Islam emphasizes the human status of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), so that there can be no chance that he would be elevated to any superhuman status, as happened in the case of some prophets. His life was recorded even in minute details, and such records give us an image of an ordinary human being who shared the feelings and experiences of all human beings. When we speak of what he used to eat or what he drank, we learn two things: his attitude to such matters that are most essential for survival, and over which individuals may fight and countries may go to war; and we see how naturally he behaved.
Over the last few weeks, we spoke about his eating, and we learnt that he valued all types of food, never despising any even if it was the most humble. He was happy to have a lunch consisting of no more than dry bread and vinegar, stating that vinegar was fine to eat with bread. For most of his life, the Prophet (peace be upon him) lived in poverty and he was satisfied with the most humble of food, thankful to God for providing it. Many of the Hadiths that speak of his eating habits mention dates, because dates were always plentiful in Madinah. In fact dates were the basic staple diet of its people. Bread was considered more valuable. When the Prophet instructed his companions to be kind to the prisoners they had taken in the Battle of Badr, one aspect of their acting on his instructions was to give bread to their prisoners and dates to their children. The prisoners were profoundly impressed with that.
It is against the backdrop of this Hadith that we should look at Hadiths that mention dates as part of the Prophet’s food. Lady Ayesha reports: “The Prophet never had two meals in one day unless one of them was dates.” (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.) This again emphasizes the poverty situation that prevailed in Madinah for most of the time the Prophet lived there. The Hadith points out that the Prophet might not even have two meals in one day, and if he did then one of them consisted of dates, the cheapest food in town.
Anas reports: “Dates were brought to the Prophet. He started to share it out as he sat close, and ate of it. His eating was fast.” (Related by Ahmad, Muslim, Abu Dawood and Al-Nassaie.) This report suggests that a large quantity of dates was given to the Prophet. This is perhaps the reason why he was sharing it out while he was eating of it. His eating was fast because he might have been in a hurry. Normally the Prophet ate in a slow, relaxed manner, as clearly appears in the following Hadith reported by Abdullah ibn Busr: “The Prophet came to us, and my father brought him dates and Saweeq. As the Prophet ate of the dates, he put the stones on the back of his two fingers, the index and the middle one, before he put it away.” (Related by Muslim.) Although the reporter does not mention how the Prophet ate the Saweeq, which is anything made from wheat and barley, it appears that the Prophet ate it with the dates, taking out the stones in the manner described.
Other Hadiths describing how the Prophet ate may be quoted. Anas reports: “When I put a plate of ripening dates before the Prophet, he would eat those which had ripened and leave out the ones which were only ripe at the edge.” (Related by Abu Al-Shaykh and Al-Bazzar.) Anas also reports: “I saw the Prophet when he was brought old dates. He examined them carefully before eating.” (Related by Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah.) These two Hadiths make clear that the Prophet was careful about what he ate. When he was brought fresh dates, he chose the ones that were ripe, leaving the others until they would ripen. On the other hand, he would examine old dates lest they might have gone bad, or became infested with worms.
Normally the Prophet ate dates one at a time, but some people would take two or more dates in one bite. This may not be pleasant to look at, but if people were very hungry and there was nothing else, they might be excused if they did so. Abu Hurayrah reports: “We were with the Prophet and we were very hungry. He gave us some of the best dates in Madinah. When he ate two at a time, he said to us: ‘I have eaten two together, and you do the same.’” (Related by Al-Baghawi and Abu Al-Shaykh.)
We need only to think of these people who were very hungry and they received dates of the best type. In fact this type was said to have been planted by the Prophet himself.
They would eat eagerly. The Prophet noticed that and he did not want to embarrass them. Therefore, he ate two together and told them so in order that they could do the same without feeling uneasy about it.
