Narrated by A'esha, may Allah be pleased with her, that she said: "the
first calamity for this nation after the prophet's death is fullness
of their stomachs; when their stomachs became full, they became obese
and their hearts weakened and their desires became wild" Bukhari.
The prophet advised us not to eat everything we desire to eat.
Narrated by Anas ben Malik, may Allah be pleased with him that the
prophet said: "it is extravagance that one eats whatever he desire"
Ibn majah.
Is there anything that forbids one to eat a lot, or not to be able to
control how much he eats? Any hadeeth, verse, or a book about
prohibiting extravagance in foods, or about the prophet's way
regarding foods and eating.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Gluttony is one of the greatest sins that lead to doom and it causes
many diseases and sicknesses, both spiritual and physical, because it
leads to sexual desire, then the desire for status and wealth in order
to fulfil the first two desires. Then that generates spiritual
diseases such as showing off, destructive envy (hasad), boastfulness
and arrogance because of being focused on worldly matters. In most
cases that leads to evil and immorality, all of it because of this
desire. The Arabs of old said: The stomach is the home of disease and
restraint is the basis of the remedy.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"and eat and drink but waste not by extravagance, certainly He
(Allaah) likes not Al-Musrifoon (those who waste by extravagance)"
[al-A'raaf 7:31]
The Sunnah encourages moderation in eating, and strongly criticizes
extravagance.
The Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: The son
of Adam does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is
sufficient for the son of Adam to eat a few mouthfuls, to keep him
going. If he must do that (fill his stomach), then let him fill one
third with food, one third with drink and one third with air."
Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (2380); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani
inal-Silsilah al-Saheehah(2265).
It was narrated that Naafi' said: Ibn 'Umar used not to eat until a
poor man was brought to eat with him. I brought a man in to eat with
him and he ate a great deal. He said: O Naafi', do not let this man
enter upon me, for I heard the Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) say: "The kaafir eats in seven intestines."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari (5393) and Muslim (2060).
Al-Nawawi said, commenting on this hadeeth (14/25):
The scholars said: What the hadeeth means is to be content wit little
in this world and encouraging asceticism and contentment, in addition
to the fact that eating little is a good characteristic, and eating a
great deal is the opposite. As for the words of Ibn 'Umar concerning
the poor man who ate a great deal in his presence, "Do not let him
enter upon me," he only said that because he was behaving like a
kaafir, and if a person is behaves like a kaafir it is makrooh to mix
with him unnecessarily; moreover, the amount that this man ate could
had fed a number of people. End quote.
We have quoted other ahaadeeth on this topic elsewhere on our site;
please see question no. 71173.
Secondly:
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) has summed up for us the
teaching of the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
with regard to food and drink, which he derived from the saheeh
ahaadeeth. He says inZaad al-Ma'aad(1/147):
Similarly the practice of the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) was not to reject what was available, and not to go out of
his way to seek that which was not available. No good food was brought
to him but he ate it, unless he had no appetite for it, in which case
he left it but did not forbid it. He never criticized any food. If he
wanted it he ate it, otherwise he would leave it, as he refrained from
eating lizard meat because he was not used to it, but he did not
forbid it to the ummah. He ate sweets and honey, which he liked. He
ate camel meat, mutton, chicken, bustard, onager, rabbit and seafood.
He ate grilled meat and both fresh and dry dates. ... He did not refuse
good food, and he did not go out of his way to seek it, rather he
would eat what was available, but if it was not available he would be
patient, and he would tie a stone to his stomach because of hunger.
Three new moons in a row would be sighted, and no cooking fire would
be lit in his house. End quote.
Thirdly:
The scholars have mentioned the benefits of moderation in food and not
being extravagant. These include:
1 - Purity of heart, mental alertness and deep insight. Satiety
generates stupidity and blinds the heart. Hence the proverb says "The
one whose stomach is hungry will become able to think deeply and his
intelligence will honed."
2 - Humility and the loss of pride, joy and insolence, which are the
foundation of tyranny and neglect of Allaah.
3 - One does not forget the wrath and punishment of Allaah, or the
people who are afflicted by calamity. For the one who has his fill
forgets the one who is hungry and he forgets hunger, but the one who
is smart does not see someone else afflicted by a calamity but he is
reminded of calamity in the Hereafter.
4 - One of the greatest benefits is that it puts an end to all sinful
desires, and brings control over the self that is inclined towards
evil, because the source of all sins is desires and energy, and the
fuel for energy and desires is food. Dhu'l-Noon said: I never ate my
fill but I sinned or thought of sinning.
5 - Warding off sleep and being able to stay up. For the one who eats
a lot will drink a lot, and the one who drinks a lot will sleep a lot.
Sleeping a lot wastes one's time and causes one to miss out on
tahajjud; it makes one slow and hardens the heart. Time is the most
precious gift and it is the person's capital, but sleep is death and
sleeping too much shortens one's life.
6 - Physical health and warding off disease, which is caused by eating
too much and mixing foods in the stomach. The doctors say that
gluttony is the cause of disease and restraint leads to a cure.
