 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ربشرح لي صدري ويسر لي أمر وحلو العقدة من لسان يفقه قولي بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العالمين وصلى الله على سيدنا وحبيب قلوبنا وشفيع نفوسنا أبل قاسم محمد وعلى آل بيته الطيبين الطاهرين المعصومين لسيما بقية الله روحي ورواح العالمين لترابي مقدمه الفداء ما بعد respect to the scholars elders brothers and sisters السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته إن شاء الله في حالة رمضان وفي حالة مرسي في which we fast in the topic for tonight إن شاء الله I'd like to look at is the concept of food in Islamic theology and Islamic jurisprudence and the effect that food has on the human body إن شاء الله the topic for tonight will be on three different levels the first level is to look at the importance of fasting what the Imam say that's why has Allah SWT prescribed fasting and then we'd like to look at on a general level how food may affect the human body how food in our Ahadith affects the human body how scientifically affects the human body and the second point inshallah we'd like to look at the effect in a more expandable version in which we'd like to look at particular foods and its particular effect on the human body and we'd like to look at on the reverse angle haram foods and what does haram food have as an effect on the human body and in the last and final point inshallah we'd like to look at a specific type of nutrition that Allah SWT refers to in the holy Quran in which we tend to overlook however it may affect us and would be the most important in reference to the month of Ramadhan so inshallah in order that we start this topic for tonight please help me in reciting Allah SWT محمد و آلي محمد the first and foremost Imam Zayn al-Abideen in the book treatise of rights which is known as رسالة الحقوق the eighth right that Imam Zayn al-Abideen refers to is the right of the stomach in which he puts a significant aspect and an importance to something that we may overlook which is the stomach instilling that it does have an effect or a direct effect on the human body now in the treatise of rights the eighth right the right of the stomach Imam Zayn al-Abideen refers and he says to us all that make sure you do not let your stomach become a container for unlawful meat unlawful or anything unlawful that you may consume do not let it be a container for anything that is unlawful and furthermore he gives us a medical advice he says make sure you do not eat or overeat until you are full then that's it if you overeat it's problematic so Imam Zayn al-Abideen refers to these two main points in this particular right رسالة الحقوق he makes sure that this is important now we'd like to look at what importance does this have throughout the lecture insha'Allah as we know food holds a very important aspect in our daily lives we can't overlook that where we find that the food as the narration goes or as the saying goes you are what you eat when we look at food we see that the type of food we eat or the proportions that we eat directly affects us whether it be weight management the diets that we have whether it be a bodybuilding diet whether it be a fat losing diet it's always an aspect of balance what to eat in reference with what not to eat the timings of food even in the hadith that we have as an example which we may directly affect a janeen or a baby we find in a hadith before a person is to bring up a child or before a person thinks about getting a child the hadith state you have to eat for example pomegranate it will make the baby beautiful something called quince Imam Zajad is narrated to look at a particular boy and say what and say 100% that his father ate quince before he brought him to this world giving us the idea that what food has a direct impact and an indirect impact with the upbringing of a child and it has a direct impact on what you can become as we see that for example if someone is pregnant what you eat directly affects the baby when a hadith what does it say if you recite as an example if you recite surat yusuf on a bunch of apples and the female eats it it makes the baby what beautiful and there are many more narrations in which what to eat during fasting what to eat during the month of Ramadan what to eat in separate occasions what not to eat or what to refrain from therefore we find that there's an aspect in which we do not look at in the depth that we should now that's the first point we analyze that yes there is an importance of food now let's look at it on the next level if taking into aspect the importance of food what is the effect of good food what does the Imam tell us to eat what to refrain from and what is the effect of haram food now the first and foremost the first and foremost we'd like to look at what the البيت say and the tradition of the Prophet ﷺ it states that make sure you do not overeat why? the Prophet says when you overeat you kill or you make your heart die how? if you overeat you make your heart die what references I have he says the reference is like that of crops or plants he says if a plant is over watered the plant dies he says therefore the human when he overeats the heart of the human dies he says make sure you do not overeat even when Imam Radha had the debate with one of the medical people at the time or the people that were in charge of medicine at the time he says what does your religion say about medicine and he says two things in which the person says you've said everything about medicine altogether he says do not overeat and do not eat until you're hungry that's the only thing that Imam Radha refers to and the doctor at the time or the medical field he says what he says you've just mentioned all of medicine altogether that's the cause of all illnesses and SubhanAllah the Imam has put in such a normal aspect a very significant aspect when we look at what the Imam say of what foods affect us and how they affect us the imams give us when you eat meat or an overemphasis of meat allows your heart to harden you become very very hard hearted or very solid you find anger will start to emerge in you you'll find your very hot tempered if you increase the meat intake in your diet whereas on the reverse side if you do not have any meat if you have a vegetarian diet you'll find that person becomes very vulnerable very emotional very how do we say touchy when it comes to anything he fills it straight away and that's the reverse angle that's why our diet have to be balanced that's why in our hadith you have to eat some type of meat within the week because the imams try to instill us that yes there has to be a balance in your life now and subhan Allah if you want to have more aspect of how Allah has given us on this earth the references that we want to look at look at this beautiful tradition he says look at the food that you eat he says the food that you eat directly influences the body parts in which it affects how? he says I'll give you an example and a set of examples to make you ponder over he says take an example of the carrot for example the carrot we know what is the carrot instilled what is the carrot good for in the human body the eyes when we find the carrot we look at the carrot when you dissect the carrot what do we see? we see a circle and in it a darker circle what can you see that looks like a circle and a darker circle inside it's the eye isn't it directly relates we don't think about it but it directly relates another example a walnuts you find it's a hard shell when it comes it doesn't come with an open shell when we first buy it from the supermarket when we first get it it's in a shell that shell is in reference what do we know that the walnuts good for the walnuts good for the brain the nutrition for the brain it's in a shell our brain is in what? in a skull in a shell when you open that shell what do you see you see the walnuts which resembles the brain doesn't it you find that it has a right hand side and it has a left hand side and you can divide it into two الله سبحانه وتعالى shows us this shows us these signs and it's in all his foods take another example the tomato for example if you dissect the tomato not vertically horizontally you'll find it has four different sections the tomato is known in the scientific field to be good for the heart the blood flow the heart if you study the anatomy of the heart it has four chambers for chambers furthermore look at celery celery is good for the bones what does it look like it looks like a bone if you dissect it and this is one of the most amazing ones an avocado we don't look at it the avocado in itself from blossom to harvest just over eight months the avocado looks like the womb do you start to put the points together of الله سبحانه وتعالى you begin to see this it has signs on earth سبحانه وتعالى but we overlook it kidney beans why is it called kidney beans they're good for the kidney and they're shaped like the kidney and Allah سبحانه وتعالى shows us this and he tells us this is directly influencing the particular body parts but we overlook it now let's look at another narration when we look at this is Halal food he puts us into an aspect this is what you should eat make sure that you take salt before and after a food it will what it will remove 73 types of illnesses it's to say that when you're in the daytime when the sun is up it's all to do with cycles it says when the sun is up make sure you're standing when you drink the water when the sun is down and the moon is up make sure you're sitting down when you drink the water it's not for any particular reason it's for our salvation when Allah makes something Halal and this is what you have to understand when Allah makes something Halal it's to benefit us whether we see the benefit or we don't see the benefit at the end of the day Allah knows the benefit even though we cannot see it when Allah makes something Haram it's to directly say that what that this will affect you in a negative way whether you see it or whether you don't see it even the people that are not Muslim as a Christian person in a massive seminar that he had about why the Muslims do not eat the pig and the people say we don't know why the Muslims do not eat pig he says do you know what the pig actually eats the pig you get to any farmer you tell them what's a pig doing in your farm he says it cleans up it's like a cleaning machine it cleans up all the feces anything on the ground he says he'll eat anything we have them in the farm so they clean and the whole nutrition is made out of what waste and he says you're eating all of that that's why Islam come forth and says what do not eat this particular animal because it's harmful for you and we can go into depth about how harmful the pig actually is towards the human from a scientific field how many diseases have emerged from the eating of this particular animal let's look at Haram food we've looked at and dissected this is what Albayt say let's learn with the more we can look into it let's look at Haram food let's look at foods that are questionable when we look at Haram food the narration of the Prophet that when a person intakes one remember this one piece or one bite of Haram sustenance of Haram food he says that his prayers his dua his worship will not be accepted for 40 days someone may come forth and ask why 40 days if we have a nijas or anything on us can we pray we can't pray if we have any kind of impurity on our clothes whether our skin depending on the quantity that it has we cannot do a particular act of worship obviously we'd have to get rid of that before we