 Asalaamu alaikum my dear viewers and welcome to the third episode of the series of Treaties of Rights. In today's episode we will discuss the right of the legs. Regarding the legs, Imam Zayn al-Abideen, peace be upon him, has said, and the right of your legs is that you walk not with them toward that which is unlawful for you, and you should not direct them in the way that will lead the person they carry to being debased. Your legs will carry you in the direction of the religion and they will help you go ahead. And there is no power but in God. Almighty Allah SWT says, Have they feet to walk with, or hands to lay hold with, or eyes to see with, or ears to hear with? Say, call you God partners, scheme your worst against me, and give me no respite. The Holy Quran Al-A'raf Chapter 7 verse 195. We also read, O ye people, eat of what is on earth lawful and good, and do not follow the footsteps of the evil one, for he is to you an avowed enemy. The Holy Quran Al-Baqarah Chapter 2 verse 168. Allah SWT has given us one of the most important and crucial blessings which are the legs. Without them, humans would, without a doubt, struggle to do even the most basic tasks. Since Allah SWT blessed us with this blessing, how can we as humans thank him for what he has given us? The Allah Almighty expresses 12 special characteristics of a special servant in Chapter 4 of the Holy Quran. The first of these characteristics is regarding the way they walk as we read in the following verse. And the servants of God, most gracious, are those who walk on the earth in humility. And when the ignorant address them, they say peace. The Holy Quran Al-Furqan Chapter 25 verse 63. This means that they walk so calmly that they reject haughtiness. Thus, the first characteristic of God's special servants is that they reject haughtiness, pride, and selfishness. That can even become manifest in the way one walks. This is because man's moral characteristics are usually displayed through his behavior. The following verse revealed an important decree to the Prophet. Nor walk on the earth with insolence. For thou canst not rend the earth asunder, nor reach the mountains in height. The Holy Quran, Ben Israel Chapter 17 verse 37. This verse points out that haughty people stomp their feet on the ground so that others are informed when they walk. They raise their necks up to the sky so that they can show their superiority to others. The reason why some people get this way is that they forget themselves and become haughty. In an interesting tradition from the noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, we read one day when the Prophet was walking in an alley, he saw that people had gathered in one place. He asked for the reason. He was told that there was a mad man there and the people were attracted to his insane and funny acts. The Prophet, peace be upon him, called the people and said, Do you want me to introduce to you the very insane? Everyone was quiet and listened wholeheartedly. Then the Prophet said, The one who walks with pride constantly looks on either side and throws up his shoulders as he walks. From whom good is not expected and from whose evil people are not secure, this is the insane one. This man whom you saw is afflicted with an illness. Humbleness does not mean that one should be lethargic when he walks. Rather, one must be humble but take firm steps that show his determination and power. There's a section on the way that Prophet walked in Makarm al-Akhlaq. In one tradition in this section we read, Imam Ali, peace and blessings be upon him, said, When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, walked he inclined forwards as if he was going downhill even though he was not in a hurry. I never saw anyone else walk this way before or after him. One of the companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, I have never seen anyone walk faster than the Prophet did. It was as if the earth was contracted for him. We would strive to catch up with him but he did not pay attention to it. Ibn Abbas said, When the Prophet of God, peace and blessings be upon him, walked, he neither walked like one lacking in strength nor like the lethargic ones. Regarding the rights of the legs, Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him, said, And the right of your legs is that you walk not with them toward that which is unlawful to you. And you should not direct them in the way that will lead the person they carry to being debased. Therefore we must take an effort to help fulfill the believer's needs if we want to improve ourselves. Ali ibn Ibrahim quoted on the authority of his father, on the authority of Hammad, on the authority of Ibrahim ibn Omar al-Yamani, on the authority of Imam Sadiq, peace and blessings be upon them. A believer does not move to help fulfill another believer's needs, but that God will record a good deed for him for every step he takes and wipe out one of his strong wrongdoings and raise him in rank. We also read in Makarum al-Ikhlaq that Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him, says, You have no escape from standing upon the narrow bridge, al-Saraat over hell. So you should see to it that your legs do not slip and cause you to fall into the fire. I now leave you with a quick short break. Don't go anywhere. We will continue shortly. Welcome back, my dear viewers. The following right mentioned in the right of the hand regarding this, the Imam, peace and blessings be upon him, has said, and the right of your hand is that you stretch it not toward that which is unlawful to you. Should you do so, you will be chastised by God in the future, and you are not secure from the blameful tongue of the people now either. Do not prevent your hands from performing what God has made obligatory for them. You should honour your hands in such a way