47,000 Grocery Products

By the end of this khutbah, the listener/reader will have an enriched understanding of Allah’s verse about wasting food, consider our diet more critically, and apply a new food-rule to daily life.

A quality sticky bun notoriously gets all over your fingers and on your nose and in your beard. Later on, you lick your lips and can still taste the deliciousness. When a verse is put into context, it gets sticky. Stories are sticky. Props are sticky. And participation is very sticky. If you want people to remember this message then get them involved. A khutbah is not a forum for back-and-forth discussion, however, a few rhetorical questions or fill-in-the-blanks will wake up your audience like a warm sugary rush.

This message is filled with sticky buns. Don’t let anyone leave without a little deliciousness for later.

Khutbah tul Haajah

Innaal-hamdu Lillaahi nahmaduhu wa nasta’eenahu wa nastaghfiruhu

wa na’oodhu billaahi min shuroori anfusinaa wa min sayi’aati a’maalinaa

Man yahdih Illaahu falaa mudilla lahu wa man yudlil falaa haadiya lahu

Wa ashhadu an laa ilaaha ill-Allah wahdahu la sharika lahu

wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhu wa rasooluhu

Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo ittaqoo Allaha waqooloo qawlan sadeedan

Yuslih Lakum A’malukum wa yaghfir lakum dhunubakum wa mayin yuti illaha wa rasulahu faqad faza fauzan adheema.

Amma ba’ad.

Fainna khairal hadeethi kitabullah, wa khairal hadi, hadi Muhammad (saw), wa sharrul umur muhdathatuha, wa kullu bida’atin dalaala, wa kullu dalalatin finnar

Pepenadores

Mexico City, the third-largest metropolitan area in the world and home to 20 million people, has one of the world’s largest landfills and city dumps. Their largest city dump takes more than 20,000 tons of garbage per day. The Pepenadores (the garbage people) live in extreme poverty; they not only work in the landfill, they also live there.

Many unemployed people in Mexico City say they would rather starve to death than live like the Pepenadores do. They live in temporary villages in the dump, constructed out of trash, and obviously there is no electricity or water. Once a week, dump trucks destroy their make-shift huts. The average age of the Pepenadores is 50. They cook and eat on the trash and so have many types of stomach diseases. Some children die before the age of 10. The majority has no education and cannot read or write. Many of the Pepenadores earn 5-20 pesos per day ($0.40 to $1.60) by wading through trash to collect wood, glass, paper, and plastic. They say that even that small income makes it easier to live in those conditions.

Instead of just telling his children not to waste food and to clean their plates, my friend took his family to Mexico City. They did a few touristy things there, but then they went to the city dump. The smell was intolerable even a mile away. When the wind blew, trash flew everywhere. The dogs were small, sickly, and weak, but the flies were large and aggressive. They saw the Pepenadores.

If you knew my friend today, you would see that his family always finishes whatever is in their plates. The Prophet (S) advised us to begin every task and specifically eating or drinking with ___________ (‘bismillah’). It means that we are grateful to Allah that He gave us something clean to eat. It means that we will not waste this amazing bounty from Allah. Starting a meal with ‘bismillah’ means that we are thankful that He didn’t put us in the condition of the Pepenadores.

Food Today

The modern American supermarket has approximately 47,000 products. Throughout history, the most powerful ruler or king on this planet has not had access to the amount of food that you have in your typical local grocery store. You could build a pyramid out of fruit from your local grocery store. We pay no attention to seasons – you can get tomatoes and mangoes all year. We get foods that are not native to this hemisphere, like lychee or jackfruit. We get large sweet bananas from Honduras, or kiwis that were in New Zealand three days ago.

No one knows food like we do. How would you describe the Lucky Village Chinese buffet to a subsistence-level Chinese farmer? A large hall with endless plates of 110 different types of food where you can eat as much as you want, for the low afternoon price of $5.99. This has never been available in history.

But put history aside for a moment. If you were eating food just 20 years ago, you would know that there has been tremendous change. My mother’s CorningWare dishes are small compared to the ones we use today! Spoons, forks, and knives are bigger too, and grocery carts are 70% bigger, too. Refrigerators are twice as big as they were, and homes are now designed around the kitchen. Surprisingly, the size of the human mouth has not changed.

McDonald’s

We could blame globalization, affluence, migration, or giant agribusiness, but according to a fantastic movie/documentary called Food Inc., everything changed in the United States starting around the 1930s, when drive-ins started becoming popular. The McDonald brothers did something very simple. They fired all the girls on roller skates that delivered food to the cars. They simplified the menu. And they turned their kitchen into a factory. Every worker only had to do one thing again and again. That model was a run-away success story.

Today, McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of ground beef in America. They want every burger to taste the same, so they changed the way that ground beef was produced. They are also the largest purchaser of potatoes, and of pork, chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, and apples. Between McDonald’s and a few others, there are only a handful of companies controlling our entire food system. This is not an anti-McDonalds message, but check out a documentary titled ‘Supersize Me’ from director Morgan Spurlock. Even if you don’t eat in fast-food restaurants, you are still eating meat produced by this system.

Gluttony

We all know the story of Adam and Eve. The Creator made them a promise: “Inna laka al-laa-ta-ju’a fihaa wa-laa ta’raa.” In the Garden, you will never go hungry. [20:118].

The Devil didn’t make them hungry – he couldn’t. His trick was to make them preoccupied with the tree’s fruit. Adam and Eve became obsessed with the single thing they were warned from.

