Why Did the Prophet Never Eat His Fill?

Continuing in our reading of the traits of the Prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam his character this is again taken from for authored by zakar may Allah subhah waala have mercy upon him he tells us in speaking on the traits the etiquette the character of the Prophet sallallah alai wasam he says that those who are affiliated or related to him those who are unrelated to him those who are strong and those who are weak all have the same right and all when it comes to their rights when it comes to treatment when it comes to they are all equal with the prophet sallallah alai wasam in the way that he dealt with them this is one of the most crucial traits that a leader must have it doesn't mean that every single person is spoken to in the same way the prophet sallallah would speak to different people on their level if you some beduin Arab would come to him and speak to him in a loud voice and the prophet Sall would speak to him in the same way and this all goes back to and so all goes back to the narration treat people as according to their status according to their stature you have to speak to the king a king and you have to speak to a peasant a peasant however what does not change and does not fluctuate is a person's opportunity or a person's rights with the prophet sallallah alai wasam in this sense in this sense everyone is equal and the same he will not favor and have favoritism towards Those whom he is related to as opposed to those who he is unrelated to and vice versa he s. wasam first looks to a person's right rights and what they are owed and what they deserve and based on this a person is gauged and never was it narrated nor do any of the companions ever recall that he ever degraded any type of food that was given to him rather if he liked it if it was something that he liked he would eat it if not then he would refrain from eating it but he would never put down and insult any food and he would not eat while laying down on his side or leaning to one side or another.

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For.

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Mentions that he would not eat while he is in a state of leaning on one of his hands or leaning on his elbows or something this rather he would eat sitting up straight and this is out of humility and in the authentic narration he States s. wasam I eat as a slave does eat and I sit in the position of a slave for indeed I am merely a slave meaning to Allah subhanahu wa taala nor would he eat on tables or on table spread threads that were considered to be things of luxury this doesn't mean that it is Haram it's very important for us to understand the difference between what he did and what he prohibited what he did or didn't do a lot of that make the most of you know the extent of it would be an issue of this is preferred or not preferred this is more closer to how he to to he ate or how he sat however there's a difference between that and saying that something is Haram because the prophet Sall did the did something different that's a different that is a different subject and often times those things which he prohibited he prohibited verbally and that's why when his actions and his words when they are in Conflict we always take what he says over what he does s. wasam because what he says is more specific what he does is more General there could be a lot of reasons why he did that and he would eat whatever is readily available he was not elaborate in the preparations of his meals nor would he refrain from something that is otherwise permissible if it is permissible he would indulge in it Sall wasam but not to access not to.

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Access as well tells us that the prophet sallam used to things that were sweet he used to like sweets as well as honey so all sweets and honey in in particular the prophet s. wasam was also narrated to have said as is in Muslim he said vinegar is the best is the best dip or the best thing to eat bread with is anything that you eat with bread obviously there are more this is like the the most basic level of things that you would eat with bread something that is vinegared or cured this is just to to do away with some of the dryness of the bread people often would want to eat meat and these things with bread but the prophet s. wasam looked at the thing which is considered the most lowest standard amongst people and he viewed it as a.

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Blessing and in another narration which is also collect did in both B and Muslim the prophet s. said The Virtue that holds over the rest of women is The Virtue that meat and bread hold over the rest of the different types of food and his preferred cut from the different cuts the different types of meat that are on a sheep his preferred cut was the shoulder this is this is the meat and this is the cut that he preferred the most you know different people prefer different parts darker meat or white meat or you know ribs or what have you he preferred the.

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Shoulder.

