Maryam: An Exemplary Muslim Woman .2 2024.

Allah advised Mary to eat freshly ripened dates. Today, such dates are considered to be food and medicine. Scientists now know that dates contain more than ten substances considered essential for the human body’s well-being and continuing health.

Dates contain plenty of the easily digested and absorbed sugars that give the human body its energy for heat and movement. More importantly, these sugars are of the fructose type and not of the glucose type, which quickly raises the blood-sugar levels.

Dates provide energy, help muscle tissues and nerve cells develop, and are especially beneficial for people weakened by illness or those suffering from exhaustion, because of their high caloric value. For example, 100 grams of dates contain 1.5 grams of protein and 50 grams of carbohydrates. In addition, their caloric value is 225 kcal.

Fresh dates have 60-65 percent sugar ************** and 2 percent protein **************.

Modern medical findings suggest that dates benefit women who are almost ready to give birth.

now advise pregnant women to take fructose-containing foods on their due dates, for such foods provide energy used by the weakened body to revitalize itself, have a trigger effect on the milk hormones and thus help the woman’s body produce milk, and also increase the volume of that milk.

This information reveals some of the wisdom inherent in Allah’s advice to Mary. Now, scientists inform us that date is an important source of nutrients because it contains all of the necessary essentials for human life.

In fact, one renowned expert on the subject, V. H. W. Dowson, suggests that one glass of milk and one date per day provides a person’s daily nutritional requirements.

Dates contain various vitamins (e.g., A, beta-carotene, B1, B2, B3, and B6) and minerals, (e.g., sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, fiber, iron, sulphur, phosphorus, and chlorine) and are also rich in fiber, fats, and proteins. Some of the ensuing benefits are as follows:

A date’s nutritional value is based on the balance between its minerals. During the prolonged period of morning sickness and the altering physiognomy, a shortage of potassium occurs and needs to be supplemented.

This fruit’s high potassium ************** is certainly welcome here, as its role in preserving the body’s water levels.

Iron controls the red blood cells’ synthesis of hemoglobin, which prevents anemia during pregnancy and also regulates the blood’s RBC balance, which is so crucial for the baby’s development. Due to its high iron **************, one-and-a-half dates can meet the body’s total iron requirement and thus prevent all complaints caused by a lack of iron.

Calcium and phosphorus are very important elements in developing and balancing the skeleton and the bone structures.

Dates protect the body from anemia and weak bones, and thus reduce the risk of such illnesses with their high nutritional value and high phosphorus, calcium, and iron **************.

Scientists point out that dates can reduce stress and tension levels. Research done at Berkeley University revealed that dates are rich in vitamin B1 (the "nerve vitamin") and magnesium (essential for muscle functions), both of which are essential for a strong nervous system. Magnesium is also very important for the kidneys, and two or three dates per day are enough to meet all of the human body’s magnesium requirements.

Dates also contain folic acid (vitamin B9), which is essential for pregnant women, due to its important role in forming new blood cells, producing amino acids, and developing new cells. As a result, a pregnant woman needs double the usual daily amount of folic acid.

If the body’s folic acid levels fall below the required amount, bigger but less functional red blood cells are formed and anemia occurs.

Folic acid, which is crucial to developing the cell’s genetic makeup and division, is the only substance that must be doubled during pregnancy. Dates are very rich in folic acid.

Another matter that should be reflected upon is the little stream created by Allah and His advice for Mary to eat and drink. Allah told Mary that He had placed a stream by her feet to eat, drink, and delight her eyes.

Water, like dates, eases labor pains and regulates muscle tension. In fact, some modern birth clinics have pools in which the delivery takes place.

Water, which is necessary for life and one’s physical well-being, plays an important role in regulating the body’s temperature, transporting nutritional elements and oxygen, and removing waste matter from the body’s cells.

It also ensures the healthy movement of joints, skin moisture and elasticity, the digestive system, and protects tissues and organs.

Water is becoming more widely used in therapy by the day. Contact with water stimulates the immune system, increases anti-stress hormone production, reduces pain, and stimulates blood circulation and ********bolism.

Water is important during pregnancy for several reasons. At that time, water intake is especially necessary because the volume of blood increases and because of the developing baby’s needs.

Women who choose to breast-feed need plenty of water to produce the necessary amount of milk.

Considering that 87 percent of this milk is water, we can see how important this production is.

Water also maintains the electrolyte balances in the blood of the mother and the child. Hormones released during pregnancy alter the way various body fluids are used. Toward the end of the woman’s pregnancy, blood volume increases 150 percent, and the loss of water through breathing is much greater. The amnion fluid, in which the baby grows, is renewed every three hours.

However, it can decrease, as in the case of dehydration caused by insufficient water intake.

Dehydration during pregnancy also can cause premature labor. Some hormones released in such situations imitate the hormones that trigger labor pains.

Cases in which premature birth is a significant risk are treated by giving fluids through the veins, a procedure that highlights the importance of water intake. Such premature tensions are often cured by this fluid therapy.

Water also forms the human body’s transport system. Via the bloodstream, it carries food and oxygen to the embryo and helps prevent some common infections that can cause miscarriage or premature labor and birth.

Sufficient water intake reduces the risks of such infections. Doctors inform their patients that their water requirement increases by 50 percent during pregnancy.

If the water intake is insufficient, the body reduces the quantity of some fluids, which, in turn, causes various complaints.

Modern science shows once more the wisdom in Allah’s creation of the
stream for Mary and His advice to eat dates and drink water. All of this is evidence of Allah’s infinite knowledge.

Mary Shakes the Date Tree

“Allah tells Mary to shake the date tree toward her when she was headed toward it in her labor pains.” (Surah Maryam: 25)

Doctors say that pulling something toward oneself during labor can have a positive effect on the muscles. In order to ease labor pains and help bring about a safe delivery, women are advised to do certain exercises that reduce pressure in the body and, therefore, the risk of complications during delivery. They are also thought to quicken the process of giving birth.

Doctors suggest that in the second stage of labor, the woman’s head should be slightly raised to take advantage of gravity.

Thus, hospital delivery rooms have beds with suitably placed handles and footrests that enable pregnant women to give birth in the most comfortable position.

Other practitioners advise their patients to squat or sit on specially adapted birth chairs.

Before recent technological developments, some birth rooms featured a rope hanging from the ceiling, which the expectant mother was to use to try and pull herself up, thus helping the birth process.

All of these methods are theoretically and logically helpful. Perhaps this is why Allah told Mary to pull and shake the date tree.