Analysis Of Eating By Al Ghazali

779 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Importance of food in Islam

The book Eating written by Al-Ghazali tells about manners relating to eating. It contains four chapter ; what is necessary for the person eating alone, additional manners of eating when in company, manners to be adopted when presenting food to visiting brethren and the manners of hospitality.
In the first chapter, it tells what we should do before the food is served, when one is eating and when the meal is over. Ingredients of food must be halal and good (al-tayyib). Halal means that food should not have been gained through anything contrary to canonical law, nor through some evil inclination, nor deceit relating to debt. Regarding to al-tayyib food, God has ordered the eating of that which is good, this being the lawful and also put the prohibition of wrongful eating. He said in surah al-nisa verse 29 : “ O you who believe, squander not your wealth among yourselves in vanity ”. Furthermore, good food is important to give us energy and health.
Also, before eat we must wash our hands since the hand cannot escape dirt in the performance of tasks so, washing is the best way to keep it clean and unsullied. Rasulullah ( may God bless him and grant him peace ) has said, “Ablution performed before a meal banishes poverty, ablution after a meal banishes minor sins”. Since eating as a support for religion is a form or worship, it is proper that one approach it in the same state as for prayers.
Next, we must have the intention that we eat to strengthen ourselves in obedience to God, so to be obedient through food and not to seek gratification and luxurious living through food. Means that, we must not eat too much as narrated in hadis, “No human being has ever filled a container worse than his own stomach. The son of Adam n...

... middle of paper ...

...ke part in a funeral, three miles to accept an invitation and four miles to visit a brother in God.” Precedence was given to accept an invitation and paying a visit because through these one fulfils the right of the living, who are more deserving than the dead.
Also, we must accept the invitation even we are fasting. For if breaking our fast will give pleasure to our brother, then let us break that fast and let us expect a reward in the afterlife for having broken our fast with the intention of bringing joy to our brother’s heart.
Personally, I have get many benefit by reading this book because a small matter in eating also mentioned. If I think that what I used before in eating is good but after this, maybe my eating will be better than before. Also, in every explanation it included some verse from al-Quran and hadis make me more clear about that point.

Show More
Related

  • Food As Thought: Resisting The Moralization Of Eating By Mary Maxfield

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Food as we know is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. Food therefore is very important for our body maintenance and all the growth processes. The importance of food and eating cannot be overemphasized but the question remains; can we eat anything and everything

    Read More

  • Food in Mary Rowlandson's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

    2284 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Food is a medium for life, a dynamic of life, and an expression of the whims, joys, terrors, and histories in life. Food, more than anything else, is life."

    Read More

  • Thaddeus Stevens

    626 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... spot, not for any natural preference for solitude, but finding other cemeteries limited by charter rules as to race, I have chosen it that I might be enabled to illustrate in my death the principles which I have advocated through a long life - Equality of Man before his Creator (McCall 353).

    Read More

  • Creative Writing: A Parent's Funeral

    1257 Words  | 3 Pages

    The funeral was supposed to be a family affair. She had not wanted to invite so many people, most of them strangers to her, to be there at the moment she said goodbye. Yet, she was not the only person who had a right to his last moments above the earth, it seemed. Everyone, from the family who knew nothing of the anguish he had suffered in his last years, to the colleagues who saw him every day but hadn’t actually seen him, to the long-lost friends and passing acquaintances who were surprised to find that he was married, let alone dead, wanted to have a last chance to gaze upon him in his open coffin and say goodbye.

    Read More

  • Book Analysis: Take This Bread

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    I have always found communion to be an important sacrament to the Christian faith, but sometimes its meaning can be lost in repetitiveness. Sara Miles, in her book Take This Bread, has shed a new light on what it means to take communion as she writes about her transformation into being a Christian by receiving bread and wine. Hunger is the main theme of the book, whether it be spiritually or physically, all humans are linked by that common need. This transformation goes beyond her and pours into the souls and bodies of the San Francisco community, by sharing not only food but the body of Christ. This book has pushed me to get past my comfort zone and heavily consider the way in which food can be an important aspect of my faith and how I share

    Read More

  • The Not So Hungry Soul by Leon Kass

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...t that many of these situations are fading. Increasingly, we resort to eating as a kind of automatic action, indulging in "fast food" or even eating while walking. One thing I believe Kass failed to realize was that the human body is very important. It urges us daily for the different pleasures in life. See Kass believes that we are stuck in a sense of informality of much that is current today. He writes, on the last page, "Recovering the deeper meaning of eating could help cure our spiritual anorexia. From it we can learn the essential unity of body and soul, and we can relearn the true relations to the formed world that the hungering soul makes possible” (Kass 231). My only question is, will we ever understand what it means to eat?

