Issues And Manners
Which Have Been Forgotten
The purpose of eating
The enjoyment of food
The mother of diseases?
Competing in the kitchen?
Halal and Haram
Going back to basics
Putting food in its right priority
Food for thought
The Purpose of eating
When we have our breakfast, lunch, dinner and all those snacks in
between, are we aware of the implications that such a simple and
casual act can have, both in our lives in this world and in the
hereafter?
On its most basic level, the purpose of eating is to survive. When
hunger strikes, we seek sustenance in order to gain energy, and to
provide the nourishment needed to live.
For a Muslim, eating has more purposeful meaning. It goes beyond our
base desires of filling our stomachs. Islam is ultimately about
submitting to the will of our Creator, and worshipping Him. Like other
acts of a Muslim, if properly applied, eating can also be an act of
worship. It can be the means of nourishing and equipping our bodies in
order to worship Allah better.
The enjoyment of food
Food, as in any other provision, is a gift and a trust from Allah. If
not used in the way that Allah wants, it is a betrayal of that trust.
Eating is a necessity. However, the enjoyment of food and its variety
of flavours, is a mercy and favour from Allah, in order that such
necessity is made more pleasurable.
A majority of us have taken eating beyond its original purpose, and we
gratify our tastebuds to such an extent that we end up worshipping
food. This phenomena can be observed by the inordinate amount of time
we spend buying ingredients, the laborious preparations of food in the
kitchen and the time we spend eating. This is reflected in the way we
eat our regular meals, and the degree to which much of our social
lives revolve around food and drink.
If we lose sight of the original purpose of eating, and instead
associate food with the satisfaction of a desire (rather than the
fulfillment of a necessity), that desire may transform into a desire
for other than Allah.
When the original aim of eating is forgotten, our human tendencies will instead
form attachments and habits to what we consume.
Eating and cooking consume a large proportion of our lives, and in the
process, we lose much of our time. We have lost the essence and the
original purpose of eating, and have broken the connection between
eating and the journey of iman.
The danger of forgetting the manner of eating and the cultivation of
bad eating habits is not just about consuming excessive calories and
developing clogged arteries, it can have the potential of destroying
our iman and our relationship with our Creator.
The stomach is like the heart, in that we reap the benefits of what we feed it.
Like the heart, we can either enslave it or let it enslave us.
By curbing our appetites and being mindful of our eating habits,
we do not give in to excesses in our desire for food and drink.
By being vigilant and giving the act of eating its due priority,
we do not let our appetites become our masters.
However, if we indulge every craving and desire dictated by our
appetites, we have a tendency to let these desires become habit
forming. The more obsessed we become about food and the more priority
we give to satiating our appetites, the more danger we are of
nourishing our habits rather than our bodies. From these, negative
aspects of behavior penetrate into and influence our mannerism, and we
develop traits such as greed, impatience, stinginess and selfishness.
Food and the desire for food will affect our personalities, and if
left uncontrolled, will compromise even our concept of halal and
haram.
The mother of diseases?
It may be astonishing to discover that the mother of diseases is
eating. The desire for what is originally intended as a simple and
basic act of survival, can be manipulated by shayateen. It is not an
exaggeration to say that the implications of such a seemingly harmless
act, if corrupted, can go beyond causing health disorders, it can
cause social illnesses.
The more we fill the stomach out of desire rather than necessity, the more it
empties the heart.
We build habits which have nothing to do with Islam, but rather
originate from habits and culture. We are stuck with our own eating
styles without wanting to sample or even consider better eating habits
and types of food. Instead of following the sunnah, households eat
according to their heritage, each culture believing that their food is
the best. This unwillingness to break out of our cultural and habitual
fixation breeds arrogance.
In terms of mannerism, how many of us become angry and moody if food
is not cooked in a way that we like, or is served late?
How many of us become irritable if we do not get to eat what we desire?
if food is not cooked in a way that we like, or is served late?
How many of us become irritable if we do not get to eat what we desire?
How many of us still insist on eating the type of cuisine enjoyed by our ethnic
origins, even if there is an abundance of alternatives?
