Ebrahim Bham – Etiquettes of Eating
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AI: Transcript ©
My dear respected elders and brothers, Allah
has given us a deen which is inclusive
and gives us guidance on every walk of
life.
There's no walk of life in which Allah
and
our deen does not give us guidance.
Today, I wanna speak about something that normally
people don't speak about. Very seldom
is it spoken about, but yet it is
part of our deal
to speak about food, to speak about the
etiquettes
of eating.
What are the etiquettes and what Allah has
taught us with regard to food?
Now we know there are different categories in
our deen.
There is.
There is. There is.
There is.
There is.
You know, there is our worshiping. There is
our conduct. There is our financial dealings.
And one aspect of our deal is,
meaning social
social life.
So
the famous scholar,
he
has under.
The first thing that he did in was
to speak about the ethical of.
Now the first thing is to realize that
food is a great.
Food is not only
fulfilling a bio let biological
necessity.
It's not only filling your stomach.
It's not only getting strength to do,
but it is also a means of
reward, a means of salawab,
a means of coming closer towards all my
Allah,
together with
eating and fulfilling your hunger.
It is also remembering Allah's blessings.
It is also getting
strength to remember Allah.
And
he adopts patients.
The person who eats and is grateful, he
gets a reward
like the one who keeps fast, and he
makes.
Look at some of the of,
the eating. Some of the of eating.
One is the ability to get hungry.
Can you imagine if you never feel hungry
and you are always full? You are always
separated.
You never get hungry. So you don't get
hungry. You're not gonna be able to have
desire to eat food.
So this also,
Then another aspect with regard to food is
the ability to savor the taste of food.
Can't imagine
if,
for example, a person doesn't have taste buds.
And in COVID, we all said that people
we found that the people's taste buds were
gone. They couldn't taste
If you don't have the aspect with regard
to able to taste, how can you imagine
just the ability to taste food?
What a great neighbor. Have we ever thanked
with regard to that? That Allah, you have
given us such beautiful food to eat. This
is something that we have to eat. The
ability to eat with peace and. It's very
Just
to be able to sit and eat with
few friends, to be able to get that
together,
or to be able to eat with your
family, with your wife and children. What the
of almighty Allah.
And then one of the greatest things, the
ability to digest food.
Now if we didn't be able to digest
food, what would have happened?
So you had food, it never got digested,
you won't be able to eat again?
How many nikmats Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has
kept in food?
So we are supposed to thank
with regard to it. Therefore, Nabi al Karim
saw a salamat
I've got, few things that I'm worried about.
One of the things was I'm very sensitive.
So maybe I tell him, don't worry. I
will take care of your sensitivity.
Then he said, she said,
I got children.
Children. Yeah. I got children. So maybe a
Karim saw some said, I will look after
your children.
Step father and 3 step son, we won't
know what happened. And his saw some looked
after his steps children. So one day, the
stepson,
you know, while he was eating, he was
eating from everywhere,
and he was eating in a manner that
was not appropriate.
The Nabiya Karim saw salam addressed his stepson,
and he said,
when you eat,
And,
eat with your right hand. And,
and eat from in front of you. Don't
eat everywhere around the and everywhere from the
dish.
Eat from from in so three things that
we saw.
1 is
read. You know, just reading
before we do everything.
Whatever you do and you don't take Allah's
name, it is devoid of blessings.
The moment you take Allah's name on anything,
it is full of blessings. Do you know
what happens?
It turns dust into gold.
Now you read,
the entire thing that we have done becomes.
You read before sleeping or sleeping becoming.
You read before eating, your eating becomes an.
So your entire life is transformed by reading.
What an amazing thing. You take it for
granted.
Just say you eat now before you eat
it, you read. What are you saying? You're
acknowledging
that one bread that came onto your table,
that one bread. That bread didn't just come
like that. You can say,
How did it come on your on the
table?
First of all, you had to put a
seed, whether it be wheat or barley, and
then
says,
That seed you put in the ground, did
you bring it up? Allah brought it up.
So
made that seed and that wheat to come
up.
Then afterwards, how many people, thousands of people,
they transported it. They cut it. They transported
it. They took it to the bakery. They
took it to the mill, and it became
refined or whatever they did with it. And
then they took it to the bakery. From
the bakery, it got transported to the caffeine.
