Prophet Muhammad (SAW) himself has told his Ummah about the benefits of exercise. If we are too lazy to do it, we will lose the benefits of exercise in Islam as written below:
1. Increase the endurance
Every Muslim in the world has one certain obligation: to live for Allah. It means everything we do is always under the intention of pleasing Allah. Among all the good deeds we can do the most important thing is Shalat. No matter what, we shouldn’t leave the five times Shalat a day. Moreover, there are many other Sunnah Prayer with its own benefits and specialty.
Shalat needs a strong physical endurance to stand and doing the other moves. Exercising will increase our endurance during Shalat so we can perform more rakaat. If we usually doing only 4 rakaat for Tahajjud, we can add 4 more and receive more blessing from Allah.
2. Improves the flexibility in Shalat
Shalat requires swift body moves from standing to sujood. If we don’t have a healthy body we’ll get tired easily and have no strength in it. It can makes us lose our focus make the prayer imperfect. To have a healthy body, one of the most effective ways is exercising. If our body get used to a hard work and endurance during physical activity, the moves in Shalat is only a little thing.
We can do more prayer and good deeds if our body doesn’t get tired easily and surely Allah will be pleased to us. With a healthy body, not only we can di the obligatory Shalat, but also the sunnah prayer before and after that.
3. Boosting the memory
As we are getting older everyday, not only our age is increasing by number but our body is getting old together with us as well. Our ability in physic and psychic will also decreased, including our brain. When the brain is getting old, it ability to save a memory is also decreasing.
By exercising, out body cells is renewed constantly and each of them become younger everyday. At the same time, our memory will also be improve so we can memorize verses from the Holy Quran easily.
4. To gain more strength
Doing activities everyday makes us get tired and worn out. Let alone the good deeds we have to do for another Muslim. We can’t let tiredness come so easily to us, so we have to gain more strength. A strong body is a result of a constant exercise. Only small exercise will help us a lot. We don’t have to hit the gym everyday and pay for that, just taking a walk around every morning or a morning run will do.
Muslim with a strong body could do more good deeds for the society as said by Ibn Qiyam, “The strong Muslim can do more for the Ummah.”
5. Strong believer is better than a weak believer
Even though it doesn’t matter whether a Muslim has a weak body or a strong body, Allah SWT is still kind and love both as long as they are a pleasant for Allah SWT. But it is better to have strong build body, because for Allah SWT, a Muslim with a healthy and strong body are more active and have a lot of energy to perform worship to Him and taking care of the needs of other Muslims.
This is confirmed by the Messenger of Allah (SAW), “A strong believer is better and dearer to God than a weak believer, though in both is good.”
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6. Avoid stress to the brain
The worldly matters often stress us out and make us feel depressed. Stress is not good for our overall health, because it releases negative energies that also radiates through your body. Everyone around you will know that you are stress. Do exercise to reduce the stress. As a study conducted by scientists, physical activities release a good numbers of natural chemicals and the endorphin hormone, who will increase your moods and reduce the stress.
Moreover, your brain will be able to handle the stress easily and improve the mental health of yours. With a healthy mind, you can easily recognize Allah’s SWT blessing and showing your gratitude to Allah.
Also read: Importance of Gratitude in Islam
7. Slowing down the brain aging process
Doing exercise can prevent the loss of brain tissue, which is the cause of decreasing brain activity. Physical activities helps to enhance brain control of cognition, so that someone can be more active and fit. It resulted in better attention spans and a quick responds to our surroundings.
During the exercise, the cells in our brain is protected by degeneration and improve our ability to remember things. Moreover, the cardiovascular exercise such as aerobic stimulates the growth of new brain cells.
This is an important thing for Muslim because we have to seek for knowledge as long as we live, so an improved brain activity will also improve our ability to study.
Also read: Importance of Volunteering in Islam
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8. Increasing the energy
Exercising helps our body to produce the mitochondria, a powerhouse for the cells that produce and provide energy for us. This means that regularly exercising brings a positive impact to our energy levels. When our body is full of energy, we will have no reason to be lazy to rise up in the morning for Fajr prayer, as well as doing other acts like fasting and Dhikr.
Also read: Benefits of Praying Fajr in the Mosque
9. Appreciate the body given by Allah SWT
We have to look after our body that has given from Allah SWT to us. It is a gift we have to trasure.
Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-`As narrated: Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said, “O Abdullah! Have I not been informed that you fast all day and stand in prayer all night?” I said, “Yes, O Allah’s Messenger!” He said, “Do not do that. Observe the fast sometimes and break the fast [at other times]; stand up for the prayer [at night] and also sleep. Your body has a right over you, your eyes have a right over you and your wife has a right over you.” – Bukhari
Also read: Benefits of Marrying Early in Islam
10. To avoid illness
Exercising provide a healthy body and strengthen our immunity system. Thus, we would hardly infected by any illness and we can stay healthy.
Also read: Importance of Generosity in Islam
So those are the benefits of exercising in Islam, may us all can keep a healthy body and worshiping Allah SWT with all of our heart.