Aisha bint Abi Bakr · Chapters on Food

“When food is served, take from the sides and leave the middle, for the blessing descends in the middle.”

“I heard my father say: ‘I heard ‘Umar bin Khattab say: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Eat together and do not eat separately, for the blessing is in being together.’”

“The Prophet (ﷺ) like gourd.”

“Umm Sulaim sent with me a basket of fresh dates for the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), but I did not find him, as he had just gone out to a freed slave of his who had invited him and made food for him. I came to him and he was eating, and he called me to eat with him. He (the freed slave) had served him Tharid with meat and gourd, and he liked the gourd, so I started to…

“I entered upon the Prophet (ﷺ) in his house, and he had some of this gourd. I said: ‘What is this?’ He said: ‘This is Qar’; it is Dubba’. We augment our food with it.”*

“We ate food with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) in the mosque, meat that had been roasted. Then we wiped our hands on the pebbles and got up to perform prayer without performing ablution.”

“A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and his voice trembled out of awe as he spoke to him. The Prophet said to him, “Be calm, for I am not a king. Verily, I am only the son of a woman who ate dried meat.”

It was narrated from Sa’d, the freed slave of Abu Bakr – and Sa’d used to serve the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he liked this Hadith – that the Prophet (ﷺ) forbade eating two dates at once.

“The first we heard of Faludhaj* was when Jibril (as) came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: ‘The world will be opened for your nation and they will conquer the world, until they eat Faludhaj.’ The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘What is Faludhaj?’ He said: ‘They mix ghee and honey together.’ At that, the Prophet (ﷺ) sobbed.”

“One day, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘I wish that we had some white bread made of brown wheat, softened with ghee, that we could eat.’ A man from among the Ansar heard that, so he took some (of that food) and brought it to him. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Where was this ghee kept?’ He said: ‘In a container made of mastigure skin.’ And he refused to eat it.”

“Umm Sulaim made some bread for the Prophet (ﷺ), and she put a little ghee on it. Then she said: ‘Go to the Prophet (ﷺ) and invite him (to come and eat).’ So I went and told him: ‘My mother is inviting you (to come and eat).’ So he stood up, and said to the people who were with him: ‘Get up.’ I went ahead of him and told her. Then the Prophet (ﷺ) came and said: ‘Bring what you…

“I made some food and called the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) (to come and eat). He came and saw some images in the house, so he went back.”