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We have a narration here this narration is collected by both bukari and Muslim and another which is solely in buari on the authority of abuur who narrates that the messenger of Allah s. wasam passed away and he had never truly eaten his fill of wheat bread or a grain bread obviously the different types of bread the higher more refined types of bread are going to be white flour and so forth but the bread that is usually eaten by those who are impoverished is going to be bread which is made of Wheat and so he Sall rarely ever had a true full meal with many things to choose from you know when we sit down to eat we take these things for granted you know we have you have to have a main course and you have to have sides and you have to have a drink and you have to have a dessert and this probably never happened to the prophet s. wasam as a messenger from the day he re received until he passed away it it was a very fortunate time when a full meal with more than one thing to eat was allotted to him and tells us in and Muslim that a month or two sometimes backto back would pass by and not a single fire was ignited in the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam house and his houses meaning for his family and himself what's meant by a fire meaning a cooking fire cooking fire never being ignited in his houses meaning they didn't have anything to cook so a month or two would go by without eating any prepared food without eating any cooked food and tells us that that during these times they would mainly live on water and dates this is of course due to Poverty this is not because this was what was desired it's not because they had meat but they chose not to eat it no in his book.

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Was and so it's important for us to understand the circumstances under which he was living s. wasam this doesn't mean that a person in order to be upon the Sunnah should not eat meat or should go two months without eating prepared food only eating dates and water that's not the Sunnah that is the circumstances that he happened to be in with his companions and for me to have the option to eat prepared food and choose not to this is not necessarily the Sunnah when prepared food was allotted to him he would eat it if we had narrations where he was given meat but he said no I want to be humble to Allah and I want to eat just dates okay then we would say that's the Sunnah but that didn't happen rather what happened was he didn't have anything else to eat so he ate what was.

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Wasam and he would eat from that which was gifted to him however that which was given in charity he would never take from whether that be food or anything else and that is because specific to him and his family members it was impermissible for he and his offspring or his uncles and their offspring to eat from charity anything that is given in zakah or charity was made impermissible upon them only the rest of everyone would would eat whatever is available but for him this is one of the things that were specific to the prophet Sall wasam and his.

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Family.

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Likewise in Nei tells us about a very important trait of his character and that is that when he would be given a gift he would always give give a gift back now most of the time he would give a gift more valuable than what he was given however he would often give whatever was available he may not have something of of greater value to give but he s. wasam when he was when he would be given a gift he would always return and reciprocate that gift with a gift.

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Well.

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And in this meaning Allah subhanahu waala tells us inah that which translates to and whatever you give of give in order to in order to increase that gift in what you receive back that is something that will not be counted and increased with Allah subhanahu wa taala what does this mean so often times people and especially with the prophet sallallah alai wasam they know that anytime they give him a gift he will give them something that is often times more valuable than what he received and so people would give each other gifts not because they are giving each other gifts or charity in order to help one another they desire reward from Allah rather they are giving these things so that they can receive something greater than what they've given in that case what a person gives this is permissible but they will not be rewarded with Allah subhanahu wa taala for it rather Allah subhanahu waala demands that when a person gives in charity or gives in a gift or what have you in order to receive from Allah subhanahu wa taala that it' be purely for his sake subhanahu waala.

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Med.

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That.

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And it's important for us to realize that this Sunnah of his where he would always give he would always give back and reciprocate a person's gift it's important for us to understand that anytime he felt that he was maybe being taken advantage of or that someone was going to scoff at his reciprocation then and he would not accept the gift this is important for us to understand when you know the prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam Sunnah is that if he is given a gift he accepts it however if he would be given a gift with strings attached he would not accept it and so this Sunnah of accepting a gift from whoever gives it to you is not is not included in someone who gives a gift with strings attached someone who gives a gift with alternative motives so for instance a judge someone goes to give him a gift and this person has a case in his court may he accept that gift outside of the decision look you know this has no of course that's how they're going to dress it up this has nothing to do with my pending case I just I think you're a great judge and here's a gift that is clearly a loaded gift right and it is impermissible it is Haram for him to accept that and for instance if a person wishes to give you a gift but they don't accept expect anything in return other than they wish to be able to reproach I gave you this I gave you that you know you owe me this kind of big thanks then no this as well as something that the prophet Sall wasallam would not accept.

