22 
Before one can begin any action they must have 
a pure intention and it must follow the Sunnah of 
our beloved Prophet Muhammad, may the peace 
and blessings of Allah be upon him, and one must 
prepare oneself to do that action beforehand so as 
to perfect it and beautify it for Allah’s sake. 
So the one who wants to prepare their own selves 
for Jihad and raise the banner of La Illaha 
Illallah, they must make their intentions and 
prepare themselves spiritually, militarily, !nancially, 
and logistically. And from amongst preparing 
oneself militarily is to exercise the body and to 
prepare it for war which necessitates that it be 
able to withstand long journeys and carry heavy 
equipment and to be !t, generally speaking. 
And from among the pure intentions is to train as 
hard as possible in order to damage the enemies 
of Allah as much as possible. And we see this from 
the stories of the Shuhada’, that they would train 
themselves with the intention of damaging the 
enemies and striking hard against them. I give you 
the example of our martyred brother Salman al- 
Farsi, may Allah have mercy on him, and how the 
brothers described him in Bosnia: 
“Salman Al-Farsi loved training. He loved to train in 
the cause of Allah, so that he could be as strong in the 
!ghting as he could and do as much damage to Allah’s 
enemies as possible. He always used to exert himself in 
training with this intention of damaging the enemies of 
Allah.”1 
And we see from the speeches of the True Scholars 
of Jihad that they also placed much importance on 
this subject. Here is part of the speech which Anwar 
Sha’baan, may Allah have mercy on him, gave to the 
Mujahideen in Bosnia just before ‘Operation Miracle’ 
in July 1995: 
“So I congratulate you with the permission of Allah, 
Glori!ed is He and exalted, on a near victory, on a 
conquest from Allah, Glori!ed is He and exalted, and we 
ask Allah to make us from amongst those who hurt our 
enemies time after time. We love martyrdom in the Way 
of Allah. Its time is when Allah wishes, but we ask our 
Lord, Glori!ed is He and exalted, that He makes us from 
those who damage his enemies and from those who 
make his enemies taste punishment after punishment.”2" 
So we see that the Mujahid who gives victory to 
Allah’s Deen must ful!ll the obligation of preparing 
himself physically for Jihad, and by the permission 
of Allah I will teach you some exercises to help you 
strengthen your body and become !t. 
A ! DHIKR AS AN EXERCISE 
1 In the Hearts of Green Birds 
2 Ibid.

23 
I mention dhikr as the !rst method of building 
strength due to its signi!cance in our time and age, 
but also because of it being the way of the Salaf 
foremost among them Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah 
have mercy on him, himself. From Ibn Taymiyyah’s 
life we see that dhikr was not just a means to gain 
Iman and gain deeds, but it actually gave their 
body’s physical strength. Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah 
have mercy on him, narrates for us that among 
the amazing things which he saw from his teacher 
Ibn Taymiyyah was that he would sit between 
Dhuhr and ‘Asr and he would have written a book, 
and his students saw many great feats from him 
in the battle!eld. So Ibn Taymiyyah’s students 
were amazed at how he was able to do all this, 
and wondered where he was getting his strength 
from! Ibn al-Qayyim continues his narration that 
Ibn Taymiyyah would sit in his place after Fajr and 
making dhikr and reading Qur’an until sunrise, 
then he would turn around and he would say to 
them “This is my provision and if I do not take my 
provision, I lose strength.” Subhan’Allah! This is an 
amazing statement that explains for us that the 
dhikr and the worship are means of provision and 
strength. So your !rst lesson in exercise is dhikr 
and it might be that without it, you would not gain 
much result. 
B ! USING WEIGHTS TO GET IN SHAPE IS 
UNREALISTIC 
The reason we should aim to get into shape without 
using weights is simply that the use of weights does 
not bring permanent results, as you only keep the 
strength you gained by continuing to use those 
machines and bars. This is of course unrealistic for 
the Mujahid in the front lines anywhere in the world 
today. We !nd that this is a major setback for the 
Americans and the NATO Crusading army as they 
cannot go to any battlefront without carrying along 
with them their bench, squat sets and sometimes 
even their machines. And we have learned this from 
the videos released by our brothers in Afghanistan. 