    Read More

  • Medieval Food Essay

    914 Words  | 2 Pages

    Food is something that all people have always and will always need to consume in order

    Read More

  • Analysis Of If You Eat, Then What Am I By Geeta Kothai

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    Geeta Kothari’s “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” shares a personal story of a young woman’s efforts to find her identity as she grows up in a culture different than her parents. Kothari retells memories from her childhood in India, as well as her experiences as an American student. Kothari uses food as a representation of culture, and she struggles to appreciate her parent’s culture, often wishing that she was like the American children. Kothari’s tone changes as she comes to realize the importance of maintaining connections to her Indian culture. Originally published in a Kenyon College magazine, Kothari’s main audience was originally student based, and she aimed to give her young readers a new perspective to diversity. Through the

    Read More

  • Nutritionism Essay

    1615 Words  | 4 Pages

    Michael Pollan discusses two categories of food: one is real food (the kind our great-grandmother would recognize), while the other is “edible food-like substances”. The category that needs defending according to Pollan is the real food. This category of food is minimally processed, fresh (will eventually rot), and includes mostly things that are taken straight from the source (the ground, tree, etc.). When one walks into a store, they should look for and pick the foods that are more “quiet”such as fresh produce than the ones that have more labels that say they are more healthy, or better for you.

    Read More

  • The Dietary Restrictions on the Biblical Text

    1529 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the history of humanity, humans have consumed plenty of things, from plants to human flesh. It is all about survival. However as societies became more complex and states began to form, several changes in the diet were created, mostly by religious principles. However there are underlying causes for these dietary restrictions besides the religious aspect. Both Marvin Harris and Mary Douglas propose some of the underlying causes for the dietary restrictions in the old texts. Harris proposes several reasons for the dietary restrictions in the Leviticus, including moral, ethical and functional, while Douglas presents the cost benefit and a historical reasons for dietary restrictions in several religious text.

    Read More

  • Book Review Of Nixonland Sparknotes

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    This book was a good read for me, but I also read book reviews to help me keep track on what I am reading. These book reviews just made a better understanding of what I was reading.

    Read More

  • Harmony in Community: Overcoming Disputes and Negativity

    571 Words  | 2 Pages

    I know that farmers sometimes have a reputation for having bad manners while eating or walking down the hallway swearing up a storm, I am here to tell you that that is true ninety percent of the time, for not just the farmers but for hometown people as well. My school is consisted of mostly those two categories. When I am walking down the hallways at school going from one class to another, I probably hear at least twenty swear words, most of them being the REALLY bad ones. My mother taught me that swearing was wrong at a young age; she gave me a good example by almost never swearing. She believes them to be unnecessary words and I completely agree with her. When people swear on social media and in public, I believe it looks immature and unprofessional. We could solve this issue by enforcing stricter punishments to those who swear all the time. Now onto the subject of manners while eating. Another thing my mother taught me when I young was to NEVER put your elbows on the table. That was one of her biggest pet peeves. When she sees people with their elbows on the tables in restaurants, she cringes a little. Also she taught me brothers and I to NEVER chew with our mouths open. Now that is the thing I catch people doing all the time. I think it is disgusting and is one of my biggest pet peeves. I do not need to see what you are eating. Keep it to yourself. We could solve this problem by making etiquette classes available. People who have excellent manners seem happier to me. I believe that if the people in Alpena started using better manners, our community would be more beloved and

    Read More

  • Reincarnation Influences On The Hindu Diet

    246 Words  | 1 Pages

    Reincarnation and the idea of karma are also influences on the Hindu diet. It is believed that depending on what one has eaten during their lifetime they will be turned into that when they are reincarnated (Doniger, “On” 73). It can be inferred that one may become a specific animal in their next life that they had eaten in a previous life. One should be wary of what they eat throughout their current life. The amount that one eats also has a role in the Hindu faith and daily life. Many Hindus may live by a motto of sorts such as, “hungrier than thou, holier than thou” (Doniger, “On” 76). It may be interpreted as one thinks that spiritual perfection may be reached if one were to eat less thus, making the person that eats less holier than the

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Veganism And Vegetarianism

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    Intentionally avoiding flesh eating first came into place as a part of rituals for short-lived purification. The teaching of Pythagoras of Samos, a philosopher, in the fifth century BC is the first recorded teaching of avoiding flesh eating in the Mediterranean. He taught that kinship of all

    Read More

  • Mistreatment Of Food Essay

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    Food teaches, or illustrates, something meaningful about life, health, family, and culture. Although food keeps us alive there are many ways we misuse food. We can use the mistreatment of food to learn about our family, our health, and our culture. Abuse and mistreatment of food looks different for each person based on our culture and experiences in life. Ever since I was little, my family looked towards food for comfort. The most prominent time that sticks out to me was when my mom passed away. We were filling the void of our loss with the food we were deciding to eat. We weren’t eating healthy and we didn’t really care what was going into our bodies or how much we were putting in. Along with not eating healthy, we weren’t exercising or watching

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Eating By Al Ghazali

Open Document