Some Health Guidelines for Ramadhān

Some Health Guidelines for Ramadhān

By Dr. Farouk Haffejee

In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful;

All the praise and Thanks are due to Allāh, the Lord of the al-ā’lamīn. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allāh, and that Muhammad, sallallāhu alayhi wa sallam, is His Messenger.

This article provides useful advice on how to avoid some common problems encountered in Ramadhan. If followed, it would enable one to fast comfortably and enjoy fully the spiritual benefits of Ramadhan.

During the holy month of Ramadhan, our diet should not differ very much from our normal diet and should be as simple as possible. The diet should be such that we maintain our normal weight, neither losing nor gaining. However, if one is over-weight, Ramadhan is an ideal time to normalize one’s weight.

In view of the long hours of fasting, we should consume slow digesting foods including fibre containing-foods rather than fast-digesting foods. Slow digesting foods last up to 8 hours, while fast-digesting foods last for only 3 to 4 hours. Slow-digesting foods are foods that contain grains and seeds like barley, wheat, oats, millet, semolina, beans, lentils, whole meal flour, unpolished rice, etc. (called complex carbohydrates).

Fast-burning foods are foods that contain sugar, white flour, etc. (called refined carbohydrates). Fibre-containing foods are bran-containing foods, whole wheat, grains and seeds, vegetables like green beans, peas, marrow, mealies, spinach, and other herbs like methie, the leaves of beetroot (iron-rich), fruit with skin, dried fruit especially dried apricots, figs and prunes, almonds, etc.

The foods eaten should be well-balanced, containing foods from each food group, i.e. fruits, vegetables, meat/chicken/fish, bread/cereals and dairy products.

Fried foods are unhealthy and should be limited. They cause indigestion, heart-burn, and weight problems.

AVOID

• Fried and fatty foods.
• Foods containing too much sugar.
• Over-eating especially at sahur.
• Too much tea at sahur. Tea makes you pass more urine taking with it valuable mineral salts that your body would need during the day.
• Smoking cigarettes. If you cannot give up smoking, cut down gradually starting a few weeks before Ramadhan. Smoking is unhealthy and it is haram, one should stop completely.

EAT

•  Complex carbohydrates at sahur so that the food lasts longer making you less hungry.
• Meat, mutton is an excellent source of protein and is a slow-burning food.
• Dates are excellent source of sugar, fibre, carbohydrates, potassium and magnesium.
• Almonds are rich in protein and fibre with less fat. Bananas are a good source of potassium, magnesium and carbohydrates.

DRINK

• As much water or fruit juices as possible between iftar and bedtime so that your body may   adjust fluid levels in time.

CONSTIPATION

• Constipation can cause piles (hemorrhoids), fissures (painful cracks in anal canal) and indigestion with a bloated feeling.
• Causes: Too much refined foods, too little water and not enough fibre in the diet.
• Remedy: Avoid excessive refined foods, increase water intake, and use bran in baking, brown flour when making roti.

INDIGESTION AND WIND

• Causes: Over-eating. Too much fried and fatty foods, spicy foods, and foods that produce wind e.g. eggs, cabbage, lentils, carbonated drinks also produce gas.
• Remedy: Do not over-eat; drink fruit juices or better still drink water. Avoid fried foods; add ajmor to wind-producing foods.

LETHARGY (‘low blood pressure’)

•  Excessive sweating, weakness, tiredness, lack of energy, dizziness, especially on getting up from sitting position, pale appearance and feeling faint are symptoms associated with “low blood pressure”. This tends to occur towards the afternoon.
• Causes: Too little fluid intake, decreased salt intake.
• Remedy: Keep cool, increase fluid and salt intake.
• Caution: Low blood pressure should be confirmed by taking a blood pressure reading when symptoms are present. Persons with high blood pressure may need their medication adjusted during Ramadhan. They should consult their doctor.

 HEADACHE

•  Causes: Caffeine and tobacco-withdrawal, doing too much in one day, lack of sleep, hunger usually occur as the day goes by and worsens at the end of the day.

• When associated with “low blood pressure”, the headache can be quite severe and can also cause nausea before Iftar.
• Remedy: Cut down caffeine and tobacco slowly starting a week or two before Ramadhan. Herbal and caffeine-free teas may be substituted. Reorganize your schedule during the Ramadhan so as to have adequate sleep.