as to prevent them from engaging in many of the deeds that are not allowed for them. You should not let them engage in many deeds that are harmful for them. If they are used by the intellect and with honour now, then they are bound to receive a good reward in the future. In the Holy Quran, the hands have been defined in several ways. It is sometimes used to represent possession of rule as in the following verse. Say, O God, Lord of power and rule, thou giveth power to whom thou pleasest, and thou stripst off power from whom thou pleasest, thou enduest with honour whom thou pleasest, and thou bringest low whom thou pleasest, and thy hand is all good. Verily, over all things thou hast power. The Holy Quran, Al-Amran Chapter 3, Verse 26. In other places, it is used to indicate stinginess or generosity as in the following verse. The Jews say, God's hand is tied up. Be their hands tied up and be there accursed for the blasphemy they utter. Nay, both his hands are widely outstretched. He giveth and spendeth of his bounty as he pleaseth. But the revelation that cometh to thee from God increases in most of their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Amongst them, we have placed enmity and hatred till the day of judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, God doth extinguish it. But they ever strive to do mischief on earth. And God loveth not those who do mischief. The Holy Quran, Al-Ma'dah Chapter 5, Verse 64. In other places, it is used to refer to possession of power as in the following verse. And commemorate our servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, possessors of power and vision. The Holy Quran, Nassad, Chapter 38, Verse 45. We can notice that our hands are probably one of the most used part of the human body. It is through our hands that we choose to do what is right and avoid what is wrong. Allah SWT has given us these hands and the best way to show him that we are indeed thankful is to use them in a correct manner. We continue to the right of the stomach. Regarding the right of the stomach, the Imam Zain al-Abdin, peace and blessings be upon him, has said, and the right of your stomach is that you make it not into a container for a little of that which is unlawful to you or a lot of it. You should be determined to eat what is lawful and not exceed the bounds of strengthening to the extent to be littering your stomach to the point that you lose your manliness, to the point that you lose your manliness. And you should restrain it whenever you are extremely hungry or thirsty since getting really full will cause indigestion, slugginess, indolence and it will hinder you from nobility and any good deeds. And drinking too much will make you feel drunk, lightheaded, ignorant and take away your manliness. Imam Sajjad, peace be upon him, has described our stomach as a container for food that we must fill with moderation. We must only fill it with legitimate foods and drinks. We should do all we can to strengthen ourselves, but we should not forget moderation. All men need food. We cannot survive if our food supplies are cut off. Some people thought that the Prophet, peace be upon him, did not need to eat food. The Holy Quran rejects this idea and says, nor did we give them bodies that ate no food nor were they exempt from death. The Holy Quran and Ambiya, chapter 21 verse 8. In another verse of the Holy Quran we read and they say, what sort of an apostle is this who eats food and walks through the streets? Why has not an angel been sent down to give him admonition with him? The Holy Quran and Forqan chapter 25 verse 7. The Holy Quran instructs us to think about our need to eat. Then let man look at his food and how we provide it for what we pour forth water in abundance and we split the earth in fragments. The Holy Quran, Abbasah chapter 80 verse 24 to 26. The food we eat becomes the closest thing to us. After we eat something, it changes somewhat and part of it gets absorbed and turns into energy and some of it is taken to ourselves or stored somewhere in the body and becomes a part of us. We will die of hunger if we cannot get enough food to eat. That is why the Holy Quran has placed a special emphasis on food ingredients and more importantly on plants and vegetables. Have you thought about what is meant by let man look at his food in the above verse? Obviously, it does not mean that we should just look and see what we eat. This means that we should carefully study the structure and makeup of our food's ingredients and consider how each affects our body. Then we should think about how food is prepared for us by God through a renewable cycle of creation. Some people have stressed the need to consider whether it is obtained legitimately or not. In the traditions from the Immaculate Imams, peace and blessings be upon them all, the food for the mind has been stressed. That is we should be careful about how we acquire our knowledge. Imam Al-Baqar, peace be upon him, said, you should carefully consider from whom you acquire knowledge. Imam Sadik has also stressed this point. When we look at the verse and see what follows in the above verse, we can realize that food for the body is implied because there is a discussion of rain splitting the earth and the flourishing of plants which make up our food. Of course, we should consider both food for the body and food for the mind. We should see how revelations to the heart of the prophets bear fruits that are then stored in the hearts of the Immaculate Imam, peace be upon them all. Then this knowledge pours out and reaches the hearts of the believers and yields the fruits of faith and piety. Brothers and sisters, with this we conclude the third episode of this series. Let us not forget to pray for Imam Mehdi's blessed reappearance. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.