how 'siwak' defeated the greatest army on the face of the earth

This is an abstract from a book i bought. Healing Body & Soul. kalau terjumpa i strongly recommend that you buy it.

A Long Time ago, when the muslim army was fighting against the persian empire. the muslims were defeated in the first few rounds of the battle, so their commander, Sa'id ibn Abi Waqqas (R.A) gathered his men to reevaluate their resources and position. All seemed under control: the Muslim army had a great number og fighters and good resources; so what was the problem then?

Sa'ad concluded that this defeat must be a punishment from Allah for their sins, so he ordered each of them to repent and ask Allah forgiveness and check for any misdeed that he had committed or any acts of worship that he had forgotten to perform. All the men were good muslims, with sincere intentions and the true will and power to fight the enemies. Still, he insisted, they must have neglected some of Allah or His Prophet's orders. They went through the obligatory and the non-obligatory of worship, and then through the entire sunnah of the prophet to find their weak point. Finally, Sa'id realized that they had been neglecting the Sunnah of 'siwak'. They were not using siwak as our Prophet used to do before prayer. how strange it seemed: men at the battlefront who thought that their weak point was that they were not brushing their teeth five times a day!

Sa'ad ordered for the siwak sticks to be distributed to each muslim in the army and asked them all to follow our prophet's Sunnah. No one argued, no one questioned his commander's reasoning; no one asked what siwak had to do with winning or loosing the battle against the strongest army on the face of the earth.

Meanwhile, the persian army had sent spies to check on the Muslim's camp. The persians at that time looked upon the Arabs as a primitive, uncivilized nation, so when the spies reached the Arabs' camp and saw them rubbing their teeth with sticks, they failed to understand what was going on, until one of them shouted:
"They are sharpening their teeth to eat us alive; they are cannibals!"

The persian spies ran back to their camp and the news spread like wildfire. The whole army panicked, and most of the Persian fortresses were abandoned and fell easily into the Muslims' hands..

do you see the moral of the story? do not underestimate even seemingly insignificant orders from Allah and his Messenger (Quran and Sunnah), even if you do not understand the wisdom behind it. Until recently, scientists had not discovered enough to confirm most of the information present in this book, yet Islamic teachings were followed, grasped and regularly practiced by muslims for years. They did not need to know that
homosexuality causes the spread of fatal diseases;
or that pork is a potential host for viral mutation;
or that alcoholic beverages intoxicate the blood and nerves;
they did not need to know that ablution boosts immunity, that regular prayers, supplications, and meditation reduce hypertension and relax the nerves;
or that anger, hate, ency and severing family ties all disturb your biological functions;
yet they were certain deep in their hearts that since the orders came from Allah, then they must hold tremendous benefits and great wisdom.

do not get me wrong, though; we should still try to search for the wisdom and the meanings behind everything we do. We are required to learn, explore and experience, we should seek scientific knowledge in all fields and apply this knowledge in our everyday life. Even if we do not find an answer we should still believe that our islamic teachings are the best source of health and happiness for our body and soul; and we should be certain that the meanings we grasp and the knowledge we attain can never encompass all the wisdom behind these precious teachings. Learning is a life long process.

Allah says...
... and of knowledge, you [humans] have been given only a little.
Quran 17;85


Good luck fellow Alexandrians for you're coming exams!
Exam Alert! InnAllah ma'ana