From the caffeine, it got transported to the
supermarket. You brought it here on your table
with
the help of
bringing down rain and the sunshine that is
needed. The moon that is needed. Moonshine,
the the you the shine of the moon
gives fruit color.
Color comes from moon from the moon. Or
you couldn't even say when you started eating.
So can you imagine this? What great wisdom
there is in saying before you eat? In
In one hadith, Marya Karim said,
a person who takes Allah's name in the
the holy he were in the the army.
When he enters the home, he takes Allah's
name.
When he eats, he takes Allah's name.
Then shaitan says,
So when you get into the house, let
me take one dua you must give, brothers.
I'll just say
when you come into your house.
So Nabi sah al salam said, when a
person takes Allah's name and he enters the
house and he eats, shaitan says,
I got no sleeping place today, I got
no eating place today.
That means if you don't take Allah's name,
when you enter the house, shaitan comes into
the house and shaitan meets.
Then another thing that Nabiya Karim
told, he steps up that you must meet
with the right hand.
Right hand always represented virtue. Remember what I'm
saying?
Right hand always represents virtue.
Whenever he did something of barakah and blessing,
he did it with the right hand. And
don't ever eat with the left hand.
For in the shaitan,
shaitan eats with the left hand.
So don't eat with the left hand. Maybe
I'll still get again. But
is becoming a norm. We will never ever
sow it. The parents always used to rebuke
the child. Don't eat with your left hand.
So eat with the right hand. Sometimes it
could be a situation a person can't eat
with the right hand, his right hand is
paralyzed, or he cannot use it. That's a
different matter, but eat with the right hand
and emphasize it upon your children. Emphasize it
upon people. When you see someone eating with
the left, don't go and fight for it.
But slide, whenever you get an opportunity, tell
him. He soon
not. Then the third thing
said, eat from near you. Don't eat from
in in the middle. And then in one
hadith, it comes at the barakah of Allah
descends upon the middle.
So Nabi and Nabi
and Nabi
always act with people.
That Ibrahim
never act alone. He
always ate with someone.
He always used to have someone eating with
him. I was reading the hadith and, you
know, Mishka today. I call 1 one, you
know, word. I couldn't understand the word. You
know, the word was I think it was
something like that or the sheet. I looked
at the meaning of it. He said
never ate from a small plate.
I was surprised. I said, yeah, at least
when I looked at it, I said, let
me look at the. I said that.
Never ate from a small grain. Nabi saw
someone always ate from a big plate. Either
Nabi saw someone was eating with people,
So this is the the massage of the
sharia, the temperament of sharia.
And so eat from the from nearby. There
is one exception.
So a crash came to Nabiya Karim, and
there was tariq. Tariq was a beautiful dish
that they used to mix the meat and
the bread and everything together.
So he started eating from everywhere. So Nabi
saw some said, eat from in front of
you. Don't eat.
And today, when you eat with especially when
you eat in a jamak, then, you know,
think about other people.
Then they will just eat, you know, the
curry and bread, and they will eat.
But this this is the way. We Nabiya
Karim, salamahu alayhi wa sallam had said so
Aqra started eating from everywhere. So then afterwards,
they came a plate of dates, which were
various type of drinks.
So you also started eating only one type
of dates.
When there is
a tupperware or plate with different foods, then
you can eat from the middle.
So if there's only one food you eat
right from in front of you, but it
is different things, then you can choose. One
thing we must tell our children that even
when they want to have food, they should
not stretch their head. They should ask. Stretching
your head away just gives an inappropriate
feeling and against the etiquette with regard to
it. One of the things that we have
to emphasize upon, my dear respected brothers, is
wastage of food. Yeah. And, we waste food
to such an extent.
Eat and drink and do not waste.
Here and today, one of the things that
leads to wasting is this buffet style eating.
Now when you're eating on your own, you
take you don't use one dish and you
dish out, then you eat. But in buffet,
you see and you see when you go
to the Arab states and you go for
Umrah They put a whole
they put a whole ton of food on
their plate. And they only eat 2 or
3 things, and that thing got gets thrown
away.
You know, I read an article in the
Arab news.
They say per person in Saudi Arabia, last
year's it was in last year's Arab news.