The Mujahideen found upon capturing enemy bases 
bars and weights in American barracks and bases. 
So if this is the case for the enemies then obviously 
this would not work for the Jihad and due to it being 
a waste of money and e#ort as well as not being a 
realistic option. So the Mujahid must learn to get in 
shape and build strength and to continue to do so 
wherever he is with little or no resources and to be 
able to use his body and the ground alone to keep 
in shape. 
Another reason being that the places which one 
can go to where weights and gyms are available are 
not Islamic environments and de!nitely not !t for 
the Mujahid in Allah’s cause. We !nd at these gyms 
such as 24 Hour Fitna and LA Fitna that they are full 
of music, semi-naked women, free mixing and the 
danger of one showing o# during a workout which 
would destroy your intention and action. 
C ! WARM UPS AND COOL DOWNS 
Before beginning any workout, one must stretch 
and warm up for at least 10 minutes before working 
out to prevent injury and cramps and after working 
out to cool down with stretches as well. Among 
these stretches being: 
.... Active and Static Shoulder Bridges 
.... Sit-Ups 
.... V-sits 
.... Spinal Floor Twists 
.... Spread foot Squats 
.... Sit-up Series 
.... Throw-downs 
A short description of some of these activities 
follows: 
1 – Sit-up Series 
An example of a sit-up series would involve doing 
10 normal sit-ups, then doing 10 where you put 
your right leg on your left knee, and touch it with 

24 
your right elbow and vice versa. Afterwards have a 
partner hold your legs aloft and do 10 regular situps. 
Then have your partner put your feet on their 
knees, so your legs are at a 90 degree angle, and do 
10 additional sit-ups. 
2 - Throw-downs 
Throw-downs are done on your back, and involve 
you lifting both legs up, and your partner throwing 
them down back to the ground, with you stopping 
them before they hit the ground. This process 
should be repeated several times. 
3 – V-Sits 
V-sits are where you lift up your legs from a sitting 
position, touch your toes, and then bring your legs 
down without touching the ground. This process 
should be repeated numerous times. 
4 - Shoulder Bridges 
Shoulder Bridges are sitting on your shoulders with 
your legs holding you up and your toes aligned with 
your knees. It can be either active or static, so you 
either hold it for a few minutes or you move up and 
down. 
5 – Spread-foot Squats 
Spread-foot squats are simply squats you do 
without using weights, and your legs are spread 
apart farther than your shoulders. 
6 - Spinal Floor Twists 
Spinal $oor twists involve lifting your legs straight 
up, then putting them to your left or right side while 
keeping your back straight and both shoulders on 
the ground.

25 
D ! SCULPTING YOUR LEGS 
Building your legs is the most important part of your 
body to prepare for Jihad, and if you think Jihad 
is anything but long walks, jogging and running 
then you are quite mistaken. On top of that you’re 
going to be carrying weapons and equipment! And 
among the things which terrorizes the enemy very 
much is when the Mujahideen strike them with 
lightning speed and great planning. An example 
for you is the massive jailbreak in Afghanistan of 
last year that freed over 1,000 Muslims; it was done 
with great swiftness that the Murtadeen became 
dumbfounded. So it is has much bene!t for the 
Mujahid to be quick and be able to carry on with 
a constant speed for extended periods of time 
especially during raids on the enemy. 
