Eating little

تقليل الطعام

Eating little in the forty-seventh hadith of Ibn Rajab's additions is the prophetic rule of food and austerity: 'no human has filled a vessel worse than the belly; enough for the son of Adam are morsels that keep his back upright, and if he must, a third for food, a third for drink and a third for breath' — sufficiency is what keeps the spine straight, not satiety, and when more is needed the belly is divided into thirds rather than filled with food; the narration's occasion shows the people of Khaybar struck by fever for excess in lawful fruit — so excess even in the permissible breeds harm (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam p. 891).

Depth

At a glance

Era: The Prophetic Era
Region: Global / Diaspora
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Spirituality and Sufism

Overview

Reducing food is the subject of the forty-seventh hadith of Ibn Rajab's additions: "No human being has filled a vessel worse than his belly. It suffices the son of Adam to have morsels that keep his back upright; if he must do more, then a third for his food, a third for his drink, and a third for his breath." ¹

Its meaning in the commentary

Sufficiency is that the morsels keep the back upright, not that one be full. If the need arises, the belly is divided into thirds, and it is not filled entirely with food. The reason for the report was that the people of Khaybar were struck with fever through their excess of fruit, so excess in what is permitted was made a cause of illness. ¹

In this commentary it is part of asceticism. ¹