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He mentions that one of his of the narrations that have been narrated is that he has been narrated to fix his own shoes and to patch up his own clothing is this always was he was he a seamstress was he a tailor was he the guy in the house where only he would patch up his clothes no of course not his wives would clean his clothes they would wash his clothes they would patch his clothes however on occasion he would do it himself and this is this is a testament to his humility person of great humility a person who leads armies.

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S so this tells us that he was very humble this is not an evidence that you know if a man asks his wife to to patch his clothes that she should say no I'm not going to patch your clothes you patch your own clothes that's the Sunnah no that's that's a a different situation right he wasn't a tailor he wasn't a shoe maker these are things that he was narrated to have done on occasion that articulates that what that he was a man of great humility and it should not be these things which are incidental these things which are narrated they're narrated because they're uncommon they're not narrated because they're common if that was the common act okay if it was always that he would always fix his own shoes he would always fix his own clothes sew his own clothes patch his own clothes then the narration would have been in the opposite way it would have been his wife on an occasion patched his clothing that's out of the norm now we're narrating something that's out of the norm it's important for us to understand these things as they are are narrated also his character was that he would be very steadfast in visiting the ill the sick and he would honor the invitation of whoever invited him anyone who invited him whether that person be wealthy or poor or of low status in society or of high status in society he would honor that invitation and he would never belittle anyone this is what was narrated.

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So just as a before we continue this issue of honoring an invitation Prophet Sall alai wasam.

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Was.

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Before we continue this issue of honoring anyone who invites him obviously this is the same thing goes for this as what we mentioned before with the issue of accepting anyone who gives him a gift right as long as this is something that is there's no strings attached there's no Al alternative motive right so for instance we go back to that example we gave of the judge one of the the defendant or the plaintiff in his court they have a case in front of this judge and then you know they invite the judge over to their house for for dinner or make some this obviously is something that has strings attached likewise we have even an our time now maybe somebody you know maybe someone would invite the Sheik over so he could take a picture of the Sheik over at his house and show everybody that hey he comes to my eyes doesn't come to your house this is this is something that it's not per missible but as well the prophet sallallah alaihi wasallam would avoid honoring these types of.

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Invitations tells us that the prophet s would often sit raising one or both of his knees to his chest so he would sit usually to eat he would place his left shank or his left shin on the ground and he would raise his right knee to his chest and he would eat that way he would sit this way often and this is referred to as likewise.

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For likewise he would sit cross-legged on occasions sit this way in the Masjid and outside of the Masjid both were.

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Narrated.

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For.

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Can he also tells us that the prophet sallallah alai wasallam would occasionally sit leaning on one or both of his hands you know sitting down put the hands behind the back and lean back on them on the floor or on the right hand there is a narration in some of the scholars view this narration to be authentic the majority of the hu view this narration to be inauthentic that one of the companions narrates that he was once sitting in the Masjid leaning back on his left hand and so the prophet sallallah alai wasallam told him this is the position this is the posture of Those whom Allah's anger is upon this narration it is most probably a weak narration the majority of the scholars of Islam view it as weak however even those who view it as authentic the prohibition is specific to this exact position which is the left palm flat on the ground leaning to the left side this is what this narration is speaking about but we said it is a weak narration and in a lot of a lot of his time and perhaps arguably most of the time he would be sitting in a position of a is that a person lay sit on his behind on the ground and that he raise his knees to his chest and sit that way and lean backwards this is called most of the time he would sit in this position s.

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He would usually eat with three fingers speaking about about the middle forefinger and the thumb of the right hand and he would as well lick these when he was finished so when he finished eating he would lick his fingers s. wasam again this is how he would eat does this mean that it is pro prohibited to eat with a spoon or a fork or do use an utensil no there's no narration where he says do not use spoons or works it just means that in that culture at that time this is how people ate and if a person were to do it now if a person were to eat using his hand these three fingers and his intention is to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallahu alaih is that theah the answer is yes n this is something which a person may do in order to emulate the prophet s. wasam further.

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For.

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Allah.