Chapter II: Patience and Gratefulness
0 dear readers, that the object of good conduct is to gain the middle path which is good in all actions and both the extremes are bad. What has been described above about the merits of hunger shows that no extreme is good. The secret of Shariat is that whatever is taken as a result of greed and low desire is the extreme in which there is harm. Shariat prohibited it firmly.
Mature encourages eating with heart's content and Shariat prohibits it. When these two things stand face to face, the middle course should be adopted. When the Prophet came to learn that some of the companions prayed throughout the night and fasted throughout the day, he prohibited it. So it is good to eat with moderation as it does not cause heaviness of belly and prevents hunger. The object of food is to save life and to gain strength for divine services. A heavy belly obstructs divine services and acute hunger also prevents it. So it is better to eat food in such proportion as prevents hunger and also heaviness of belly .
Man should acquire the qualities of an angle and when these are a quarried he becomes like an angle. An angel is free from heaviness of belly and pangs of hunger. The object of man should be to acquire that position. The middle path is the best between hunger and over-eating. The Prophet said: The middle path of every action is best. God also says: Eat and drink and donot squander. When nature runs towards greed and low desires, it should be punished by hunger till it gives up passion and greed.
The object of hunger is to curb all passions till they come to moderation and under control. A sojourner of the next world should therefore have no necessity of remaining hungry all along as the lash of hunger is not necessary for a siddiq or greatly truthful man.
PROPHET'S WAYS OF EATING: The Prophet had no fixed measure of food and fixed time. Hazrat Ayesha said: The Prophet used to fast in such a way that the people thought that he won't eat and drink and he used to fast in such a way that the people thought that he won'tbreak it. He often used to go to his wives and say: Have you got any food? If they said 'yes' he took meal.
Whenever any food was served before him he used to say: ' 'I have fasted' and then he broke his fast and ate it. One day the Prophet came out and said: I have kept fast. Hazrat Ayesha said
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to him once: Hais has been presented to us. The Prophet said: I wished to fast, but now take it to me.