Unbelievable it might sound, but it is true that many families in Bangladesh can’t afford to eat twice a day.
On one gloomy evening in 2005, the brother felt extremely hungry and stole his sister’s dinner. She got frustrated and decided to stop financially contributing to her family, and hanged herself.
“What a silly girl!” We might exclaim. Her impatient frivolity can be very well accused and accursed by worldly scholars. But when Allah would judge with absolute justice things might turn out differently.
The earth was created as such that it can support all the life forms that live in her lap. If someone starves, it is because someone else has violated his right to food. It might be the MNCs who are converting the food into fuel or US.
Bangladesh is a country of abundance; may Allah bless us.
The bounties are so much that even fasting Muslims, after the Magrib prayer, will empty their plates in the trash bin. Plates filled with biriyani, bread, curry, and so on. The dumping should be done with due pride and dignity. The feelings of hesitation are as if long gone; adults and children alike will indulge in the same careless practice.
Some situations can’t be apprehended unless one goes through them. In a part of the world, a Somalian man would ask for a fatwa regarding the validity of their fasting. They don’t have anything to eat during sunset; they don’t have anything to begin the fasting with. I heard the scholars couldn’t answer. He just cried.
How rapidly things change! Somalia was once the bread-basket of Africa. The lavish greeneries are gone. Gone are the crops and the herds of animals. The IMF and the World Bank have indebted them with love, mercy, compassion, and of course money.
‘Climate change’ — they say. The spiritual ones see the mighty hand of the Lord. In such a higher sphere of intellectual discussion about famine, it’s very inappropriate for me to visualize trash bags with rice, bread, and curry.
Lands become barren, forests desert. Nations fall. Wasting food is a sin, a grave one. Allah forbade to waste by extravagance twice in the Noble Quran, and warned us that He certainly likes not al-Musrifoon. If this is the case with the musrifoon, who waste by extravagance, what about those who waste casually, ritually? If the arsonists hate us, there are others to love us. But if Allah doesn’t like us, then do we have a way out? No. The culinary customs of the west, the one we follow, contradicts vehemently the teaching of Islam:
Jabir reported Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) as saying:
“When any one of you drops a mouthful he should pick it up and remove any of the filth on it, and then eat it, and should not leave it for the Satan, and should not wipe his hand with towel until he has licked his fingers, for he does not know in what portion of the food the blessing lies.” [Sahih Muslim, Book 23, Hadeeth 5044]
Today the charity of the rich is misused. And it’s we, who are providing sustenance to our declared foe with our own hands. Shutting the door of blessings is the norm; licking fingers is regarded as disgusting. Islam is defeated and deserted even at dining tables.
Throwing away the leftovers is not only being ungrateful to Allah but also is disrespectful to the farmer who grows the food. Only if people knew what it takes to produce a single stem of corn! Chucking away without finishing the food is plain insolence to the person who cooks the meal. The effort and the love behind the endeavor of preparing a meal might be unseen, but don’t we Muslims believe in the unseen?
The family of the last prophet (saw) had not eaten wheat bread to their satisfaction for three consecutive days since their arrival at Medina till he died [Sahih Bukhari, Book 65, Hadeeth 327]. Passed by a time when the very first companions of beloved prophet (PBUH) had nothing to eat, except the leaves of the Habala tree, and so their stool resembled to that of the sheep [Sahih Bukhari, Book 65, Hadeeth 323]. The blessing Allah bestows on us is also his tribulation. We hardly apprehend that.
The north of Bangladesh is in the process of desertification already. Isn’t it a good wakeup call? If we are commanded to save even a single grain on the floor, how dare we treat platefuls as ‘filth’ that needs to be trashed?
My dear brother, the next time you are throwing away the crust of the pizza because of the carbs, please remember the words of Allah subhaanahu wa ta’ala [al-Quran, 6:142; 7:31].
Dear sister, the next time when you are dumping the entire mango because you are too disgusted by the little mold in the skin, please remember,
“Verily, He likes not al-Musrifun (those who waste by extravagance)” [al-Quran, 6:141]
May Allah save us from doing any wastage, ameen.
