Fit Bodies and the Deficiencies Worth Training

All of these hadiths were to prepare the people spiritually for what was coming. They were facing enemies from every direction, so the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was telling them about the virtues of fighting in the path of Allah. Their lifestyle was active anyway, so there was no need to tell them to be physically fit — they had an active lifestyle because of the type of work they did. A farmer going out to the farm and working from after Fajr until late in the day would not need to be told to go jogging afterwards. So they were physically fit, and did not need to be told to be fit. However, in the areas where there were deficiencies, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did specify — swimming, for example, because the Arabs of Makkah and Madīnah were far away from the sea and were living in a desert, so swimming was not part of their lives, and a hadith directed them to swim. So in the areas where there was a deficiency, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) did mention in hadith ways to improve them in those areas.

But the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told them, for example, to train in terms of target shooting, marksmanship — in his tafsir of the āyah commanding the believers to prepare against the enemy whatever force they could —

— the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, alā inna al-quwwata al-ramy, alā inna al-quwwata al-ramy, alā inna al-quwwata al-ramy: indeed, strength is marksmanship, said three times. And in a hadith: kullu shayʾin laysa min dhikri Allāhi ʿazza wa jalla fa-huwa lahwun aw sahwun illā arbaʿa khiṣāl: mashy al-rajuli bayna al-gharaḍayn, wa taʾdībuhu farasahu, wa mulāʿabatuhu ahlahu, wa taʿlīmuhu al-sibāḥah: everything that is not the remembrance of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, is idle or heedless, except for four things. When they used to practise target shooting, it was archery, so they would place two targets: they would stand next to the first one and shoot at the second, and then walk to the second and pick up their arrows and stand next to it and shoot at the first one. So this walking between the two targets, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says, is ʿibādah of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic. Number two, training your horse. Number three, playing with your wife. Number four, learning how to swim, and teaching it to others. So these four things are ʿibādah of Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, and any other form of entertainment is a waste of time.

From these teachings it can be seen that there was what is referred to as absolute war, where there is a total mobilisation of society, gearing all of its resources towards the militarisation of the society in order to defend it. That process was happening in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). He says in the hadith, jāhidū al-mushrikīna bi-amwālikum wa anfusikum wa alsinatikum: fight the disbelievers with your wealth, your lives and your tongues. So it was a total effort — wealth, arms and tongues — all geared up to defend the newly formed Muslim community.