to the Holy Prophet, it was accepted by him,24 and therefore there is no reason to suppose that he disliked it. To the list of prohibitions mentioned in Ḥadīth, the jurists add hyenas, foxes, elephants, weasels, pelicans, kites, carrion-crows, ravens, crocodiles, otters, asses, mules, wasps and all insects.25 As shown at the very outset of this section, among things which are allowed much depends on personal likes and dislikes; a thing which may be good (tayyib) as food for one man or one people may not be so for another. Certain things may be good and even useful as food, but their use might be offensive to others; it was due to this that the Holy Prophet said that whoever ate raw onions and garlic, he should not approach the mosque,26 because the odour would be offensive to others: but there is no harm in taking them in a cooked form,27 or in some other form in which it may not give an offensive odour, or on occasions when one is not likely to appear in public.
It is recommended28 that hands should be washed before the taking of food and after finishing it, and that when one begins a meal, he should do so with the pronouncement of bismillāh, and that when he finishes it he should give thanks to God or say al-ḥamdu li-llāh.
In another ḥadīth,29 the man who gives thanks to God after taking a meal is compared to the man who fasts and is patient in suffering. It was the Holy Prophet’s practice to cleanse the mouth with water after taking food.30 There is also a direction that a man should eat with the right hand.31 To blow on food or drink is prohibited.32 Taking of food when in a reclining posture is not recommended,33 nor eating and drinking while standing,34 but Bukhārī reports that ‘Alī intentionally drank water while standing, and added that people did not like it but he had seen the Holy Prophet drinking water while standing.35 It is also regarded as good manners in eating that a man should take only so much in his plate as not to leave anything on it after eating,36 and that he should take a morsel from what lies near his hand.37 Of the Holy Prophet it is related that he would never find fault with the food which he was offered; if he liked it he would eat of it, and if he disliked it he would leave it.38 There is nothing to show that helping
24 Bu. 72:32.
25 H. II. p. 424.
26 Bu. 10:160.
27 Tr. 24:14, Ah. I. p. 15.
28 AD. 26:11; Bu. 70:2, 54.
29 Bu. 70:56.
30 Bu. 70:52.
31 Bu. 70:2.
32 Bu. 70:24:Ah. I, 309, 357.
33 Bu. 70:13.
34 Ah. III, p. 199.
35 Bu. 74:15.
36 Ah. III, p. 177.
37 Bu. 70:3.
38 Bu. 70:21.