When we get consumed by the madness of eating, we create harmful
addictions. Many of us are addicted to caffeine, spices, fizzy drinks,
sugar and food cooked only in a specific cultural style. There is also
addiction to unhealthy food, which regardless of the harmful side
effects, we deliberately and blissfully feast in large quantities. It
is not surprising that these actions result in physical problems -
side effects such as cholesterol and becoming overweight, heart
problems and diabetes are common in society today.
Our body is a trust.
We are a guardian of our bodies, and we will be asked about what we did to
preserve our bodies in good health and shape in order to worship Allah.
We should not betray the trust given to us.
If we die from these eating related diseases, we will be questioned about
why we caused it to happen.
Competing in the kitchen?
Islam teaches us to be simple, to cook in small amounts and to use
spices sparingly. It does not mean that we should be stingy with food,
but rather, we are encouraged to avoid excessiveness and wastage.
Now food is no longer for serving Allah. Instead, women who take pride
in their cooking are now in intense cooking battles. Cooking has
become a championship where women are anxious to outdo each other in
quantity, preparation, flavouring and garnishing. Great pains and
disproportionate amounts of time are taken to decorate, present and
plate up various delicacies
Where does all this laborious preparation go? The only enjoyment is in
the tongue as the food passes our tastebuds, but the pleasure is
momentary and quickly disappears. Hence we spend hours of preparation
for fifteen minutes of delight.
We are so eager to impress our guests, that instead of following the
sunnah of serving guests what we have without burdening ourselves, we
overload dining tables with lavish servings. We force guests to eat
beyond their fill, and the lack of compliments on the dishes served
can be taken as personal insults and blown out of proportion.
When we eat outside of the home, we indulge ourselves by ordering in
excess of what we can consume. Fine dining becomes a mania, and the
consumption of rich and overpriced dishes in lavish restaurants
becomes a status symbol. We are blind to the amount of wastage and
leftovers that the waiters clear from our tables.
Our bad behaviour is accentuated when domestic disputes occur if the
food is not up to the taste of a spouse. In the obsession of eating
the perfect dish, we are willing to allow our marriages to collapse
because of food which is too salty or served too cold.
We then pass the habits down to our children. We either allow the
child to indulge in whatever he wants, regardless of nutritional
value, or we give in to their fussy demands, letting the food that we
prepare for them be dictated by what they want or refuse. We overfeed
our children, or we malnourish them by entertaining the picky eaters.
When these manifest in various behavioral and health disorders, do we
question ourselves why?
Halal and Haram
Once we become slaves of our appetites, we fall into the danger of
transgressing the bounds of halal and haram. In the zeal for satiating
our appetites, we make concessions and eat substances which are not
halal. We are quick to give in to our impatience and desire when we
see a tempting dish, regardless of the ingredients and the manner in
which it has been prepared. Instead of curbing our appetites and
exercising patience and discipline, we eat whatever is delicious or
convenient. For a few minutes while the food pleases our palates, we
taint our bodies with substances which we know are haram. Also
forbidden is food which is bought from forbidden sources of income.
We convince ourselves that we are not doing anyone any harm, and that
these are minor infractions.
Consider this - if someone eats forbidden food, it means that he does not have
fear and respect for Allah.
The lack of restraint is symptomatic of lack of obedience.
If someone does not respect Allah, how can he be expected to treat
anyone else with respect?
If a man betrays his own self and takes his body to hellfire with the
consumption
of the forbidden, how can he be trusted to lead his family to jannah?
If one has eaten forbidden food, his deeds will not be accepted for 40
days. If we consistently feed ourselves with a haram diet, allowing
such food to become part of our flesh and bones, how do you think it
will affect our behaviour? How do you think our standing with Allah
will be?
Going back to basics
Eating in itself is not a problem. Rather, it is the addiction to
habits and customs related to eating. If this has occurred, then we
need to break the cycle.
