[:en]Istitho'ah, Optimizing Health From an Early Age Is a Reflection of the Sincerity of Hajj[:]

[:en]Istitho'ah, Optimizing Health From an Early Age Is a Reflection of the Seriousness of Hajj

Author : dr. Muhammad Kharisma

Every Muslim must have the desire to complete the fifth pillar of Islam, namely carrying out the pilgrimage in the holy land. But did you know that the condition for Hajj is being able to afford it, both in terms of wealth, soul (knowledge), and body (physical health).

The heaviest Hajj pilgrimage also requires excellent physical needs, especially during the regular Hajj pilgrimage where the distance between the hotel and the Grand Mosque is tens of kilometers. While waiting for the Hajj pilgrimage to the holy land and waiting for their return home, most pilgrims are eager to often perform fardlu prayers at the Harom Mosque, so traveling to the mosque is certainly tiring, even though public transportation is provided. In public transportation it is not uncommon to have to stand crowded together and the place to drop off passengers in the courtyard of the mosque is still hundreds of meters from the inside of the mosque. What's more, the congregation always tries to practice the practice of sunnah thawaf while waiting for the prayer time. The spirit of worship must be balanced by a strong physique, not even a few pilgrims who collapse because they are too enthusiastic about the sunnah before the day of the pilgrimage because they are not physically well.

 

 

On the day of the pilgrimage, it lasts for 4 days, starting from 8 Dzulhijah to 13 Dzulhijah, which is the heaviest day. This is because pilgrims have to walk 10 km every day, the temperature is too hot outside and cold indoors, so that conditions are crowded even in extreme conditions. Starting from standing at Padang Arafah, you can imagine that for bus transportation alone they have to queue for hours, or after being in the Padang Arafah tent which is completely limited and the weather is hot, then the congregation has to move in jostling by bus staying overnight at Musdzalifah and heading for Mina. The facilities in the tents at Mina are also very limited, the weather is hot during the day and the nights are cold and you have to walk to perform the stoning rituals. For regular haj pilgrims, the distance from the tent to the stoning is not less than 5 km and can be reached on foot in hot weather.

After getting tired in the process of going to Mina and performing the stoning of the jumroh, then followed by the rituals of thawaf and and sa'I, where the conditions are very crowded and the size of the journey is usually not less than 5-10 km. Tawaf surrounds the Kaaba 7 times where it is crowded with other large congregations, even the outermost circle of the tawaf process can reach 500 meters for one round. After the fatigue of the thawaf, the sa'i process must continue where one has to walk between the hills of Shafa and Marwa with cold floors and crowded congregations. If it weren't for faith, surely many more pilgrims would have fallen during the pilgrimage. Fatigue and the effects of this usually appear after the core worship is carried out, where medical staff are busy treating pilgrims who are very tired physically.

The pilgrimage process is a worship that must be supported by a good physique. Therefore, for people who really believe and want to complete their pilgrimage, then he should always maintain and improve physical health is a sign of a sincere desire to complete the pilgrimage. Like a war, we don't know when the enemy will come, but we must always be ready. For Allah it is easy to provide sustenance for believers in going to the holy land, as long as there is a sincere desire. However, physical problems are not something that can be repaired in a day or two, moreover most of the Indonesian haj pilgrims depart at the age of over 50 years. Therefore, healthy people should always improve their prime condition by staying away from things that damage health (cigarettes, unhealthy food, lack of activity and stress) and exercise 30 minutes a day at least 3 times a week.

 

 

We found facts in the field that people from villages, even though the air is cooler and they usually do more physical work, often smoke and don't do sports, which means that their fitness is far from being measured when carrying out the Hajj rituals compared to people who live in cities who are used to regular exercise. maintain diet and do not smoke. Thus the factors of a good lifestyle and exercise are important in the physical readiness of the pilgrimage.

Hopefully with our sincere intentions and endeavors, both in terms of knowledge, wealth and physique, it will make it easier for our prayers to be answered by Allah so that we can immediately go to the holy land compared to those who are less serious in all of these aspects. Then, we hope that we will always maintain our physical readiness so that we can support the perfection of the pilgrimage.

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