LOW BLOOD SUGAR

• Weakness, dizziness, tiredness, poor concentration, perspiring easily, feeling shaky (tremor), unable to perform physical activities, headache, palpitations are symptoms of low blood sugar.
• Causes in non-diabetics: Having too much sugar i.e. refined carbohydrates especially at sahur . The body produces too much insulin causing the blood glucose to drop.
• Remedy: Eat something at sahur and limit sugar-containing foods and drinks.
• Caution: Diabetics may need to adjust their medication in Ramadhan, consult your doctor.

MUSCLE CRAMPS

• Causes: Inadequate intake of calcium, magnesium and potassium foods.
• Remedy: Eat foods rich in the above minerals e.g. vegetables, fruit, dairy products, meat   and dates.
• Caution: Those on high blood pressure medication and with kidney stone problems should consult their doctor.

 PEPTIC ULCERS, HEART BURN, GASTRITIS AND HIATUS HERNIA

  

• Increased acid levels in the empty stomach in Ramadhan aggravate the above conditions. It presents as a burning.

• feeling in the stomach area under the ribs and can extend up to the throat. Spicy foods, coffee, and Cola drinks worsen these conditions.
• Medications are available to control acid levels in the stomach. People with proven peptic ulcers and hiatus hernia should consult their doctor well before Ramadhan.

KIDNEY STONES

•  Kidney stones may occur in people who have fewer liquids to drink. Therefore, it is essential to drink extra liquids so as to prevent stone formation.

JOINT PAINS

•   Causes: During Ramadhan, when extra solāh are performed made the pressure on the knee joints increases. In the elderly and those with arthritis this may result in pain, stiffness, swelling and discomfort.

• Remedy: Lose weight so that the knees do not have to carry any extra load. Exercise the lower limbs before Ramadhan so that they can be prepared for the additional strain. Being physically fit allows greater fulfilment, thus enabling one to be able to perform solāh with ease.

[Via The Islamic Medical Association of South Africa Durban]

The Etiquette and Sunnah of Fasting

The Etiquette and Sunnah of Fasting

Some aspects are obligatory (wajib) and others are recommended (mustahabb).

In the name of Allāh, Most Gracious, Most Merciful;

All the praise and thanks is due to Allāh, the Lord of the al-'Alamin. Peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

1. Ensure to eat and drink something at sahur, and delay it until just before the adzan of Fajar.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “Have sahur, for in sahur there is blessing (barakah).” [Al-Bukhari, Fath, 4/139)] The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) also said, “Sahur is blessed meal, and it involves being different from the people of the Book. What a good sahur for the believer is dates.” [Abu Dawud, no. 2345; Sahih al-Targhib, 1/448]

2. Not delaying the Iftar.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “The people will be fine so long as they do not delay Iftar.”[Al-Bukhari, Fath, 4/198)]

3. Breaking ones fast according to the Sunnah.

It is described in the hadith narrated by Anas bin Mālik (radiallāhu`anhu):  “The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) used to break his fast with fresh dates before praying; if fresh dates were not available, he would eat (dried) dates; if dried dates were not available, he would have a few sips of water.”   [Al-Tirmidzi, 3/79 and others; He said it is a gharib hasan hadith. Classified as sahih in al-Irwa’, no. 922)]

4. After Iftar, reciting the words reported in the hadith narrated by Ibn ‘Umar (radiallāhu`anhum), according to which the Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam), when he broke his fast.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam)   would say:  “Dhahaba al-zama’, wa’abtallat al-‘uruq, wa thabat al-ajru insha Allāh (Thirst is gone, veins are flowing again, and the reward is certain, insya Allāh).”   [Reported by Abu Dawud, 2/765; its isnad was classified as hasan by al-Daraqutni, 2/185)]

5. Keeping away from sin.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “When any of you is fasting, let him not commit sin…” [Al-Bukhari, al-Fath, (1904)]

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “Whoever does not stop speaking falsehood and acting in accordance with it, Allāh has no need of him giving up his food and drink.”[Al-Bukhari, al-Fath, (1903)]

The person who is fasting should avoid all kinds of harām actions, such as backbiting, obscenity and lies; otherwise his reward may all be lost.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “It may be that a fasting person gets nothing from his fast except hunger.” (Reported by Ibn Majah, 1/539; Sahih al-Targhib, 1/453).