Per person in Saudi Arabia,
250
kilos
of food
is wasted in Saudi Arabia per person.
And the the result of it, in terms
of money,
$1,400,000,000
of food is wasted in the Arab countries,
enough to feed the poor people of the
world.
But we don't we don't we just skip
this. He said 1,200,000,000
tons of edible food is thrown away each
year.
Now sometimes we don't have control whether, but
at least we can start thinking about it.
Don't throw food away. If you're going to
a restaurant, there is extra take it away
and give it to some poor people.
If you're gonna leave it there, it's gonna
be thrown away.
This is something that we have to build
into us. That is why
has told us and something you and I,
we sometimes regard it to be against, you
know, smartness.
Said, lick your finger, perhaps the is in
death.
Said food falls down from the plate, clean
it and eat it.
Where do we get the situation of throwing
away food? Hazar Jose
He went to one place, and in front
of all the I think it was a
Persian Empire, and they were eating and his
food fell down and he started picking it
up and he wiped it and he eat
it.
And someone said, you eating this, they're looking
down upon you. Look at
to him, he said what he said.
Must I leave the sunnah of
for these jail and ignorant people?
My taught me this.
My taught me food falls down, we'll pick
it up and eat it.
And said, after you eat, you know,
lick your fingers
before you wash your hands.
Don't just even wash your hands while food
is still there.
That is also part of wastage.
This is a hadith of our beloved Nabiya
Karim.
There are another aspect with regard to ethical,
don't ever criticize food. Hadith.
Nabi
sawaslam never
ever criticize food.
If he liked it, he ate it,
and
he didn't like it, he didn't eat it.
So there is certain times that Nabiya Salim
likes certain types of food. So it comes
in a hadith where people.
The like halwa.
Now we Pakistani, India will say, Nabi saw
sort of like halwa. We will buy halwa.
Doesn't pick the halwa you get here.
Halwa puri. No. It means Nabi saw salaam
like certain things that are sweet.
He likes sweet things, and he also love
Nabi loved dates.
Nabi loved
certain types of food. He liked to eat,
and sometimes there are certain times when
Nabi was didn't like food. Sometimes it comes
in a hadith that Nabi
was sitting, and there was a dish brought
in front of.
Didn't, you
know
what is this?
So
someone said it is the desert lizard.
The Arabs used to eat iguana. They
used to eat iguana.
So that was the they roasted the iguana
and they presented it. So Nabi al Karim
took his hand away from them. So Khali
bin Walid liked it. So Khareb
bin said, you can eat
it. We we we Arabs have never eaten
this. The Quraysh haven't eaten this. So I
don't have desire towards it, but you can
eat it.
So sometimes you don't like something, someone else
like it. And you don't want to criticize
it. How can you eat such a thing?
It is his responsibility.
So this is how
made with regard to it, that made with
regard to it, and sometimes it also shows
you can ask with regard to something. You're
going to someone, you can't go and ask
him whether it's halal or haram. I mean,
a Muslim is supposed to give you a
halal unless they are compelling reasons, but you
can ask. You see from this, you can
say that there are certain sensitivities. You can
tell the person, see, I am allergic to
this. Is there anything in your food that
has got this? So Nabiya Karim said, what
is this? Desert desert? No. I can't eat
it. You can eat it. So sometimes there
is a situation. One important part is moderation
in eating. Yeah. But we moderate in our
eating. Nabi Karim
did not like that we should overeat.
We know that Nabi Karim
had said, don't fill your stomach
to such an extent. If you have to
eat, Nabi Karim
said, then leave 1 1 third for food,
1 third for drinking, 1 third leave empty.
Come as come. You leave 1 third to
breathe. Otherwise, how are you gonna breathe?
This one person who was eating so much,
so much, someone told him no. You know,
enough. You know? So then someone told him
you ate so much that we give you
ino or something digested,
something that can digest your food.
I can give you something for digestion.
He said, if I ate things for digestion,
I would eat a little piece of meat.
Why don't you tell me where to eat?
Leave that alone. So So,
like, didn't like it. He must eat much.
