UPDATE: The MM Fit Life Competition

UPDATE: I forgot to mention, the deadline to apply is Oct 30th, 2009 at 11:59pm.  Got a lot of applicants already, alhamdulillaah, keep 'em comin' ;)

Let's imagine Salman al-Farsi time traveled into the 21st century to visit your hometown, and through your connections at the masjid, you somehow wheeled and dealed with the board to have him brought to your home for dinner.  How awesome!

No doubt, you have a good number of questions you want to ask him.  You probably want to finally know how to move your finger in tashahhud.  Confirmation that calculating the birth of the moon is wrong.  What's the right length of the beard, the halaalness of Mickey D's, the requirement of niqaab, the length of the pants, and if he could provide a lengthy refutation of pro-music fatwas.

The moment finally arrives, he's knocking at your door, you open it, and before you can wish him salaams, the first thing he says to you (in translation) is, “Verily, your body has a right over you.”

And then it hits you – he just called you fat.

Contemporary Issues:  Lifestyle Imbalances

When Salman al-Farsi advised Abu ad-Darda' on keeping his life balanced¹, he mentioned three basic areas:

1. The Right of Allah (that we worship Him)
2. The right of the self (which can be care for the soul or body)
3. The right of one's family

You may have noticed that for dealing with the rights of Allah, our soul, and our families, we have double weekend intensive seminars galore, but for the fit body, well, not so much.

In theory, we have all the knowledge we need to lead healthy and fit lives from both the Sunnah of the Prophet as well as contemporary science.  But you know something is wrong when many of the da'ees, students of knowledge, imams, and scholars you encounter are themselves overweight despite their knowledge.  So what's the problem?

Wondering Why You're Fat?  Here's Why

In the time of the Prophet, and after his passing, to see a man who was fat or out of shape was a rarity.  It was recorded that a man with a gut came before 'Umar, and he pointed at the man's protruding belly and asked him, “What is that?” to which the man replied, “It's a blessing from Allah,” to which 'Umar replied, “It looks like a curse from Allah!”

This trend has flipped in modern society – there are more beer bellies from non-alcohol drinking muslims than there are flat ones among us.  Obesity rates are skyrocketing for all people, and Muslims are no different in this because we're affected by the same factors that are affecting everyone else – poor eating habits coupled with a relatively sedentary lifestyle.

Such is the price of first world luxuries.

My Story

After marriage and getting heavily involved in daw'ah work, all the weightlifting I did in college went out the door in favor of a physique that indicated I was upon the sunnah of Buddha.  I read many books, tried many systems, and in the end, I found that my main issues, and the main issues of the majority of people who fall off the bandwagon were:

1. We don't understand what we're doing, or why we're doing it – we're dependent on the expert and their system rather than being able to make independent, informed choices on our own after the program is done.
2. We rely on our own internal motivation, which gets us started for a couple of weeks, and may last for a little while before we crash and burn.
3. We don't properly calculate into the equation how many areas of life are affected when we try to make the change, so when the life schedule kicks in, the first thing to get triaged out is the health related to do items.
4. We try to make too many changes at once and
5. We don't even know what goal we're trying to achieve, and how to pick systems that will help us align with the physique we'd like to have.

These past five months, I joined a program that taught me how to eat, how to make informed choices, and how not to depend on internal motivation.  Since that time, I've dropped 30 lbs (238 – 208 lbs, and I'm not starving for food), dropped from 24 – 25% body fat to 18 – 19% bodyfat, and I've worked out consistently, on my own with no partner for 5 months, 3 – 4 times weekly.  The healthy way of life has become a part of my deen now, alhamdulillaah.

After having gone through the program (and I'm concluding next month), I have a greater appreciation for the Sunnah and what is taught about eating, a greater appreciation on how our religion has been conveyed to us, and I'm preparing to certify as a personal trainer in a few months, insha'Allah.  And with my newfound knowledge and habits, I also want to teach others how to get rid of the fat and lead healthy lives for good, insha'Allah.

Enter the MM Fit Life Competition

So here's how it works – I'm going to select up to 20 readers from MM who are interested (10 brothers, 10 sisters max), and for the next 6 months, I'll help them lose a bunch nasty fat – not just weight – fat.  The program is free as far as my instruction goes, though you'll probably have to pay for any equipment and supplies required.  There are potentially other fees, but I'll discuss that in more detail with interested applicants.

At the end of this program, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will receive a really awesome prize (as if losing all that gunk and goo on your body isn't prize enough already).  In return, as I'm teaching these twenty folks and providing them with more personalized treatment, I'll write articles discussing what the participants are learning and doing, and common questions that come up and how they were dealt with.

I'm Interested – What Should I Do?

Send an email to out to fitcontest@muslimmatters.org with your name, age, your life status (still in school or not, marital status, work status, etc), questions you have, and in one sentence, what's the main thing you want to accomplish in this competition, and why?

Talk to you soon, insha'Allah!

——————————————————————————————————————

1. Narrated Abu Juhaifa:  The Prophet established a bond of brotherhood between Salman and Abu Darda'.  Salman paid a visit to Abu ad-Darda and found Um Ad-Darda' dressed in shabby clothes and asked her why she was in that state.  She replied, “Your brother, Abu Ad-Darda is not interested in the luxuries of this world.”  In the meantime, Abu Ad-Darda came and prepared a meal for him (Salman), and said to him, “(Please) eat for I am fasting.”  Salman said, “I am not going to eat, unless you eat.”   So Abu Ad-Darda' ate.  When it was night, Abu Ad-Darda' got up (for the night prayer).   Salman said (to him), “Sleep,” and he slept.  Again Abu-Ad-Darda' got up (for the prayer), and Salman said (to him), “Sleep.”  When it was the last part of the night, Salman said to him, “Get up now (for the prayer).”  So both of them offered their prayers and Salman said to Abu Ad-Darda', “Your Lord has a right on you, and your self has a right on you, and your family has a right on you, so you should give the rights of all those who have a right on you.”  Later, Abu Ad-Darda' visited the Prophet and mentioned that (what Salman said) to him.  The Prophet said, “Salman has spoken the truth.” [Bukhaari and Tirmidhi]