Assalamu Alaykum Everyone, Heres a popular scenario: Youre at a restaurant and are extremely full but there is a substantial amount of food left on your plate. The genius next to you reminds you, There is some guy in Africa right now who is dying! So you finish the rest of the food and go home hating yourself. Did the African guy benefit from your heroics? Did he receive any nourishment or energy? These are the choices we face every time were full: First. Dont finish the food and let it get thrown away. However, the guilt caused by the African guy usually forces you to eat more than you would like to. In this case you are considering your stomach to be the trash can, because youre essentially saying, Either its thrown in the trash or Ill put it in my stomach. Heres a very famous hadith that we often misquote. No human ever filled a vessel worse than the stomach. Sufficient for any son of Adam are some morsels to keep his back straight(sustain him). But if it must be, then one third for his food, one third for his drink and one third for his breath. [Ahmad, At-Tirmidhee, An-Nasaaee, Ibn Maajah - hadeeth saheeh.] We usually quote the end of the hadith as the minimum you should eat, but its actually the maximum! You shouldnt eat more than that amount and you should never consider your stomach to be a trash can. I know what youre thinking! What kind of a reminder is this? How could this guy encourage us to throw away food? First of all, dont call me this guy, and secondly; not being wasteful isnt achieved by overeating, not wasting food starts with ordering the amount that is reasonable to begin with. The second option is to take the food home with you. People who do this usually fall into one of two categories: 1. Those who love to have leftover food. 2. Those who never touch leftover food, keep it in the fridge for a week and then eventually end up throwing it anyway. So realistically all they did was throw it away a week later rather than allowing the waiter to throw it away right then and there. So to reiterate: Only order what you can eat and what doesnt fill you. Only take the food home if you will actually eat it. If you cant do either of these it is better to let it get thrown away than to make your stomach a trash can!
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 13:25:50 +0000
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