Blessings of peace and food

BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Assalaamu alaykum

I pray that you are well.

There is no single blessing you possess but it is from Allah. Look at everything around you.

That leftover food in the fridge waiting for you to eat is a big blessing, but you don't know it and you don't like leftovers, so you throw them in the garbage. Then suddenly there is a big earthquake and the 2nd storey of your house collapse and your fridge and your pantry are smashed. You cannot get to the stores, everywhere is chaos--sirens, roadblocks, accidents, fires, roads flooded by broken fire hydrants, you can imagine the disaster! You have to wait for the red cross helicopters to drop you food packages. Now your stomach is crying, your children are laying there like fish out of the water--they haven't eaten for 2 days. You wish that leftover in the garbage to come back but the flies have gotten to it first!

There are two blessings that we cannot truly understand them until we lose them: blessings of peace and blessings of being fed.

For those who are living in the US, we are so blessed that we can stick our head out from the window when we lost our way and ask for directions without having the fear of being shot at. We were so appreciative of the guy who was nice enough to stop and give us the direction--we said thank you! But no thank you to Allah! the One Who gave your speech to ask for direction, the One Who made it possible for the guy to give you the directions, the One Who sent the earthquake to Haiti instead of to your area, the One Who gives you the peace and stability so that you can move around freely! The smallest of things that we take for granted in this life is a blessing from Allah and some don't care to thank Him. And Allah Al-Karim (the Generous), As-Sabur (the Patient One) still shower us with abundant blessings despite our ingratitude.

When I was in Egypt, I wanted to visit Jerusalem (I really wanted to pray in Masjid Al-Aqsa) but I couldn't because they won't let my sons enter Jerusalem--they have restrictions on young men at least at the time. When there is no peace, people are afraid of each other and movements are restricted or banned. You might think that something like this will never happen in "peaceful" countries like America. We don't know, only Allah knows. Allah can destroy a nation and can build a nation. Kun fa yakun. Be and it be. The Qur'an has many examples of this. Tomorrow we could wind up in the ocean--remember the Tsunami? There is nothing we can do. So while we are still free to move, live--but with a different attitude. The attitude should be of gratitude and living for next life. So Allah will remember us and not let us perish just like that.

When you look at your food next time, appreciate what Allah has given you. Have a heart full of appreciation and gratitude of what in front of you. The mark of this appreciation and gratitude is that you are humble and lower yourself in front of the blessing. All the sunnah of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, is speaking to us--that we are so small, undeserving of the blessings of Allah, and the very food in front us is a treasure and we are lucky to have it and we really respect it. We are not merely saying on the tongue "Bismillah" at the beginning and "Alhamdulillah" at the end. We feel this before we eat and all the way beyond eating to the leftovers. All these have to be covered in deep veneration of Allah.

Don't cook too much that you have leftovers that food wind up in the garbage cans. Suffice to cook less for the stomachs then throwing food away. There is so much waste everywhere and it is very sad to see food go into the garbage--you see this a lot at the masjid! We tend not to respect food anymore. When I was 6 or 7 years old, my mother would not even let me drop a grain of rice when washing the rice before cooking it. If there was a grain of rice in the drain that fell out of the pot while I was washing it and touched filth, she would tell me to pick it up and give it to the chickens. But nowadays, we callously throw enormous amount of food. That is being disrespectful to food. Make a conscious effort not to waste food, the gift of Allah to us.

We must have a sense why we are doing something, what the purpose is, why we are eating. If you are eating for no purpose, then this is a big problem because this means you are living to eat instead of eating to live. Allah created the world for us, not us for the world, and He created us for Him. So we partake the world within His guidelines.

We eat to worship Him. Ultimately you are what you eat. Food and eating must be in line with the teachings and the sunnah of Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace. Otherwise, this most basic blessing and act that we enjoy can turn into a curse, ruin one's heart, ruins one's worship, becomes an obsession and many other matters that push us away from Allah.

The way the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, acted was reflecting a state that we meant to be following, to be slavely. We are expected to take this attitude from the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace. How best to incorporate them other than to approach blessings the way he approached blessings. The more we can approach things the way our Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, approached things, the easier it is to be like him in state. So learn the sunnah of the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and incorporate them in your life as much as you can.

Let the waves of love for Allah, not the chain of afflictions, push you towards Him--show Him your gratitude for all His blessings. May Allah give you tawfiq and bless your day. Ameen. And please keep me in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalaam