Ramadhan Preparation #4 - Moderation in Eating

Ibrahim al-Nakha’i, one of the teachers of Imam Abu Hanifah, mentioned: “The people before you were ruined by three characteristics:

too much talking,

too much eating,

and too much sleeping.”

Unfortunately for much of the Muslim ummah today, the month of Ramadhan is associated with the month of “Feasting” just as much as it is associated as the month of “Fasting”.

And this easy spirals into major issues such as wastage of food and unproductive down-time due to overeating.

It’ easy to see why: Because of the lack moderation in our eating habits outside of Ramadhan, when the time of Ramadhan comes, many of us fast during Ramadan fast during the day, and after Iftaar make up for all the food we missed throughout the day by binge eating.

Surely this goes against the very purpose of Ramadan which is to be moderate in eating and to remember those who have less than us. How will we remember the unfortunate when we are constantly over eating before and after our fasts?

By controlling what we eat now we will not only benefit our health in the short and long term but moderate eating will make us less heavier and enable us to maximise the amount of worship we do every day during Ramadhan and the rest of our lives.

The Prophet Muhammad (sallAllahu alayhi wasallam) said: 

"No human ever filled a vessel worse than the stomach. Sufficient for any son of Adam are some morsels to keep his back straight. But if it must be, then one third for his food, one third for his drink and one third for his breath."

(Ahmad, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasaa’I, Ibn Majah )

There is no doubt that excessive eating is not only a cause of many diseases but is also a major factor decreased productivity & in stopping us from maximising our worship to Allah.

Imam Ash-Shafi’I said: I have not filled myself in sixteen years because filling oneself makes the body heavy, removes clear understanding, induces sleep and makes one weak for worship.

In fact, on the other extreme end of the spectrum from our lifestyles today, let us extract the example of the great Shafi’ee scholar, Imam An-Nawawi (Yahya ibn Sharf) – who died 1227 CE (676 After Hijrah) : The highlight of his biography was that he hardly ever ate anything at all, except for some bread & food stuffs his family would send to him out of concern for his health. His reluctance to eat came out of his undying passion to seek and spread knwoledge, and his fear that eating wastes time and results in major manhour efficiency and downtime from sending time in that passion; because eating:

• In itself consumes time
• Makes you sleep more
• Makes you spend time in the toilet

 The result? He lived a short but blessed life of 44 years – in which he would attend more than ten (10) classes on a daily basis, whilst at the same time teaching AND producing many great works of literature – including Riyadus Salihin, 40 Hadith of Imam An-Nawawi, Raudhat at-Talibeen (extensive work on Shafi’ee Fiqh) and the Commentary (Sharh) of Sahih Muslim, works which people don’t even finish studying in a lifetime.

Now, we are definitely not encouraging abstinence of this extent, we can definitely see that deliberately controlling your eating time can result in some major productivity increase.

In fact, we can see practical examples of it happening today = Ramadhan seems to be the only time where ‘lunch time’ is converted to ‘Quran time’. When we don’t eat and chit-chat, we have time for Qur’an.

Of course there are also those amongst us who spend their lunch time in Ramadhan sleeping - that’s because we’re not used to, well, not eating.

So training starts now, before Ramadhan – control your intake & decrease your meal portions.

Less food with barakah (blessings) from Allah is better than more food which makes you miss isha’ and taraweeh.

No worries... you’re not missing out much. We’ll eat and eat as much as we want to when – if – we enter Jannah – without any fears of health-related problems whatsoever. 

insha Allah !

كُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا هَنِيئًا بِمَا أَسْلَفْتُمْ فِي الْأَيَّامِ الْخَالِيَةِ

“Eat and drink pleasantly, for what you did beforehand (of your good deeds) in the days gone by!”

(Surah Al-Haqqah 69:24)

ادْخُلُوهَا بِسَلَامٍ ذَٰلِكَ يَوْمُ الْخُلُودِ

“Enter you therein in peace and security; this is a Day of eternal life!”

لَهُم مَّا يَشَاءُونَ فِيهَا وَلَدَيْنَا مَزِيدٌ

There they will have all that they desire, and We have (prepared for them even) more”

(Surah Qaf 50:34-35)