can connect with Allah SWT in a pure state a particular substance wasn't on the outside was on the inside that impurity has to leave our body before we can connect with Allah SWT before our worship is accepted before our dua is accepted so therefore even in scientific field it's saying that it takes 40 days until that impurity leaves your body completely what did the Prophet say the Prophet says 40 days your prayers and your dua and your worship is not accepted does it go hand in hand it goes hand in hand 100% now let's look at it furthermore what effect does it have on the body this haram nutrition what effect does it have whether it be questionable or unquestionable if it's haram whether you know it's haram or you don't know it's haram it has an idea that yes you will be punished if you know it's haram and if you didn't know it's haram it's only eating that haram that's why we say stay away from anything that's questionable because it will have a direct effect whether you know of it or you don't that's why it's so important that even when Imam Sadiq is asked he said and look at the effect that it may draw you towards the effect that haram food can make you even as a Muslim as a موالي of أهل البيت Imam Sadiq is asked why is it on the 10th of Muharram you had one side of an army جماعة they had an adhan and another side of the army also had adhan and also had jama'a he says what's the difference how is it that these majority of the Muslims fought the Imam of their time fought the grandson of the prophet of Islam look at the reply of Imam Sadiq look at the reply he says now the depth of this whether it be haram food or food purchased with haram sauce now there's two different angles however in the end of the day that haram is inside them that haram will effect them directly that's so much that they go against the Imam of their time they go against the grandson of the prophet yes that is the end result of something that will be ongoing ongoing and you remain in that state remain eating the haram remain in that particular concept that you or circle that you put yourself in that's the direct effect and that's the major effect that you go against the Ahlulbayt you go against Allah SWT it does have a direct effect on your soul when we find and this is what we mentioned yesterday when the daughter and this is why we have to teach our children this is why we have to teach ourselves before we teach our children that stay away from anything that's questionable when she got the honey do you remember yesterday when she got the honey from معاوية and she ate it as soon as she knew what was for معاوية she do she put her hand she regurgitated made sure there's nothing left in her system everything that may come from معاوية she vomited it out or regurgitated it out and then she tells him أب الزعفر أب العسل المزعفر يبنة هندن نبيع لك إيمان ودينة لانا أمير المؤمنين صل على محمد الله it's very important to look at and that's why even yesterday when we did mention the ideology of استخفار علي ابنة إبطالب in the fourth point what does he say after he says that the استخفار number one what did we say استخفار number one is that you regret the sin number two is that you will not repeat it number three you finish the worship between you and Allah get it up to date number four we say that's between you and the people number five and what refers to tonight إمام علي ابنة إبطالب says make sure any fat and meat that were what that were built based or fertileed by what by the haram sources make sure you burn that off that's what it's referred to tonight insha'Allah that food that's questionable that may affect you in a negative manner make sure that's not in your body not in your system anymore سبحانه وتعالى in this month anyway that's questionable make sure you make sure about the sources that it has before you eat it because it will affect you it will directly affect you insha'Allah and this is what I want to highlight and this is the important point for this lecture tonight is that we understand the effects that haram food may have and it's so much more even like for example even the drinks such as alcohol in them that we find nowadays if you look up on the internet that we do not even think about nowadays it has a small percentage the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم what does he say he says alcohol he says he says know that if all the sins were put in one house the key of that house would be alcohol he says that's the significance of such a drink the key of that when we look at the people that fought at the house when we look at Muawi and Ali ibn Abi Talib when we look at Imam Hussein when he fought Yazid what was being drunk how was food being eaten in the court of Yazid what did Abu Huraira when we look at him as they look at him as a great companion well Iyadu billah we found Abu Huraira on the battle of Saffin where was he did he take sides was he with Ali ibn Abi Talib was he with in Saffin was he with Muawi was he with Ali ibn Abi Talib what did they find Abu Huraira he's on a tilt of sand what does he say he says well isn't it he says he says what he says the praise look at the idea that he had he says the praise behind Ali ibn Abi Talib is much more rewarding what does he refer to Muawi as he says the food with Muawi is more tasty what does that tell us brothers and sisters it tells us who the Ahl al-Bayt were and it tells us who the opposition of Ahl al-Bayt were and especially in this topic for tonight the idea of how they ate what they ate and how it affected them to make them either go towards the message of Allah سبحانه و تعالى or go against it and it's a very important topic that needs depth brothers and sisters a very important topic that we cannot overlook now the third and final point إن شاء الله when