Assalamualaikum to everyone here.

I have recently written a post (about 10 seconds ago) on addiction and my thoughts on this subject.  My thoughts on bodily harm have sprung up in the same manner.

I am aware that suicide and cutting are haram but those are extremes in my mind and fairly obvious.  If you don't mind I would like to share an anecdote with everyone to start off my thought.

I was walking to class today and my knee was bothering me and I knew exactly why.  I wrestled all throughout high school on the team, and I would get banged up like most people, but this year it was a little worse.  I felt a slight crack in my knee during practice and it did not hurt and I knew it wasn't serious.  The next day though my knee was sore, as it was the rest of the season and even until today.  It is not unbearable, don't get me wrong, but I do think it is obvious that my choice to wrestle caused me bodily harm.  It was not an accident, any person could pretty much tell that when you join a contact sport, you are putting your body in harms way.

There are many other stories like this.  One concerns my wrists which are in horrible shape from gymnstics.  Another concerns my brother who lifts weights recreationally to stay in shape, and how his elbow was hyper-extended.  Nothing serious, just annoying. 

All of these stories end in chronic pain caused by ourselves and I find it hard to believe that our ability and passion for a sport or physical activity can be classified as haram.

Also as a sidenote:  what is the position of most people on tattoos?  I personally don't have them but I do think that some of them can be quite beautiful despite the pain inflicted on the person who has it.  But then again, my mom has beautiful earings that probably hurt when she got her ears pierced...

Well a very interesting thought..

I think that anything done in excess that detracts from fulfilling one's life as a Moslem is probably harmful. It has been shown that exercise is needed for people who live a sedentary life. The harmful effects of that are well documented.  People who do more manual labor, such as farming, cleaning etc do not have the same issues. Combine with the high fat diet of many people in the west and the health issues of heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, are far more dangerous and harmful then most things.

People get chronic pain from many sources. Many people have arthritis which depending upon which one you have, can be horribly debilitating. Some are caused by exercise related but most are just genetic or work related, arthritis in hands for people who type a lot. In most cases some exercise is better to keep moving the joints. Inactivity makes things deteriorate faster.

The body as we age, breaks down. Plus you can hurt your self getting out of the tub. (I know a person who wrecked their knee badly doing this) It is life. Most Americans have back trouble. This could be adverted with simple abdominal and back exercises. They used to tell people to just �rest� to fix it and now they do not. Thay often makes it worse.

Weight lifting is very important to keep joints strong and bones. It is one of the best preventative measures for osteoporosis for women.  If someone gets injured it can often be fixed by the right combination of physical therapy, surgery, and medicine.  That is why now you�ll see a lot more older people at the gym. Especially older women.  Better that then a broken hip.

And I think if you polled people. MOST people have various aches and pains.  I�d rather exercise and have a few aches and pains then get diabetes and have to have my legs amputated. Of course moderation is the key. One does not need to run a marathon to be healthy.

Science is teaching us a lot about these systems. Allah has given us this knowledge. It is up to us to use it.

Tattoos: well I don�t think they are Islamically alright. I could be wrong.  In my opinion 99.9 percent are ugly. The human body beautiful and a work of art in of itself. Of course best seen in private...lol

(PS>My response to your post = in green)

Salam Once Again brother and All!

I am aware that suicide and cutting are haram but those are extremes in my mind and fairly obvious.  If you don't mind I would like to share an anecdote with everyone to start off my thought.

I was walking to class today and my knee was bothering me and I knew exactly why.  I wrestled all throughout high school on the team, and I would get banged up like most people, but this year it was a little worse.  I felt a slight crack in my knee during practice and it did not hurt and I knew it wasn't serious.  The next day though my knee was sore, as it was the rest of the season and even until today.  It is not unbearable, don't get me wrong, but I do think it is obvious that my choice to wrestle caused me bodily harm.  It was not an accident, any person could pretty much tell that when you join a contact sport, you are putting your body in harms way.

-  Was it more you intention to do your body damage purposely or was it more to keep fit - for your health (and maybe socially active)??