Said, there is no no person fills anything
worse than his stomach. And one hadith, there
was one
who came, who was not an he was
not a he was a he was a
person
he became a Muslim. So first, he used
to eat lot. Everyone used to know that
he used to eat lot. Then Nabiya Salim,
he became a Muslim, and he started becoming
Muslim and he ate. You know, he ate
very little.
So Sahaba said, you are a sunnah. That's
just a person who used to eat so
much. Now he's eating so little. So
said, in, what the name is? A
Muslim eats from 1 intestine,
and a disbeliever eats from 7 intestines.
It doesn't mean you go and x-ray and
see a non Muslim. He doesn't have 7
intestines. You only got one. But what does
it mean? Very important.
It means that it is not the massage
of a believer to over
praise
or become so obsessed with food.
It's not the massage.
Alhamdulillah,
you get something, alhamdulillah.
But now over obsession,
and now this has become a common thing.
TikTok, you get people reviewing
dishes and reviewing restaurants
and reviewing this particular recipe.
Now here, it's a terrorist. Now you can't
even know sometimes there are certain trends that
happen beyond you. But really, it's not in
the I'm not saying it's haram,
but it's not the temperament of sharia. When
the later in Surah Al said that believer
eats with 1 intestine,
a disbeliever eats with 7, the ulama said.
Many interpretations.
One interpretation is a believer doesn't get obsessed
with food.
Whatever he gets, he thinks Allah.
And there's nothing wrong in enjoying good food.
What it is? Then you can you can
eat it, and you can thank Allah. Allah
will give you the reward.
Also, another important accept is to respect food.
Therefore, Nabiya Karim
said,
never lay down and eat food.
Nabiya Karim used to sit straight and eat
food. And Nabiya Karim saw salam, when he
used to eat food, he comes in a.
Nabiya Karim saw salam said, I eat like
our humble person eats.
To eat in such a way that shows,
you know, pride and arrogance. Maybe Sosrim never
did it. He sat also in a way
with humility.
And, you know, to sit down on the
floor, therefore, it is more closer to the
sunnah.
To eat on the table, it is permissible,
but closer to the sunnah is to eat
down.
As we had mentioned, he went to a
dawat, and it was dawat in Delhi that
time when they were in in
so someone said, Muftisap,
when are you eating on the on the
table, and you're not eating down?
So said that if I'm gonna eat down,
people are gonna mock at the sunnah.
So there is permissibility
in eating, and sometimes, you know, you go
to a place and everyone has got a
table and you go and insist in sitting
in a manner that can create mockery.
But remember the sunnah is this, and we
should strive towards that. And, you know, always
keep in mind
that we are supposed to respectfully.
Now time is up. I have few other
things that I want to make, but I'll
just conclude with 2 more things.
Rafi Usmani came here one day, and I
heard this talk from him. He said we
went for a dawad by. He
was known
as. So he said after we ate so
when we were young so after the people
ate, he said, we will take the and
the table cloth, and we will tear the
table cloth. He said, you don't know how
to tear the table cloth. So he said,
we youngsters, we know how to tear this.
He said, no. No. No. So he said,
everything
from the table cloth, he used it.
To the extent that there was peels of
the watermelon,
he took that also and he used it.
All the little bit of bits that were
there on the table cloth, he left it
for the ends. And one amazing thing he
said was that there there were there were
fruit,
and the peels of that fruit,
he wrapped it up.
He wrapped it up, and he told the
people when you go far away from here,
throw it in the bin. So he said,
why? I can we can throw it here.
It's an amazing reply, he said. You said,
the people
in my vicinity are poor people. They can't
afford fruit.
When they see the peels of the fruit,
they will feel liquidated fruit.
Don't even throw the peels of the fruit.
You're gonna throw it there. The poor people
will see it, and they will feel hurt.
And then afterwards, Nabi Karim salawaswami also said,
make dua for the people who who who
cook for you. To such an extent, he
come that.
Whoever eats from a plate and he cleans
the plate, that is also nowadays something that
people don't do. Our children, maybe they clean
the food.
After time, the food on on the plate
is left aside, and they still got there.
Nabi saw some said,
you clean the plate,
The plate will make dua for you.
Hadith.
The plate will make dua for you. The
pot will make dua for you.
Because these are such beautiful. You got such
beautiful in
every aspect of our life, and yet we
do not put it into practice.