I conclude tonight and it's very brief that I'm going over these particular points the third and final point and it's very important for the topic for tonight and for Ramadan is the nutrition for our bodies that we do not look at and that's a spiritual nutrition the spiritual food that our body needs because on one aspect it's a physical food that nourishes our soul nourishes our stomach our physical beings but the food that will spiritually nourish us is the one that's important is the one for our salvation the spiritual food what do I mean when you go in this month and when you close your stomach towards these foods when you close your stomachs the imams what do they say they say make sure that for this month you fast knowing that Allah made it obligatory on us so that the rich of us know what it feels like that the poor are feeling or how the poor are suffering how the poor try to find food every day try to feel what they feel humble yourself and then it says what after you do that and you're in that state make sure you nourish your soul make sure you nourish yourself how it says and this is all taken into account when we look at the foods and how it affects our body that's one angle but what's trying to explain this when we have a hadith that say when you read Quran it strengthens your memory it makes your eyesight stronger how can you explain that to a normal person you can't but it's belief it's something to do with your soul when you begin to feed your soul with what rather than feed it with haram vision feed it with the Quran feed your soul with the vision of beauty feed your soul with if you are blessed insha'Allah to go towards Yara feed your vision with the vision of the Ziyara with the vision of the shrine with the vision of everything in and around these sacred places this is what you should be feeding yourself it's not a physical food rather what it's a spiritual food when you listen to for example Quran when you listen to wherever it may be towards Ahl al-Bayt poetry where it will be that's what that's instilling in your soul it becomes part and parcel of you when you listen to music and that's why it becomes haram when you listen to music when you listen to music why? it nourishes your soul that's why one of the aspects it becomes haram it nourishes your soul you begin towards the more you listen to it the more you become inclined towards it that's why when you listen to Quran you become more inclined towards it when you read the more you read you become inclined towards because what you're feeding yourself it's all food and the more you take the more you want this spiritual food and this is the important one this is the one insha'Allah we can come into Ramadan and say this is the one that we want to feed ourselves this is how we want to nourish ourselves during this holy month of Ramadan and because it's the best opportunity we have gatherings like we have in this particular Husayn where we find the Quran is being read and the khatmah every night is being read why? it nourishes ourselves people come after they have their foods after they gather with their families they come towards the Husayn they can read that time why? because they say we're in gatherings we crave for that company we crave for recitation of the Holy Quran we crave to be in such gatherings why? because it nourishes us on a physical level no on a spiritual level we crave these gatherings when we're in gatherings when we remember the Ahl al-Bayt the time flies even I talk in a personal perspective when we remember them even in universities when we have closed gatherings when we talk about Ahl al-Bayt the time flies and you think to yourself I was out of time from the next class and you had a three hour gap because there's barakah in it your heart craves towards it people around us that not even Muslim they crave when they listen towards Ali ibn Abi Talib and the merit of Ali ibn Abi Talib they crave it your soul is inclined towards it it's fattra as Hajj mentioned he says there's something inside you that inclines you towards someone that's why even in aspect Insha'Allah I conclude with this if you think about it there's some people you look at you've never met in your life you look at you're drawn towards them you're drawn towards them everyone can relate to this other people you see for the first time you don't know who they are you've never met them in their life but something draws you away Ali ibn Abi Talib says about this he says before your time you were made in armies whoever is knowing to one another used to be knowing to one another however anyone that you disassociate yourself with you weren't friends back then and you were first to Ali Marwah you were first to Ali Mardar it's a very explicit concept however what the important aspect for tonight Insha'Allah we want to take home is the effect that the food has on us when the imams tell us that it's to remember the poor it's not to have lovishing foods and lovishing surroundings and just feed ourselves it's to remember the poor Ali ibn Abi Talib and the last night he was hit what happened when his daughter gave him food did she give him a luscious food or did she give him three little pieces and Ali ibn Abi Talib says what look at the beautiful narration of Ali ibn Abi Talib he says do you want me to stand longer on the day of judgment you had bread, salt and a cup of milk he says do you want me to stay long on the day of judgment Ali ibn Abi Talib we end on this brothers and sisters Insha'Allah we take from tonight and we can learn to think about our food think about how we intake food think about the poor Insha'Allah and we pray to Allah Subhanahu و تعالى that he ridz away from us anything that is haram and he makes us firm on the path of Muhammad and Ali Muhammad