Asalaamu alaikum Abu Fluffy. i am confused by your comment because you extrapolated from are running shoes really good/best for us to the need for physical exercise. No one here is questionning that we need to be active and physically fit. There are plenty of ahadith that point to the importance of physical fitness and our responsibility to our bodies. That does not automatically equate, however, to the need for particular shoes. While you may feel a difference in certain shoes, that is anecdotal and there are clearly others who will say different. There are marathon runners who continue to run barefoot, afterall.

One should realize, of course, that not all sports shoes are designed for running. Some are for basketball, others are for cross-training. Furthermore, if you are going to do serious amounts of running, you need to find out if you need supinated or pronated running shoes, at the very least.

Our ancient ancestors exercised by simply living their lives. You had to fetch water, grind grains, bake your own bread, gather wood for a fire, milk the animals, etc. Life was hard. These days, if our only source of exercise and flexibility is typing at a keyboard, we’re likely to be falling over in our fifties. Physical fitness is also incredibly useful for worship. The more fit you are, the less likely you are to find difficulty in prayer, hajj, and fasting as you get older. Did I mention jihad? If the opportunity arises and you are not physically fit, you will be a liability more than anything else.

Asalaamu alaikum.

In my culture, people wore simple mocassins. They hunted in them, going through wooded areas, plains, in the mountains, etc. i have worn traditional mocassins and they really aren’t anything more than a layer, or at most two, of thin deer hide (they would be lined with a small amount of fur in the winter) with no “sole”. My people walked for many many miles, for days, even weeks, at a time when tracking food or when moving from summer camp to winter camp and back. Every tribe also had runners who delivered messages across the distances between tribes or bands. So it does not surprise me at all that the modern shoe would do more harm than good, nor that the old fashioned way of walking barefoot or in simple sandals or mocassins would be infinitely better for the feet. i know of my own personal experience that i went barefoot as much as i could as a teenager and young woman (prior to motherhood), even walking 3-5 miles in our city in my barefeet before putting my shoes on to go into the library or other necessary places, and it wasn’t until after i got into the habit of wearing shoes everywhere except in the house, out of the “necessity” of modern living and working, that i began to have problems with my feet and now have constant sores, blisters, corns and other problems no matter what sort of shoe i wear.

I’ve never liked running shoes because walking in them always made my feet hurt more.

Did you ever read this article – We walk wrong – http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/ ?

Pretty good stuff.