The number of Hadiths that speak of people’s hunger during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him) suggests that food was often scarce during that period. This is not surprising, considering that the Muslim community was surrounded by hostile tribes. It had often to take pre-emptive action in order to forestall an attack by some tribe or another. Such action never took the form of a surprise attack on enemy quarters, although the Prophet (peace be upon him) used the surprise element to good advantage on several occasions. He limited its use to a demonstration of strength and readiness to go to battle. This state of affairs was bound to heavily tax the resources available to the Muslim community in Madinah, leading to periods of hunger. What did the Prophet do in such situations?
A greatly significant Hadith is reported by Lady Ayesha, the Prophet’s wife: “The Prophet used to come to me and say: ‘Do you have any food?’ I would say: ‘No.’ He then declared: ‘I am fasting.’ One day he came to me and I told him: ‘Messenger of God! We have been sent a gift.’ He asked what the gift was and I said: ‘It is Hays.’ He said: ‘I started the day fasting.’ He then ate of it.” (Related by Ahmad, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Al-Nassaie and Al-Tirmidhi.)
Thus, the Prophet did not complain about the lack of food when he did not find any in his home. He simply used that to start voluntary fasting on the day. Thus, he would earn the reward of fasting, which is a very rich reward. The Hadith also signifies that it is possible to formulate the intention to fast after the day has started, provided that the fasting is voluntary, and that a person had nothing to eat or drink since dawn.
By contrast, the Hadith also shows that it is permissible to break one’s voluntary fast without completing the day. There need not be a compelling reason. The Prophet clearly stated that he had started the day fasting, but the presence of a dish which he loved, and which he rarely had, was sufficient to make him discontinue his fast. The dish was known as Hays. Ibn Abbas reports: “The type of food the Prophet loved most was the Hays.” What was this Hays made of, then? It is a mixture of dates and dried milk, which were pressed hard with butter, until the date stones are separated. This was a treat and was not easy to come by. Hence, the Prophet decided on that occasion to break his fast. This means that when a person is fasting voluntarily, he can break his fast without having to compensate for it.
It is perhaps worth mentioning that the Hanafi school of thought requires compensation if one deliberately spoils his voluntary fasting, but this Hadith provides clear evidence to the contrary. The Hanafi school relies for their evidence on the Qur’anic verse that enjoins: “Do not render your deeds invalid.” They also cite the Hadith in which the Prophet tells two of his wives to fast a day instead of the day of voluntary fasting they spoiled. Whichever view one takes relies on solid evidence.
The question arises whether the Prophet disliked any type of food. It is often mentioned in answer that the Prophet disliked onion and garlic. This, however, is a personal dislike, which does not encourage people to abandon eating them. Ayesha was asked about eating onions and she answered: “The last meal the Prophet (peace be upon him) ate contained onions.” (Related by Ahmad, Al-Nassaie and Abu Dawood.) This was most probably a cooked meal, because the Prophet simply disliked the smell that onions and garlic gave.
Abu Ayyoob Al-Ansari reports: “When the Prophet was given some food, he would eat of it and send me what is left. Once he sent me a dish and I realized that he did not eat of it because it contained garlic. I asked him whether it was forbidden to eat garlic. He said: ‘No, but I dislike to eat it because of its smell.’ Abu Ayyoob said to him: ‘I dislike what you dislike.’” (Related by Ahmad, Muslim and Al-Tirmidhi.)
We note in both Hadiths that the Prophet was keen to make clear to his companions and all Muslims that there is nothing wrong with eating onion and garlic as both are permissible. He simply disliked to have the mouth smell that eating these two gave. On one occasion he mentioned that he did not wish to offend the angels who came to him at different times of day by having such mouth smell.
Scarcity of food in desert areas makes its inhabitants eat what other people would not eat. The Arabs at the Prophet’s time used to eat lizards, which could be found in desert areas. We may think that this is totally unappealing, but apparently some people found it acceptable. “Once a lady companion of the Prophet called Umm Hufayd, who was the maternal aunt of Ibn Abbas, sent him a gift consisting of butter and dried milk, as well as lizards. The Prophet ate of first two, but he did not touch the lizards.” (Related by Ahmad, Al-Bukhari, Muslim and Abu Dawood.) In this case again the Prophet did not disallow eating such food. He simply felt that it was disgusting.
