Nadim Bashir – Etiquettes Of Eating And Drinking #08
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of washing one's hands before eating and avoiding wasting food and criticizing them. They stress the importance of sitting and not drinking water at the same time, learning to clean up the plate and drink water, and being presentable when eating. The success of learning to eat by hand and not criticizing food is emphasized, along with tips for healthy eating, including learning to lean on others and not being consideredate of others. Additionally, the speakers provide tips for healthy eating, including learning to clean up the plate and not touching food.
AI: Summary ©
Today, we're gonna be talking about the adab
of eating and drinking, because this is also
something that we have learned from Rasulullah
Many things inshallah,
through 1 by 1. Number 1 is, of
course we all know washing the hands. Okay?
We had to make sure that we always
wash our hands before we eat. Number 2.
Always, there's nothing wrong
about asking about the food. Now let me
make this very clear.
Some time ago, I did mention
that when you go to someone's house, it
is not appropriate to say, is your food
halal or not? Okay? Or is your food
zabiha or not? Okay? If you feel like
you don't wanna go, you don't have to
go. However,
if you feel the need that For example,
you may have an allergy issue. Okay? There
might be something in the food that you
are allergic to, you might eat it. It
can cause you harm. In that case, you
may ask the host that is there any
kind of ingredient I may be allergic to
it? You can ask. Or if you see
something and you have absolutely no clue what
it is, you can ask. Rasulullah
by the way, one time he was sitting
with Khali bin Warid and
I'm not gonna go into the into the
fiqh of this matter right now, but he
was presented with something.
And when he saw it, he had absolutely
no clue what it was. Okay? Now, you
have to understand,
the Arabs were not very rich in the
time of the prophet
Okay? So whatever they came across,
they they probably just take it and eat
it, unless they were explicitly told by Rasulullah
salallahu alaihi wa sallam. So there was something
that came roasted
in front of the prophet shalaihi wa sallam,
he grabbed it, he was about to eat
it. He was about to eat it.
At that time,
he was told I mean the host was
told that, Why don't you tell the prophet
what exactly this is?
When they told the prophet alaihis salam what
it was, he put it down. You understand?
He put it down. It was actually a
lizard. Okay? It was actually a big lizard.
But he was about to take a bite
out of that, he did not know. But
when he was told it was a lizard,
he actually put it down. Okay? So none
the less, there is nothing wrong. Do not
ask about the halal haram thing, but you
can ask if there's an allergy issue, or
you have absolutely no idea what this food
is. You might go to someone else's house,
they come from a different culture, you have
no idea what the food is. There's nothing
wrong if you ask. Number 3,
always begin with the name of Allah
In fact we find in the hadith of
Aisha
always the Prophet
he will begin by saying what?
And if you forget,
This is something that when we sit down
as a family,
always remind each other. Yes. Sometimes we can
forget, but always try to remind our families
that if you say if you forget to
say
Next one. You always eat with the right
hand and not with the left hand. This
is something that we find explicitly in the
hadith of the Prophet
Number
5. Always sit and eat. Rasulullah
There's
hadith narrated by Anas where the prophet he
disapproved of drinking water while standing.
Now
I have to clarify
this.
There were some
types of water for example, zamzam water, the
prophet alaihis salam was seen drinking. Otherwise,
generally the prophet alaihis salam, he would sit
down and drink water. Sometimes, you know, we
very very casually we stand up and we
drink water, try to always make it a
habit to sit down and drink.
Rasulullah
salallahu alaihi wa sallam was asked about eating
and standing.
The prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam, he says
that's even worse. Okay? That's even worse. So
that is why we always try to make
sure that we always are, you know, sitting
down eating. A lot of times, you know,
you get hungry, and, you know, you're preparing
some food, and you just take 1 or
2 bites. It happens with all of us,
but this is just a reminder for all
of us that we always try to sit
down and we eat. Next,
do not ever
chew food and speak at the same time.
I remember when there was an adult, he
used to always say when we're kids growing
up, use your mouth for one job. Either
talk or eat. Okay?
So that's why when you're eating, and you're,
you know, you're talking at the same time,
everyone can see. You know, you're chewing the
food, and then at the same time, things
may even come out of your mouth, that's
why it's always appropriate. You might be sitting
on it, let's say you're invited somewhere, you're
sitting at a table, there's a very, you
know, important or interesting discussion taking place.
While you're eating, while there's a morsel in
your food, do not try to talk. You
know, swallow it. If you need to talk
after that, do it after
that. Next one.
We should not waste food. Now this is
something that's very important. It happens often in
buffets. You go, you know, you're so hungry,
you don't eat all day long, then you
go to a buffet, you fill the the
plate up and so forth, and then you
come down, you eat you sit down, you
eat, and after a while you realize you
cannot finish off the food. Let me say
one thing. First of all, is that we
all know that when it comes to, the
matters of our deen,
israf is something we all know. We should
not be doing israf in any capacity.
