Wednesday 2 November 2011

The hadeeth which says that eating twice a day is extravagance is not saheeh

‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) saw that I had eaten twice in one day and he said: “O ‘Aa’ishah, do you want to have nothing to worry about except your stomach? Eating twice a day is extravagance and Allah does not love those who are extravagant.”.

Praise be to Allaah.
This hadeeth was narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu‘ab al-Eemaan (7/441). He said: Abu ‘Abd al-Rahmaan al-Sulami told us: Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamdaan narrated to us: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ubaydah narrated to us: Yahya ibn ‘Uthmaan al-Masri narrated to us: my father narrated to me: from Ibn Luhay‘ah, from Abu’l-Aswad, from ‘Urwah, from ‘Aa’ishah – and he quoted it. This isnaad is da‘eef (weak). 
Abu ‘Abd al-Rahmaan al-Sulami’s name was Muhammad ibn al-Husayn, the author of the book Tabaqaat al-Soofiyyah (d. 412 AH). Al-Haafiz al-Dhahabi said concerning him: They criticized him and he is not reliable. See Mizaan al-I‘tidaal, 3/532. 
‘Abd-Allah ibn Luhay‘ah is da‘eef (weak) in terms of his memory too. 
Hence Imam al-Bayhaqi said, after narrating this report: There is some weakness in it. End quote. 
Al-Mundhiri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Its isnaad includes Ibn Lunhay‘ah. End quote. 
Al-Targheeb wa’l-Tarheeb, 3/101 
Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allah have mercy on hm) said: It is mawdoo‘ (fabricated). end quote. 
Al-Silsilah al-Da‘eefah, 257. 
We have previously quoted a number of saheeh hadeeths which condemn extravagance in food. You can see them in the answer to question no. 102374. There is nothing in them to suggest that eating twice in one day is criticised. 
To sum up: eating twice in one day is something that is permissible and allowed. It is one of the well-known customs of the Arabs. They used to eat two meals in a day, al-ghada’ and al-‘asha’ (morning and afternoon/evening meals). If a person did not do that, it was only because he was poor; it was not because eating twice in one day is a kind of extravagance. 
It was narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The family of Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) did not eat two meals in one day but one of them was dates. 
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6455. 
Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 
This indicates that sometimes they could not find anything but one meal in a day, and if they did find two meals, one of them would be dates. End quote. 
Fath al-Baari (11/292) 
And Allah knows best.

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