemic diseases.  Islam has adopted positively and involved some rulings and obligations to cleanliness.  God praises and adds cleanliness to the qualifications of the favorable. He says: Surely, Allah loves the returners and loves those who purify themselves.  Certainly, a mosque founded on piety from the ver first day is more deserving that you should stand in it.  In it are men who love that they should be purified.  And Allah loves those who purify themselves. Many reports of the Prophet and the Imams dealwith the adherence to cleanness, considering it as a principal rule of the individual and social lives. "Cleanness is a part of faithful believing." "The religion is based upon cleanness" "Allah is good and loves the good,  He is clean and loves those who are clean." "Purity is half of th...

Imam Ali (as) told Imam Hassan (as): Shall I teach you four traits by which you will be in no need of any medical treatment?" "Yes," Imam Hassan answered.  Then Ali (as) said: 1. Do not sit for good (in order to eat) unless you are hungry: and 2. Do not leave the table of food but you still have an appetite for it; 3. Chew (your food in your mouth) well; 4. And, when you want to go to bed, (primarily) go to the wash room to ease nature. If you take these in action, you will be in no need of any medical treatment." Wasa'il ush-Shia vol 24 p45 A bundle of flowers  Compiled by Ayatullah Sayyid Kamal Faghih Imani Translated by Mr Sayyid Abbas Sadr-umeli Editor Celeste Smile  Published by The scientific and Religious Research Center Esfahan

External beauty lies [in possessing] good looks. Internal beauty lies [in possessing] a good heart. The beauty of a man is his clemency. The beauty of a man is dignity. The purity of beauty is [in] chastity.