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)
