Amal Al-Sibai

Saudi Gazette

 

VIDEOS of celebrities, politicians, athletes, and people from all walks of life drenching themselves in ice cold water, shivering, screaming, or jumping up and down; have reached almost every social networking site that exists.



The idea is to raise awareness about ALS and publicly announce donating to support research for the disease ALS. Have you heard of a bearded Imam, wearing a thobe, accept the ice bucket challenge?



Well, Shaykh Abu Eesa posted a video of himself participating in the ice bucket challenge, with a twist. Viewers and followers can actually learn something from watching his video because he thoroughly explained what ALS is and what those suffering from ALS endure.



Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), often referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. It is a debilitating disease.



In a healthy person, motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body, signaling to the muscles in order for them to move.



The degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to the death of these neurons. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.



As motor neurons degenerate, they can no longer send impulses to the muscle fibers that normally result in muscle movement. Early symptoms of ALS include increasing muscle weakness, especially involving the arms and legs, speech, swallowing or breathing. The muscles start to waste away. The person gradually has problems walking, speaking, moving, picking things up, and eventually in some cases, they may be unable to breathe. The cause of ALS is not completely understood.



While there is no cure or treatment today that halts or reverses ALS, there are a few drugs that show promise in modestly slowing down the progression of ALS, and more clinical trials are underway.



There are significant devices and therapies that can help patients in the management of their ALS symptoms and help these people maintain at least a certain degree of independence and may also help prolong survival.



In his video, the British shaykh, Abu Eesa, says, “It is a serious condition and we want to bring awareness to this disease. Yes, we are copying other people’s ideas but that is an indication to us that we need to come up with our own ideas.”



“This is a great cause and we should donate to this charity and support initiatives that look into and research the causes behind conditions like ALS,” added the Imam.



As Muslims, we believe that for every disease there is a cure, and we should support scientific research projects that may bring us closer to finding a cure to the illnesses that people suffer from.



In his video he states that this is a good cause, which he will support, even if it does not look very befitting of an Imam. It does not matter who came up with the idea. It does not matter who is supporting it; celebrities or others. It is just a way of fundraising and he wants to donate to this cause and he encourages others to raise funds as well for ALS research.



The Imam mentions that there are so many good causes that we should be supporting. We must not forget our fellow Muslims suffering in Gaza and in Syria, but these crises do not discredit the support for ALS research. We can offer help and donate to a myriad of important causes.



“Nothing should stop us from doing any bit of good,” said Abu Eesa before he dumped the bucket of freezing cold water on his head.



Someone else who invented a creative twist to the ice bucket challenge is actor Matt Damon, who used his video to get another vital message across; the global problem of water scarcity. In his video he stated that the ice bucket challenge initially posed a problem for him not only because of the drought in California, but also because he is the co-founder of a non-profit organization that envisions a day when everybody in the world will have access to clean drinking water.



“There are 800 million people in the world who do not have clean water, so dumping a bucket of clean water on my head seemed a little crazy,” Damon said on tape.



His solution was to fill his bucket of ice with toilet water. “For those of you who think that this is really disgusting, keep in mind that the water in our toilets in the West is actually cleaner than the water that most people in the developing world have access to,” he said.



Splashing the ice cold toilet water on his head aims to highlight the need for more ALS research, but it also raises awareness on the importance of water conservation.