Among the things that can destroy one’s Hasanat (good deeds) and bring sayi’at (bad deeds) is allowing oneself to be distracted by quiz-shows, soap operas, movies and sports matches, idle gatherings, hanging about in the streets with evil people and time-wasters, driving around for no purpose, and crowding the streets and sidewalks. While it is the months of tahajjud, dzikir and worship, for many people, becomes the month of sleeping in the day so as to avoid feeling hungry, thus missing their prayers and the opportunity to pray them in congregation, then spending their nights in entertainment and indulging their desires. Some people even greet the month with feelings of annoyance, thinking only of the pleasures they will miss out on. In Ramadhan, some people would go for holiday! Even the mosques are not free from such evils as the appearance of women wearing makeup and perfume, and even the Sacred House of Allāh is not free of these ills. Some people make the month a season for begging, even though they are not in need. Some of them entertain themselves with dangerous fireworks and the like, and some of them waste their time in the markets, wandering around the shops, or sewing and following fashions. Some of them put new products and new styles in their stores during the last ten days of the month, to keep people away from earning rewards and Hasanat.

Not allowing oneself to be provoked.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “If someone fights him or insults him, he should say, ‘I am fasting, I am fasting.’”[Al-Bukhari and others, Al-Fath, (1894)]

One reason for this is to remind him, and another reason is to remind his adversary. But anyone who looks at the conduct of many of those who fast will see something quite different. It is essential to exercise self-control and be calm, but we see the opposite among crazy drivers who speed up when they hear the adzān for Maghrib.

6. Not eating too much.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “The son of Adam fills no worse vessel than his stomach.” (Reported by al-Tirmidzi, no. 2380; he said, this is a hasan sahih hadith).

The wise person wants to eat to live, not live to eat. The best type of food is that which is there to be used, not that which is there to be served. But people indulge in making all kinds of food (during Ramadan) and treating food preparation as a virtual art form, so that housewives and servants spend all their time on making food, and this keeps them away from worship, and people spend far more on food during Ramadhan than they do ordinarily. Thus the month becomes the month of indigestion, fatness and gastric illness, where people eat like gluttons and drink like thirsty camels, and when they get up to offer Solātul Tarawīh, they do so reluctantly, and some of them leave after the first two raka’at.

7. Being generous by sharing knowledge, giving charity, using one’s position of authority or physical strength to help others, and having a good attitude.

Ibn ‘Abbās reported (radiallāhu`anhu) said:  “The Messenger of Allāh (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was the most generous of people [in doing good], and he was most generous of all in Ramadhan when Jibreel met with him, and he used to meet him every night in Ramadhan and teach him the Qur’an. The Messenger of Allāh (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) was more generous in doing good than a blowing wind.” [Al-Bukhari, al-Fath, (6)]

Combining fasting with feeding the poor is one of the means of reaching Paradise.

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “In Paradise there are rooms whose outside can be seen from the inside and the inside can be seen from the outside. Allāh has prepared them for those who feed the poor, who are gentle in speech, who fast regularly and who pray at night when people are asleep.” (Reported by Ahmad 5/343; Ibn Khuzaymah, no. 2137. Al-Albāni said in his footnote, its isnad is hasan because of other corroborating reports).

The Prophet (sallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: “Whoever gives food to a fasting person with which to break his fast, will have a reward equal to his, without it detracting in the slightest from the reward of the fasting person.”(Reported by al-Tirmidzi, 3/171; Sahih al-Targhib, 1/451).

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (rahimahullāh) said: “What is meant is that he should feed him until he is satisfied.”[Al-Ikhtiyarat al-Fiqhiyyah, p. 109)]

A number of the Salaf preferred the poor over themselves when feeding them at the time of Iftar. Among these were ‘Abdallāh ibn ‘Umar, Malik ibn Deenaar, Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others. ‘Abdallāh ibn ‘Umar would not break his fast unless there were orphans and poor people with him.

Wallahu’alam.

[Excerpted from IslamQ&A]