Summarized fromIhya' 'Uloom al-Deen(3/103-104).
Fourthly:
With regard to the ahaadeeth mentioned in the question, none of them are saheeh.
The first hadeeth:
'Aa'ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said: "The first calamity
for this ummah after the death of its Prophet(peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) will be satiety, for when people's stomachs are
full, their bodies will grow fat, and their hearts will become
weakened and their desires will grow wild." Narrated by al-Bukhaari
inal-Du'afa'- as attributed to him by al-Dhahabi in Meezaan
al-I'tidaal (3/335). Also narrated by Ibn Abi'l-Dunya inal-Joo'(no.
22).
Narrated via Ghassaan ibn 'Ubayd al-Azdi al-Mawsili, who said: Hamzah
al-Basri told us, from Hishaam ibn 'Urwah, from his father, from
'Aa'ishah.
I say: This isnaad is da'eef jiddan (very weak) because of Ghassaan
ibn 'Ubayd, in whose biography inLisaan al-Mizaan(4/418) it says:
Ahmad ibn Hanbal said: We wrote from him, then he came to us here then
I burned what I wrote from him. Ibn 'Adiyy said: The weakness in his
hadeeth is obvious. According to a report from Yahya ibn Ma'een, it is
da'eef. ... Then he counted the hadeeth of 'Aa'ishah that we have as
being munkar. End quote.
Hence Shaykh al-Albaani said inDa'eef al-Targheeb(1239): It is munkar
mawqoof. End quote.
Note: In the question this hadeeth is attributed to al-Bukhaari, and
this is a serious mistake, because saying that a report "was narrated
by al-Bukhaari" usually means that it is from his Saheeh, but
al-Bukhaari wrote many other books, in which he narrated ahaadeeth
with their isnaads, but they are not necessarily saheeh, such as his
book al-Du'afa' al-Sagheer, which has been printed, andal-Du'afa'
al-Kabeer, which was mentioned by Ibn al-Nadeem and Brockelmann
inTareekh al-Adab(p. 65), and which still exists in the library of
Patna in India. If it so happened that al-Bukhaari narrated a hadeeth
in any of his books apart fromal-Saheeh, which is the greatest book
written by a scholar in Islam, then it should be stated when quoting
the hadeeth: "narrated by al-Bukhaari inal-Taareekh" or "inal-Du'afa'"
or "inal-Adab al-Mufrad" for example, then one should research the
isnaad of the hadeeth: is it saheeh or not, as is done in other books.
This hadeeth of 'Aa'ishah may be inal-Du'afa' al-Kabeer. We have
looked for it inal-Sagheerbut I could not find it. al-Du'afa'
al-Sagheerrarely mentions ahaadeeth and isnaads. And Allaah knows
best.
The second hadeeth: It was narrated from Anas ibn Maalik (may Allaah
be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah(peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: "It is extravagance to eat everything you
want." Narrated by Ibn Majaah (3352); Abu Ya'laa inal-Musnad(5/154);
Abu Nu'aym inal-Hilyah(10/213); al-Bayhaqi inShu'ab al-Eemaan(5/46)
and others, via Baqiyah ibn al-Waleed, Yoosuf ibn Abi Katheer told us,
from Nooh ibn Dhakwaan from al-Hasan from Anas in a marfoo' report
(i.e., attributed to the Prophet(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him)).
This isnaad is da'eef jiddan (very weak) and has a number of faults, such as:
1 - Yoosuf ibn Abi Katheer, of whom Ibn Hajar said inTahdheeb
al-Tahdheeb(11/421): One of the Shaykhs of Baqiyah who are not known.
End quote.
2 - Nooh ibn Dhakwaan, whose hadeeth is munkar. It says in his
biography inTahdheeb al-Tahdheeb:
Ibn 'Adiyy said: His ahaadeeth are not sound. Ibn Hibbaan said: His
hadeeth is munkar jiddan and his hadeeth should not be narrated. Abu
Nu'aym said: he narrated problematic reports from al-Hasan, and he has
a document from al-Hasan from Anas. End quote.
Hence the hadeeth was classed as da'eef (weak) by more than one of the
scholars: Ibn Hibbaan inal-Majrooheen(3/47); Ibn 'Adiyy
inal-Kaamil(8/299); Ibn al-Jawzi inal-Mawdoo'aat(3/182); al-Busayri
inMisbaah al-Zujaajah(2/188); al-Sakhkhaawi inal-Maqaasid
al-Hasanah(515).Shaykh al-Albaani said inal-Silsilat al-Da'eefah(no.
241): It is mawdoo' (fabricated).
The saheeh ahaadeeth quoted above are sufficient and we have no need
of these two weak ahaadeeth. The one who wants to know more about this
topic may refer toal-Joo'by Ibn Abi'l-Dunya;Mukhtasar Minhaaj
al-Qaasideenby Ibn Qudaamah;Zaad al-Ma'aadby Ibn al-Qayyim andSharh
Riyaadh al-Saaliheenby Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen.
And Allaah knows best.
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