Lecture at ICONO
Assalamu Alaikum, Brothers & Sisters.
ICONO management is pleased to inform you that we've arranged a presentation and lecture session on the "Battle of Badr" to be held after Asr paryer at ICONO masjid on Friday, June 1, 2018, followed by Iftar and Maghreb prayer. The speaker would be Brother Muhammad Patel, Imam of the masjid. Arrangements have been made for sisters as well. Everybody is invited to attend the session. Please come and join us on Friday.
JazakAllah Khair.
Iftar at ICONO
Iftar will be offered for those who wish to come and eat after fasts. Students especially welcome. We shall break the fast with dates and water, then pray Magrib, then eat dinner. 20 Minutes before Isha Imam Muhammad will do a tafseer of the Quran of the verses he is going to recite during Taraweh. There are three Huffaz who shall do the Taraweh!
Ramadhan and Health Benefits of Fasting
Br. R. Bagha, ICONO, Sudbury
The Prophet Muhammad, may Peace, Mercy, and Blessings of Almighty Allah (One True God, in pure Monotheism) be upon him, used to fast regularly. Please reflect on the following:
“Fasting is a shield, so the one who fasts should avoid obscene speech and ignorant behavior. If someone abuses him or starts to fight with him, he should reply by saying: ‘I am fasting. I am fasting’.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
“The most beloved of actions to God Almighty, is making another Muslim happy, removing a hardship that has befallen him, paying off a debt of his or ridding him of hunger. It is more beloved to me indeed that I walk with my Muslim brother to see to a need of his than secluding oneself in a mosque for a month…” (Tabarani)
“The food of two people is enough for three, and the food of three people is enough for four.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
“Have mercy to those on earth so that He Who is in Heaven will have mercy on you.” (Tirmidhi)
“The strong person is not the one who can wrestle someone else down. The strong person is the one who can control himself when he is angry.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,
Whoever observes fasts during the month of Ramadan out of sincere faith, and hoping to attain Allah’s rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said
Whoever stands (in the voluntary night prayer of) Ramadan out of faith and in hope of reward, his previous sins will be forgiven. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.” [Quran: Chapter 2, Verse 183]
Fasting teaches one humility, draws one nearer to God as it spiritually energizes one towards God; teaches one empathy, tolerance, and awareness that there are people without food and that we are all duty bound to share food and resources that others lack. We fast because we have been ordered by Almighty Allah. That is the main idea: we do it because we want to obey Him, regardless of any other reason. He commands; and we obey! We do it out of pureness of intention, in obedience to His Command. We do it to please Him and to get closer to Him, and to invite His Mercy upon us, and to be forgiven from our sins. However, if you notice, anything that Almighty Allah decrees has many other benefits for us all. For example, when we do ablution, we clean ourselves from dirt and potential for infections. When we wash our hands before eating as encouraged by our prophet, we do not end up consuming something which has a potential to cause infection. When the Quran prohibits alcohol consumption, we benefit socially and health-wise. When we pray, the body gets a chance to undergo joint movements that help us. And so on, for thousands of things we do. Even for a person who does not recognize the health benefits of the actions he does because he is doing it only to please Almighty Allah, the Lord automatically gives the person numerous other benefits such as healthy minds and bodies, social harmony, and family cohesion! What a Generous Creator! He gives you much good in this world, and He gives you much good in the hereafter! Good upon good!
Knowing that Islam is a Way of Life, then, we cannot ignore the health benefits of fasting which Muslims and nations before us have been commanded to observe. Not only did the Prophet fast during Ramadan, it was a regular practice of the Prophet to fast regularly on Mondays and Thursdays.
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Fasting “ reboots the immune system” and new white blood cell count goes up!
Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) say that prolonged fasting happens to shift stem cells of the immune system from a dormant state to an active state , essentially “re-booting” the immune system, and that new white blood cell count ( cells responsible for immune system function) go up. Dr. Walter Longo is one of the researchers. “When you starve, the system tries to save energy, and one of the things it can do to save energy is to recycle a lot of the immune cells that are not needed, especially those that may be damaged,” Longo said. “What we started noticing in both our human work and animal work is that the white blood cell count goes down with prolonged fasting. Then when you re-feed, the blood cells come back. So we started thinking, well, where does it come from?”
Read: https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(14)00151-9 , Reverse Immunosuppression; Chia-Wei Cheng et al.; Cell Stem Cell, published 5 June 2014; DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2014.04.014, http://news.usc.edu/63669/fasting-triggers-stem-cell-regeneration-of-damaged-old-immune-system/ , https://news.usc.edu/141010/fasting-and-aging-usc-grant/
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Fasting can help you lose weight
Simply, less calorie intake translates to less weight gain. Not only that, short term fasts actually increases the metabolic rate by 3.6 to 14% ! Double benefit: less calorie intake and increased metabolic rate (even at resting state), the combined effect is that you burn more calories and lose more weight! Just be careful that you do not “binge eat” after the fast.
Read: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10837292 , https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2405717, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193152441400200X
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Fasting can help lower your risk for Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. Blood sugar levels are drastically reduced when fasting. Fasting also causes reduction in insulin resistance. It may even reduce kidney damage, known as diabetic nephropathy, due to diabetes.
Read: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S193152441400200X, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17316625, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16051710
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Fasting may prevent cancers and formation of tumors. Fasting may even help patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Read: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22323820, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11835290, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16126250, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20157582/
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Fasting may improve brain function and protect brain cells from much harm. Fasting has beneficial effects on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems.
Read: https://ketodietapp.com/Blog/post/2017/08/10/7-science-backed-health-benefits-of-fasting, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16011467, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1568163706000523, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095528630400261X
There are numerous health benefits to fasting. Regardless, we fast for the pleasure of Almighty Allah. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God). When we obey Him, we benefit here and also in the hereafter! Thank you, our Lord, for giving us this beautiful month of Ramadhan!