There are a lot of things you can do on purpose to injur yourself either consciousley (intentionally or not) or unconsciousley (intentionally or not too). 

This is my example of an unconscious/untentional bodily harm, on the news a few years ago: a girl drunk too much water and she got water in her lungs and died.  This is a contradiction to the rule where in the health world, keeping hydrated is good for you.  She obviousley exceeded the limits and did her body harm un-intentionally.  In Islam it is not haram to drink water, but excess of anything is haram, you should see if it does you more bad than good, it's haram, hence, excess.

Alternatively - (unconsciousley drinking something good for your body of alcoholic content), if one drinks some cough mixture to settle a cold, it contains alcohol... I don't see that as haram, this is because your intention is to make your illness better, not to get drunk - therefore, you are using the good it does not bad.

Also as a sidenote:  what is the position of most people on tattoos?  I personally don't have them but I do think that some of them can be quite beautiful despite the pain inflicted on the person who has it.  But then again, my mom has beautiful earings that probably hurt when she got her ears pierced...

With earings I think it is not haram, because: it's generally done under very hygeine conditions - in most countries.  There is very low contamination risks, when you look at it from this point of view, how many times have you cut your finger with a knife on accident??? that's a very closely related thing to peircing ones' ear- probabely cutting with a knife has more hygeine issues as peircing ears etc..., as appose to inking your body deep within the skin tissue layers etc... 

Obviousley, I personally don't agree to tattooing ones body, as you can get many diseases (for one eg.  ink-poisioning). 

Taking into consideration, Islam is a religion for all of humanity, not only Muslims.  So the Quran is sent by Allah (Lord) for all of mankind as a prevention rather than a cure. 
When a baby is born into the earth, in Islam each and every soul is a blessing, and their soul is pure, and as muslims are suppose to believe - every soul is born Muslim - therefore the rules Allah sent in the Holy Quran is a message aimed for all humans to protect ones' body/soul good (for all of humankind equally) for this world and in the next. 

One site I found easy to understand of the dangers of tattooing, can convince any Muslim or non-Muslim that it has many dangers (as I mentioned above). 

If you'd like to find out more on the negative, potential side-effects tattooing oneself has..  it clearly states the dangers on the following site - I reccommend you read it & judge for yourself if it's bodily harm or not: 


The subject is:

Are You Ready for a Tattoo!  

SOURCE:
http://www.waleg.com/archives/000925.html - http://www.waleg.com/archives/000925.html  

Shaykh �Abd-Alazeez ibn Baaz

I am probabely not the best at explaining things, but hey! i'm just a learner like you.. please give me some of your feedback soon - looking forward to your replies!

I dont think i captures exactly what i wanted to ask with my example so i might have to be a little more abstract and im sorry.

what if there is a situation in which you want to try something or you believe that the best way to do something involves harming ones body or putting it in harms way?

Salam!

brother, I think that's why we are sent on earth as human beings and not as prophets & saints...

Think, Allah made no individual perfect, except the Prophet (Peace be Upon Him).  That's why Allah is Merciful (as explained in the Holy Quran), that's why Islam gives us a chance to ask Allah for forgiveness for our sins..

Why is this all mentioned in the Quran, about asking for mercy etc.. (because my point in the 1st paragraph of this message).

Finally, all humans do learn good and bad from others' mistakes and good deeds.. if these positive/negative actions weren't learnt, than how would we know that it's good/bad in he first place.. if we didn't have something to compare our actions to...?

what if there is a situation in which you want to try something or you believe that the best way to do something involves harming ones body or putting it in harms way?

I know the body can be very agile, just watch the guys in Cirque de solei but they have been doing that since they were babies.

My question is why would you put your body in harms way?, yes I know there are many dare devils out there doing bungie jumping, parachuting etc

Also, before you even try something new, I would prepare the body slowly, never do something that you haven't done before or in such a long time. No one does full yoga poses in the begining

Angel.. No one does full yoga poses in the begining

Your statement as above.. ^^^  I found I could naturally do the lotus- comfortabley (it was like a natural born gift in me)..