The gold beneath my feet
When I make the soil for my organic vegetable garden, I don’t just work with earth — I listen to it. The texture turns soft, almost like cotton, and as my hands move through it, something stirs within me. A quiet voice rises: “This is gold.” Not the kind of gold that glitters in banks or stock markets, but living gold — full of potential, life, and quiet richness. This gold cannot be bought. It’s cultivated — with care, with time, and with trust.
It’s here, in this quiet communion with soil, that I find something scientists often say does not exist: the soul. I’m reminded of what Sheikh Hamza of Zaytuna College said in a recent lecture: “Beyond worship and dhikr (remembrance), the cultivation of soil is among the important elements of worship (‘ibāda) to God.”
Four days ago, I fell ill — fever, body ache, sore throat — all symptoms of the virus that’s once again circulating in the air. I was prescribed antibiotics and paracetamol. But something in me hesitated. I said to myself: For months, I’ve eaten only what I grow. No chemicals. No market-bought vegetables. Just food from my soil — soil I’ve built with compost, leaves, microbes, and love.
Taking an antibiotic would have been like pouring poison into myself — into my gut micro biome, the invisible garden I’ve nurtured with every bite of clean food. I realized: just as I wouldn’t dump synthetic fertilizer onto my garden’s thriving soil, I couldn’t dump an unnecessary antibiotic into my body. So I rested. I hydrated. I let the fever pass like a wave. And it did. With the grace of God, I am fit again. My body healed — naturally, as it’s done many times before for this man of 80 years.
In choosing this path, I didn’t just preserve my health. I honoured a belief: that health is not control — it is collaboration with nature, both outside and within. I also honoured the science. The World Health Organization reports that while only 8% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients had bacterial co-infections needing antibiotics, approximately 75% were still treated with them — unnecessarily. This contributes to the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued clear guidelines: “95% of upper respiratory tract infections are viral and do not benefit from antibiotics.” And the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that only one common bacterial cause — Group A Streptococcus — accounts for just 5–10% of sore throats in adults. Most sore throats are viral and should not be treated with antibiotics. Best practices for viral infections: Rest, hydration and refrain from using antibiotics unless there is clear evidence of a bacterial infection.
Some scientists argue there’s no soul — only brain chemistry and biological signals. But standing barefoot in my garden, with my hands in the gold-like earth, I feel otherwise. The softness of soil. The silence of healing. The wisdom of the body. If that’s not soul, I don’t know what is.
M.A.Kawosa, IFS, Ph.D (India); PhD. (Germany)