But you know, subhanallah, I remember this was
I think it was 3 or 4 years
ago.
I took a environmental science class in Collin
College. Now don't ask me why I took
it. Okay? But I took a class on
environmental science. It's actually By the way, it
was very interesting. But there was one thing
that the professor, he said in that class
which Wallahi till today is is stuck with
me. You know what he said? He said
that America, United States of America
uses
75%
of world's resources.
Think about that for a moment. Only the
United States of America in itself
uses 75%
of world's resources.
And if you do, even the There's a
lot of study on how much food wasted
happens here in the United States. A lot
of these restaurants,
a lot of these restaurants, chain restaurants and
so forth, at the end of the day
they will take all their food and they
will dump it. And by the way, there
were there are kids in our community. Alhamdulillah.
There are times, there are youth. They What
they would do is that they would go
to these kind of restaurants and tell them,
All the food that you're about to throw
away, give it to us, we'll go give
it to the needy. But you in this
country, wallahi, there is so much wastage of
food that takes place. Not realizing there are
millions of people
right now who don't even know where their
next meal is gonna come from. Even right
now, kids in America. This is a very
actually There's a movement going on about how
to take care of kids who are coming
to school, because so many of them don't
even know where their next meal is gonna
come from. And yet here, on the other
hand, we're wasting so much food. I will
say this, Ramadan is also coming around the
corner. There's a lot of wasted of food
happening in Ramadan too. If someone sends you
food, and you know you're not gonna be
able to get to it, do not give
it away after 2, 3 days. It might
get spoiled by then. If there's so much
food at your home, and you know you're
not gonna be able to get to it,
give it away to the needy. There are
people in our community
that you can call them, they'll come to
your home, you can give it to them,
and they will go and get and distribute
amongst the needy. But we have to stop
wasting food. This is something that's extremely common,
in our day and age. Next one. Do
not criticize the food. Rasul
alaihi wasallam, it is mentioned that either he
would eat the food, if he did not
like the food, he would just get up
and leave. He would not say anything about
the food. We should not be unthankful about
what we have. If you don't like it,
you don't like it. But sitting there and
saying, oh, this food sucks. Okay? Or many
of our kids, they say these kind of
things. Okay? Oh, I don't wanna eat this.
I don't wanna eat that. If you don't
like it, just get up and leave, but
it's not right to criticize,
food.
Next.
This is something that we learned from the
hadith of the prophet
when he was sitting with his step son.
This is the son of Umay Salama or
Abu Salama. Abu Salamah passed away, Umus Salamah
married Rasulullah
So this is the day when the prophet
was at at her house, and he was
eating. Think about it first of all, as
a as a side note, what kind of
a step father he was. Today, in our
Muslim communities,
when stepfathers come into many families,
there are amazing stepfathers.
Okay? But there's a lot of cases and
stories where stepfathers come and they destroy the
families too. You understand? And they treat
their step kids horribly. I've seen many stories
like this in the Muslim community. Rasul alaihi
wasalam is a step father. He's sitting down
with his step son
and eating with him. And you have to
understand, long time ago they would eat like
in a big plate. Okay? This is even
the culture in many, you know, many Arab
countries till today. They will have like a
big huge plate, they put like a big
animal on it, and everyone's eating from it.
In the time of the prophet that was
usually the case. So, he was sitting with
his stepson,
and he taught him because he saw his
hands going all over the plate. So very
gently he told him, that
take the name of Allah
eat from your side. Now, along the same
lines, when we talk about eating from your
side,
I will also say this, that it's important
that we teach our kids,
that when you're sitting down with a family,
or you're sitting anywhere,
do not reach across the table. Okay? A
lot of times the kids, they'll start, you
know, they'll get on their knees. They don't
they don't realize they're probably knocking over a
bottle of water, getting in someone else's way,
but they're trying to go and grab something.
Always teach the kids that do not do
not, you know, move your hands across the
table. If you need something, simply ask for
it.
Next one. Always try to drink water in
3 sips. Once again, 3 sips is is
recommended, is the sunnah of the prophet
but if you drink in 1, it's not
the most it's not the the best way
of drinking water. And by the way, there
was also some scientific research
that is more healthy for a person when
they drink water in 3 sips, versus if
they just gulp it down in one sip.
There are some scientific research on this too.
Next one. This is something that does not
happen often today, especially when it when it
comes to our kids.
