Advice of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (radhiallahu `anhu):
أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ ، إِيَّاكُمْ وَالْبِطْنَةَ مِنَ الطَّعَامِ ، فَإِنَّهَا مَكْسَلَةٌ عَنِ الصَّلاةِ ، مُفْسِدَةٌ لِلْجَسَدِ ، مُوَرِّثَةٌ لِلسَّقَمِ ، وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى يُبْغِضُ الْحَبْرَ السَّمِينَ ، وَلَكِنْ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْقَصْدِ فِي قُوتِكُمْ ، فَإِنَّهُ أَدْنَى مِنَ الإِصْلاحِ ، وَأَبْعَدُ مِنَ السَّرَفِ ، وَأَقْوَى عَلَى عِبَادَةِ اللَّهِ ، وَإِنَّهُ لَنْ يَهْلِكَ عَبْدٌ حَتَّى يُؤْثَرَ شَهْوَتَهُ عَلَى دِينِهِ “
“O people! Beware of obesity caused by food because that will surely make one lazy from performing prayers and it is harmful to one’s body, and truly, Allah dislikes the obese man. Rather, you should observe modesty (and intent) with regards to your provisions and food, as that is closer to piety, far from excessiveness and strengthens one in worshipping Allah `azza wa jall. And a slave will not fall into destruction until his desires become dearer to him than his religion.”
Some points:
- This is with regards to obesity caused by food and overeating, not involuntary weight-gain due to a medical problem.
- Obesity (sumnah) weakens one’s body and also weakens the soul’s spirituality; this is one of the reasons why fasting is prescribed – don’t you feel closer to Allah when you’re fasting? Don’t you feel humble and spiritually elevated? Preventing your soul from overeating means taming it and bringing it under control, so you can steer it in the right direction.
- Preferring your desires to the Laws of Allah will destroy you, in this life and the Next. The moment you obey your soul and disregard the Signs of Allah, is the moment you’ve taken your soul as your deity and guide. And don’t expect guidance from a soul that opposes its Maker.
- Learn to be modest, and that means being modest in your food intake (of course, don’t starve yourself!). It’s dangerous to accustom yourself to (unlimited) luxury because then you spoil your soul and without realizing it, you make it a master when Allah has made it a slave. So be principled and avoid excessiveness (israf).
- Be purposeful, even in food. If you’re not hungry and you don’t need to eat, then don’t. Do something else that’s beneficial.
- If you want to lose weight, all you need to do really is tame your soul. In fact, if you have strong will/determination and have good control over your soul, you’ll lose pounds fast 🙂
Funny, but true…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DNrBPw7Emo]
و قال العرب :البطنة تذهب الفطنة
Arabic proverb : Overeating destroys Acumen.
This reminded me of that Sheikh Anwar clip – may Allah have mercy on him.
What about comfort eating? Is that wrong? Sometimes when people are in a funk they feel better if they go and eat something.
How about reading the Quran, praying, or doing dhiker instead ?
Allahu a’lam, but I would be careful as comfort eating is what has led some people to obesity. Emotions can play with people’s minds and sometimes we pick up a bad habit simply because we’re ‘stressed’, ‘depressed’, ‘angry’, ‘lonely’, ‘bored’ or suffering from some storm of events in our lives and it’s really important that our emotions don’t overcome us and make us acquire habits we later come to regret.
I think control is the main point here because comfort-eating might not always be bad if it’s one-off (and I know mama’s steamin’ plate of rice & lamb chops can sometimes really improve our mood!) so as long as we can control our intake insha’Allah I don’t see a big problem. The issue is when we lose control and focus and succumb to every wish and desire of the soul – yes, even mama’s steamin’ plates can become an issue then.
Whenever we are depressed we should train ourselves to go to the prayer mat instead of the kitchen. This way we are seeking Allah’s help, performing an act of worshipping and of course relying on Allah instead of going against his orders and stuffing ourselves to the max!!
does anyone know which book this saying comes from of Umar ibn al-Khattab (radhiallahu `anhu)