The following are some hints on how to simplify our eating habits and
to go back to basics:
Cooking:
Buy food which is easy to cook, inexpensive and which benefits us the
most nutritionally
Spend minimal time preparing and cooking the food
Study the different food groups and nutritious values of different
types of meats, vegetables and herbs, and apply it to your own
personal circumstances (as individuals react differently depending on
their gender, age and genetic characteristics)
Do not cook excessive amounts of food
Eating:
Food is a bounty from Allah, do not let it wait for you once it is served
Remember the intention and goal of eating. Ask Allah to put barakah in
your food and remember His blessings
Start with Bismillah and eat with the right hand, using the tips of
the first three fingers
It is better to eat in a group, preferably from the same platter, and
talk in the remembrance of Allah
Do not feed anyone except for a pious person, unless doing so for the
intention of dawah
Eat what is immediately in front of you
Never fill your stomach completely the best way is to fill your
stomach with one third of food and one third of water
Avoid drinking while eating, and if you must drink, drink water which
is room temperature
Do not mix hot and cold food
Do not throw away leftovers
Remember to thank Allah for His bounty, generosity and kindness
Putting food in its right priority
Our cultures have influenced our manner of eating, and while diversity
is allowed in Islam, it should be within the parameters of Islam.
For example, in most cultures, it is the duty of the women to prepare
meals. In Islam, women are not cooks. In fact, allocating her with
such a duty is against the sunnah entirely. The Prophet saw did his
own cooking, cleaning and mending. If a woman does cook, it is a
charity to the husband.
The abuse of food can hurt us financially, influence our moods
adversely, and along the way, cause us to build bad diseases and lose
our good manners. We tend to forget that what we eat is all a bounty
from Allah.
O mankind, eat from the goodness I give you and do not abuse it
In Islam, food is not supposed to be elaborate or luxurious. Muslims
are not to satiate their appetites, but instead should leave the meal
before being totally full. This leaves their minds and bodies alert in
order to worship Allah, instead of being drowsy and lethargic.
The Companions of the Prophet saw were easily recognizable by their
lean builds - none of them were overweight, and they demonstrated
restraint in the preparation and consumption of their meals.
We will be questioned about what we have in this life, hence, before
our next meal, we should question ourselves what our intention of
eating is.
It is to serve Allah?
Where is the ummah going if we are spending our time obsessing over food,
cooking, eating, marketing, championship of cooking?
Focusing too much on food eats away at our time.
If we spend all our time with food, indulging in our various eating
related habits
and disorders, when will we have time to spread Islam?
Food for thought
What happens when a necessity becomes a goal? The goal is gone.
For example, when somebody today in general is getting married, the
man is looking for a beautiful wife or has a status of money, and most
of all she has to be a good cook. In this way, being a good cook
becomes a goal.
Look for example at how many things we have destroyed already. The man
is not looking for a woman who has a beautiful soul, has piety, who
wants jannah, who wants to support her husband to develop the nucleus
of society which is the family. What about her intelligence? What
about is her upbringing? What about her Islamic education and
character and manner? Imagine all this has been swapped with only one
topic - she is a good cook!
Think about the impact in family structure, in the woman's role in
life as a teacher of her own children, the backbone of the family, the
navigator of all the affairs of the family and her role model in
society. We have swapped it to fulfill one habit, which is eating. We
diminish our purpose of life, our goal, just for one habit.
Imagine today, all the fancy restaurants and meals with all kinds of
rarity, while more than one third or more of human beings cannot find
even a basic meal to eat. How many rich people consume and even abuse
the quantity of food they consume. With no exaggeration, one third to
two thirds of what they order or buy, ends up in the garbage.
Let's look with the purpose of life and a long vision to society. We
will find what we are talking about so far generates massive excessive
amounts of spending in a small percentage of society. If you
accumulate all leftovers, you can feed the rest of humanity, without
anyone feeling it.
The reflection of all what we're talking about is so deep it generates all the
mother of diseases of the heart selfishness, greed, impatience.
All these diseases of the heart will reflect on how we deal with others and the
way we carry our goal in life, which is to be a role model to worship and invite
others to the mercy and message of Islam.
Da'ee Ahmed Moait