I’ve been making progress with my “pre-diabetes diagnosis during Ramadan, I’m walking every day and eating smaller meals dispersed through out the day with no white flour and white sugar. I’m not clear on all the things I can eat but by the time I attended the first class organized by my health insurance, I had lost 10 pounds.
This class brings together people who have nothing else in common but diabetes, type 1 or 2 —and in my case pre-diabetes. It’s an eye opener for me. I see how far it can go. I also see the multiple ways I or any one else might resist getting control over this disease. Actually, a lifestyle change towards all those things we already know to be better for us, and seriously arrests the course of destruction this disease can cause. Get moving: a little exercise can make a big difference. Eat healthy: reduce fats, sugar and carbs. You know, the regular stuff.
Last year my eldest brother died from complication related to diabetes. He never intentionally made simple adjustments in diet and exercise. Eventually he had part of his foot removed. During his last few months he lay flat on his back: no movement. Having had more than one stroke, he also had no speech left. It was a heart-wrenching state of affairs.
People in my class are at the moment at a self motivated place, and although one had had surgery on his foot, another has lost nearly a hundred pounds. One guy, with the biggest belly I’ve seen up close in a long time, said he had lost 6 pounds this week by adding lunch to his stressful day. Apparently, he was prone to over eating when he got home from work, but not “hungry” during the day. So he needed to do something to taper his blood sugar. Everyone in the class has a full blown diabetes diagnosis and all have some kind of medication related to this: insulin, pill or shot, and/or some kind of anti-cholesterol medication. I was supposed to be in a class with other pre-diabetics but there was a schedule mix up, and this is where I am.
When we went around to introduce ourselves the guy with the foot operation said, this is like an AA meeting, “Hi my name is so and so and I have diabetes.” Everyone laughed. It put us in the right place to start, I think — took away the more serious edge. Before the introductions got around to me one woman (despite being on diabetes medications) said, “I am not a diabetic. I am not going to own up to being a diabetic unless the Lord tells me that is the case.” She keeps taking her medication and she eats 5 to 6 small meals a day, so has pretty good control over the matter.
So when I had to introduce myself I just went with the numbers as the doctor had given them to me. I’m in that pre-diabetes state, and if I get a handle on it I can avoid progression to a worse state, or stroke or death or whatever. I took her seriously when she told me and I took measures to address it before I came to class, ordering my own books to return the ones I borrowed from the library. Actually getting some of those lifestyle things into place, as we all know, are good for us anyway.
Before the class was over, we had to make an “action plan” for the next week: something we would do between this class and the next weigh-in the following week. We broke into groups of two and were supposed to make sure that our partners were specific: when, how much, how many, and what ever we chose. I had the guy who had lost 6 pounds by eating lunch and that was his goal again for next week: to keep eating lunch. My goal was to take those weights I bought months ago out of the box and actually use them three or four times this week. I know the lifestyle changes, and like anybody else I need to do something about it, not just buy the weights.
When we reported back we were also supposed to say the likelihood of our doing what we have proposed on a scale of 1 to 10. We talked about people getting closer to ten by making their goals more accessible or for people already at 10 to think of a little bit more of a challenge. The lady without diabetes ‘because the Lord had not told her she had it,’ said she would exercise: maybe once a week for five minutes. Her likelihood in meeting this goal was some where around 3 or 4. When asked what would make it more likely she said again, “if the Lord tells me.”
So, I asked her if there was any way she could speak to the Lord and she turned to me with indignation and said “I speak to the Lord, every day.” I think the way she explained it was, ‘I speak to him’ but I don’t tell him what to do. And I wait for him to speak to me, on this, that (and the other). Honestly, I found this very curious. Because I have always been taught, even as a Christian, that I had responsibility for my own soul. My father, a Methodist minister, used to say, “I can’t go to the Judgment for you. You have to go for yourself.”
I never forgot this.
As a Muslim, the interrelationship between us, as creatures who believe in and intentionally orient ourselves towards God/Allah/the Lord, is one which was defined in the very nature of our creation. Before we were created, Allah said, to the angels, “Indeed, I will create on the earth a khalifah, an agent, (or a trustee of God/Allah/the Lord). This agency, we sometime refer to with regard to our “free will”, that is discussed ad-nauseam by religious thinkers. For the moment, I will refer to it as empowerment.
Also note that “on the earth” is part of this plan. In Islamic cosmology we have no fall. The earth is where we were pre-destined to inhabit and so here we are. But agency of khilafah, I see as responsibility. We make our own destiny here on earth. There is a relationship to our Lord. There is even what is called predetermination (also discussed ad- nauseam by religious thinkers). I’m not trying to solve this age old problem how much is free will and how much is predestination, but I wish to make a comment. I cannot see complacency if it leaves one unable to say, I will try to do this or that, at the very least.
Most Muslims follow the Qur’anic advice to say after ward such plans, “in sha’ Allah” if God wills. The Prophet has a nice way of reminding us of what I call the simultaneity of pre-determination and free will: “trust in Allah and tie your camel.” I don’t get the sense that tying the camel means we have no faith in God. It doesn’t mean that we do not surrender to the divine will (the definition of the word “islam”) or that we do not trust in the Lord. However, it is a partnership.
We have to do our part and then the results are up to Allah.
I have used this logic in understanding process ethics, about those things not resolvable by one person or even one nation. We make our efforts towards the solution the conclusion of the matter is much greater than our efforts, but we must make those efforts, ethically anyway. I also use this logic in terms of text and textual understanding. Yes, I do believe the Qur’an is revelation from God to the Prophet, but the only way to understand the text or to implement its wisdom is by our agency. We co-create meaning. We can’t help it; because we are not divine. We have to trust ourselves then as well as trust in the divine.
I don’t believe it is magic. I don’t believe it is beyond our capacity, beyond our input or beyond our control. I believe we live this life according to our own will and trust in the Lord. I just don’t get the idea that unless I get a specific, personal, one-on-one message, then I cannot do the best I can with what God has given me. But then, as all the great Muslim thinkers conclude at the end of their writings:
Allah knows best.