Cleaning up the plate. I remember when we
were growing up, when I was a kid
also,
we were taught that after you finish, you
clean the plate. You, you know, you take
your finger and clean the entire plate. Right
now, a lot of times when it comes
to our kids, they leave a lot food
on the plate. Okay? They might even take
a chicken leg, and there's still so much
chicken on there, and they just wanna throw
it away and so forth. So always teach
the kids that make sure you clean your
plate. This is something that we learned from
Rasulullah
Also,
if you have to if you have to
use your hands, make sure that you're using
your hands in a presentable way. Now there
are some cultures, like in the Indo Pak
culture they use the 3 fingers. Okay? In
many Arab
cultures, they take they take the food morsel,
and they would take it in their palm,
and turn it into like, you know,
you know, shave of a ball, and they'll,
you know, you know, they'll, you know, knock
it down. Right? But the most important thing
is that making sure that your hands are
not too dirty, that anyone who's sitting around
you, they get little turned off by it.
You understand? We always have to be presentable.
If you're using a food a spoon, a
fork or a knife,
also, there's nothing wrong with it. I remember
I went somewhere,
and, there was a person, I was eating
with a fork, and this is just when
I just had graduated
from Islamic Seminary.
And, and he says that,
Okay.
Eating with his fork and a spoon, you
know, You know, he always give me he
always give me the whole the whole the
whole lecture, you know. So I told him
that there's nothing wrong in eating with a
spoon and a fork or a knife. Okay?
It's not and
so forth. Okay? So the thing is that
there's nothing wrong in eating with a spoon
or a fork or a knife. Some people
say, well, the did the prophet with these
kinds of things? Well, these kind of things
probably did not exist in the time of
Other utensils did exist. Yes. The would always
use his hands, but using these things it's
not wrong. Next.
When eating with the family,
always let the elders sit first. This is
something that, you know, kids they wouldn't go
and sit down first. Always teach the kids
and let the elders sit down first. Let
them give them a place to sit first.
Next one. Always,
you know, specially when, you know, we always
talk about being considerate of others.
Imagine going to a place where there's a
potluck,
and you see of certain food that you've
not had in a while. And you come
and
Okay? And you're not being considerate of others,
always when it comes to potlucks, when it
comes to other things, always try to be
considerate of others. Next one. Do not this
is something that we learned from the Prophet
that do not eat while you are reclining
or lying down. Okay? The Prophet
he has forbid against it, like he would
not he would not, he says, I do
not eat while reclining. So a lot of
times we see that people are sitting on
their couch, they're reclining, and then they're drinking
water and so forth, like he was isn't
like what he was doing right now. Like
that, in the back. Yes. Like that. Yes.
So leaning on one arm or like on
on the elbow and trying to drink and
so forth, always sit up and and, eat
or drink anything.
Next one, this is something also very important.
If food
drops, then we learn from the prophet that
he would always pick it up, clean it
and eat it. Now, what does that mean?
Now, if you go in public, and the
food drops, that's a different kind of case.
Because once again, the floor over there is
very dirty.
However, if you're sitting like on a on
the sufra, or you know they call it
the the sufra, okay? And the food drops
from your hand on the the sufra or
the dasirhan,
at that time you have no problem, pick
it up, clean it, and eat it. You
understand?
If you're eating in a public space, then
don't you may not wanna do that. However,
even if you're sitting at home, and it
falls on the ground, or it falls on
the rug. Okay? A lot of times, you
know, people
have, some kind of carpet in their dining
area. Sometimes there could be hair in there
and so forth. At that time, you can
discard the food. But if you're sitting, and
it falls off of your hands on the
table, you can take that,
clean it and eat it. Next one, always
say Of course we all should do this,
This is something that we learned from Rasulullah
After you eat,
rinsing your mouth This is By the way,
this was the nature of Rasulullah
even if he ate anything. He went to
some place near Khaybar,
and someone gave him some barley. He ate
some barley, but before he did anything he
then rinsed his mouth. So after we eat,
try to rinse our mouth and wash our
wash our hands.
And finally,
making du'a for the host. If you're invited
somewhere,
always make du'a for them.
Okay? So you don't go to the host,
and say, Jazakamu khan, come back. Okay? Make
du'a for them, as we have learned from
the Sira of Rasulullah
So these are just some of the most
important ones. Of course, there are some other
ones such as, you know, eating, you know,
in a utensils, such, that is made of
gold and silver. Rasulullah SAW Alaihi Wassalam has
prohibited it. I do have to say this,
that there are sometimes place that plates, they
have a design like silver design, or like
a gold design. They're not it's not actually
gold, it's just probably gold color. There's nothing
wrong with that. But if it's any if
it's a plate that's made of gold and
silver, then that is something that is, not
correct to eat in. So these are things
that we have to keep in mind, insha'Allah.
We implement them, we teach our kids, insha'Allah.