The Mahdi Times May 2014 Issue | Page 111

Salt Then he said, ‘If people knew what is in the salt they would not need an antidote with it.’ “ Dates “Verily, Allah inspired to Musa Ibn Imran (a.s), ‘Start [your meal] with salt and end it with salt, for in salt is a medicine for 70 ailments. The least of them are craziness, leprosy, pain of the throat and the molars and the pain of the stomach’ ." – Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) Imam Baqir (a.s) added to this, that 70 types of pains exit out of your body if you start and end your meal with salt. But not only that, it has been narrated; that the angels attend a meal to which salt is present on the table. The last thing we want to mention about salt is that it can be used as an antidote. This can be concluded out of a story that Imam Baqir (a.s) narrates about the Holy Prophet (s.a.w): “A scorpion stung Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). So he shook it off. Then he said, ‘Allah cursed you, for no one is safe from you, neither a believer nor a disbeliever.’ So he called for some salt and he put it on the place of the sting. Then he squeezed it with his thumb until it dissolved. As we know from Surat Al-Maryam, Allah (swt) fed his beloved servant Maryam (a.s) dates just after she had received Jesus (a.s). Keeping that in mind it is no surprise that the Ahlul Bayt (a.s) narrated that dates are the best food for a woman after she gave birth. They will restore her energy and cure her faster than any other kind of medicine. But it is not only after birth that dates are beneficial. It was also narrated that the child of a mother who eats dates during pregnancy will be patient and pious. About the general benefits of dates the Ahlul Bayt (a.s) narrated, “Eat dates, for indeed in it is cure from diseases.” It was also narrated by them that “Whoever eats 7 dates when he wakes up before eating anything [else], neither poison nor magic nor shaytan would hurt him that day." Also eating seven dates kills the worms in the stomach according to them (a.s).