Follow the Love

In the Name of Allah

The Most Gracious and Most Merciful

Today, the 24th of December 2015, we celebrate our beloved Prophet Muhammad's (May Peace be Upon Him) birthday which falls  on the 12th of Rabi'ulawal. I had made a poster to upload at my Facebook pages in which I had chosen an ayah from the Sura Al-Imran:

What a beautiful, beautiful ayah...my tears just cannot stop falling when I read this ayah...my heart just feels like bursting as Allah Azza wa Jalla teaches us to love Rasulullah SAW, then promises His Love for those who do.

The message is clear and straightforward...Allah Azza wa Jalla says "follow" so that's what we should do - follow. In all aspects...his behaviour, his likes and dislikes, his responses to people, how he speaks, his deeds, his habits, his way of dressing (for women the way he likes them to be dressed), what he eats and how he eats, how he sits and sleeps, how he treats illnesses, his dua' and everything else. Just follow.

As an Islamic medicine practitioner, I focus mostly on the study of Rasulullah's SAW way of treating illnesses and his teachings on preventing illnesses.  In this post, I just would like to share one of my experiences in my pursuit of discovering the truth and wisdom behind the profound Knowledge that Rasulullah SAW was bestowed with.

One of the most prominent kitab in Prophetic medicine is the "At-Tibb Nabawi" or literally translated as "Medicine of The Prophet" written by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya. Here Is an excerpt from the book:

               Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Ibn Maja report, from hadith of Abu Huraira, that the

               Prophet SAW said: "Eat olive oil (zayt) and anoint yourselves with it, for it 

               is from a blessed tree. Al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Maja also have from 

               Abd-Allah b. "Umar that the Messenger of God SAW said:

               "Eat olive oil with your bread, and oil yourselves with it, for it was from a blessed tree."

I was perturbed by the repeated reminders to use olive oil on our body and the questioned lingered on my mind constantly. Why..???

My precious bible ever since I started practicing Islamic medicine in 2007 

There were no explanations in this book as to the benefits of doing it. Besides the scientifically-proven fact that olive oil softens and protects the skin from aging due to it's antioxidant properties, I believed that there must be something much, much more to it. The answer came in the most unexpected circumstance.

One morning, I wanted to prepare breakfast and turned the knob on the stove. I was a fraction of a second too late to realise that the knob was already turned on. There was no flame but apparently there was an emission of gas which I hadn't even sensed. Fortunately it was very little as the knob was at the minimum level, but enough to ignite a burst of flames in my face. 

After the initial shock, I sat down to assess the damages on myself...I was surprised, but very thankful that my clothes did not catch fire. I knew the fire had flared directly on my face and my singed eyebrows and hairline confirmed this. But I didn't feel any pain anywhere at all...except for my lips. Just then I remembered...before I do my my solah fajr each morning, I'd take a bath and put olive oil all over my body, including my face...except for my lips....

Laleli - This is the only olive oil I will use as I know exactly where it came from and who planted the trees. I would love to use olive oil from Palestine if I knew the real source, but unfortunately I usually don't. Many companies obtain supply from other countries and label their bottles to imply they come from Islamic countries. I never use oil from Spain and Italy especially for healing purposes. Laleli is owned by Dr. Yahya Laleli and family, a Muslim Turk who does a lot of charity work and produces one of the best quality olive oil in the world. 

I believe the film of olive oil had protected me from getting burnt, even though it had well absorbed into my skin, subhanAllah. The baraqah in the olive tree, the "nur" in it's oil and the promise of Allah Azza  wa Jalla - these are the spiritual virtues of olive oil that we can never, ever obtain from something that is man-made. I could't have possibly learnt of this had I just studied it without actually following and doing it myself. Eventually, I discovered by Allah's Will, a few other secrets about using olive oil on the skin.

Sura an-Nur: 35

From then on, if ever I wanted to find the wisdom and rationale behind each of the teachings or commands of our beloved Messenger SAW, I would just "follow" first, then only question, probe, study and bi'iznillah, I will eventually discover. I swear, if we love and care enough to seek for The Truth, The Creator of The Universe will return by showing you His Love.