Building your leg strength is not that di%cult, but it 
does require e#ort and the ability to carry on even 
when you are tired, and to continue being tired 
for Allah’s sake, as this exhaustion is in the cause 
of Allah and carries much reward for the Muslim. If 
you cannot exhaust your body for this Deen then I 
can guarantee that you will be exhausting it for a 
Batil matter which will become a source of regret 
and much worry for you on the Day of Judgment. I 
suggest you start with these exercises: 
.... Walking Long Distances (at least 1 hour and 
a half everyday) 
.... Interval runs on weekends (running till you 
are tired, then fast walking for a while, then 
running and repeating this cycle for an hour 
each day of the weekend, starting Friday) 
.... Wall-Sits (Sitting against the wall for an 
extended period of time) 
.... Jump Rope while running and walking 
.... Crawling long distances 
.... Active and Static Lunges 
E ! ARM STRENGTH 
Although leg strength is important, building arm 
strength is quite necessary as well. One doesn’t 
need sophisticated exercise for arms but all it takes 
is to add to duration, length and number of reps for 
each one. Mainly focus on: 
.... At least 100-150 pushups per day, doing 10- 
25 each time. 
.... Pull-Ups 
.... Walking on hands 
.... Push-up series (for example doing push-ups 
with your hands held farther apart, then 
closer together, or using your !sts instead of 

26 
your palms) 
F ! DIET 
The diet of a person working out is just as important 
as the workout itself, but here I wanted to mention 
the di#erence between the Muslim and the Ka!r in 
their diets due to the grace and mercy Allah holds 
for the Believer. 
One should eat right after working out and should 
postpone eating until after you have worked out. 
It is recommended to eat a meal high in carbs and 
protein, but more carbs than protein. Contrary 
to what many people believe, you really only 
need about 32 grams of protein, so don’t waste 
your money on expensive protein milkshakes. A 
recommended list of foods would be: 
.... Eggs (whites of eggs) 
.... Meat 
.... Fish 
.... Nuts 
.... Milk and water 
.... 100% Fruit juice 
.... Vegetables 
.... Rice 
.... Bread 
.... Cheese 
One should eat some light food before a workout, 
like an apple, some dates or some crackers and 
water. 
The Ku"ar teach people that you should eat a very 
large amount before a workout, and that you need 
something like 3,000 to 4,000 calories for a male 
who works out at a young age. And they used to 
teach me that you should eat whenever you are 
not hungry and gain weight to turn it into muscle. 
Obviously this is un-Islamic and I learned during my 
workouts that this is not true for the Muslim. 
Na!’ narrated that Ibn ‘Umar never used to take his 
meal unless a poor man was called to eat with him. 
One day I brought a poor man to eat with him, the 
man ate too much, whereupon Ibn ‘Umar said, “O 
Na!’! Don’t let this man enter my house, for I heard 
the Prophet saying, ‘A believer eats in one intestine (is 
satis!ed with a little food), and a ka!r eats in seven 
intestines (eats much food)’.”3 
And I noticed that whether or not I ate a lot, it 
did not a#ect my results. Nay! From the strangest 
of things I found that I gained the most muscle 
during the month of Ramadan! So I realized that 
the Believer is not a#ected by food but rather his 
strength comes from Allah. During Ramadan it is 
best to workout after having eaten dates and drank 
something and having prayed Maghrib then eating 
more heavily after the workout. This schedule 
during Ramadan gave me the best results and 
here it is important to mention the importance of 
Fasting Mondays and Thursdays not only due to this 
blessing from Allah but due to its protection from 
evil and a command from the Messenger of Allah, 
may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, 
to the young men and being from his Sunnah. 
Alqama narrated: “While I was with ‘Abdullah, 
‘Uthman met him at Mina and said, ‘O Abu ‘Abd ar- 
Rahman! I have something to say to you.’ So both 
of them went aside and ‘Uthman said, ‘O Abu ‘Abd 
ar-Rahman! Shall we marry you to a virgin who 
will make you remember your past days?’ When 
‘Abdullah felt that he was not in need of that, he 
beckoned me (to join him) saying, ‘O’ Alqama!’ Then I 
heard him saying (in reply to ‘Uthman), ‘As you have 
said that, (I tell you that) the Prophet once said to us, 
‘O young people! Whoever among you is able to marry, 
should marry, and whoever is not able to marry, is 
recommended to fast, as fasting diminishes his sexual 
power’.” 4 
May Allah help you in your e#orts in pleasing Him. 
3 Sahih Bukhari: Book 7, Vol. 65, #305 
4 Ibid., Book 7, Vol. 62, #3