The Catholic Church lists gluttony as the second of the Seven Deadly Sins. Gluttony is not over-consumption of food or drink. Gluttony is the preoccupation with food or drink, regardless of the quantity. [1] My message today is not against eating; rather it’s against the obsession of food. Today, has Shaytaan pulled that same trick on you and me?

What is our attitude towards food?

Here’s a T/F quiz. Which statements are true for you?

1. I get emotional comfort from food. I turn to food when I’m sad, depressed, or hurt. I eat when I’m bored or lonely.
2. I use food to socialize. We often meet at restaurants or cafes.
3. I use food as a reward. I give food as gifts.
4. I’m addicted to some foods like coffee or coke, or chocolate, or ice-cream.
5. I know that I’m not supposed to eat certain foods, but sometimes I eat them anyway because they taste the best.

If you answered true to any one of the above, then you join the rest of us who believe that the answer to any problem is food.

Now apparently, food is the answer to everything. Our lives revolve around food. We are obsessed with food.

Our holidays have become celebrations of gluttony. Every major commercial holiday is getting rebuilt around food – Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Halloween, breakfast on Mother’s Day, lunch on Father’s Day, BBQ on Memorial Day, etc. Even personal celebrations like birthdays, anniversaries, graduations are more about the food and less about the person. One of the most joyous events in anyone is their wedding. People now remember each others’ weddings by the special foods. Or take Ramadan: Muslims joke about how we typically gain weight during Ramadan. Every day we break our fast in gluttony. Someone at my office, a non-Muslim who has worked in Muslim countries, described Eid as the “Muslim food orgy.”

Food Today

Eating is so complex these days. You need a Ph. D. in Biochemistry to read a food label. Not that long ago, milk had only one ingredient, and butter was only cream and salt. If you read labels now, grocery shopping has become exhausting. Every day a new expert is telling us what we should and shouldn’t eat. We have a food obsession, but no one seems happy: either they want to gain weight or lose weight.

Food Tomorrow

Picture a future America where everyone is so obese that people can barely do anything for themselves. It’s a place where little obese kids join their big obese parents eating fast-food out of a straw. Technology has replaced exercise or any physical exertion. Doors are wider, chairs are reinforced, and XXL is the most popular clothing size. That’s exactly how Disney forecast us in the blockbuster movie Wall-E. They point 700 years into the future, however, a recent study [8] said “If these trends continue, more than 86 percent of adults will be overweight or obese by 2030.” The economic burden of healthcare costs associated with this looming crisis will bankrupt us in our lifetime.

The good news is that it is 100% reversible. Listen closely to the next part of this message. Inshallah, I’ll share two very simple recommendations from the Prophet Muhammad (S).

A cool ou koule hadha, astaghfirullahe wallkum, astaghfiruhu innahu wal-Ghafur rur-Raheem.

[sit]

Alhamdolillah, summa alhamdolillah. Amma baadh.

By the Grace of the Creator, I am fortunate enough to travel alot. I’ve been in and out of the country to some exotic places. My students have asked if I get Culture Shock. The answer is a resounding ‘Yes.’ I get Culture Shock every time I enter the US. I’m amazed at the obesity here. You see it in the airports, on the trains, and in the shops. Recently at Super Wal-Mart, there was a long line of very heavy people waiting for electric carts. That is Culture Shock.

Have you ever attended the Janazah of someone very obese? The bodies cannot be washed in regular facilities. They cannot be driven in the regular Suburbans because the casket is too big. The prayers are held outside next to the U-Haul truck. People can’t shoulder and walk the body to the grave. Instead, a crane is used. That is Culture Shock.

I want to challenge all of us to change our relationship with food.

The One-plate Rule

I challenge you and your family to eat from a common plate. Most of us have abandoned this wonderful practice, but it’s a part of the sacredness of meal times. It forces people to interact and creates bonds. The Prophet (S) always preferred to eat from a common plate. He (S) said, “All of you eat together and do not break up.” [6]

The One-Plate Rule is something that we recommend for couples. My wife and I have been married for more than ten years and we have been practicing the One-plate Rule since our wedding day. Something amazing always happens: We can never finish the food! If we order individually, we finish everything; but when we share the same plate, we end up taking it home. The only explanation is barakah (blessings). When you share a plate, Allah puts more barakah in that food—so much, in fact, that you will not be able to finish the food, yet you will get full and filled with energy. Have the leftovers packed nicely and give them to a homeless person – look at the blessings spilling over.

Before I give you the next challenge, I want to share an outstanding resource. There are lots of cookbooks, websites, and programs, but one small book titled ‘Food Rules’ by Michael Pollan is easy to digest. He offers a few very simple, very sensible food rules such as: Avoid foods you see advertised on TV (#11), It’s not food if it arrived through the window of your car (#20), and Don’t eat breakfast cereals that change the color of the milk (#36).

The (Seemingly Impossible) Seven-bite Challenge

This next challenge will define how strong you are; Stop eating before you are full. The Prophet (S) said, “The son of Adam fills no vessel more displeasing to Allah than his stomach. A few morsels should be enough for him to preserve his strength. If he must fill it, then he should allow a third for food, a third for drink, and leave a third empty for easy breathing.” [7]

This is what we teach children in Sunday School: Every child gets a paper plate and then they take a marker and split the plate into thirds. Then they take their plates to the lunch room and put food only into one of the little sections.

I know that this sounds like a nice theory. We usually use a third for meat, a third for rice, and a third for salad. Then we pour the curry and yogurt on top and pack it down with the bread. Here is another theory: two-thirds of the people that continuously eat like this will get Diabetes.

Don’t just stop eating before you are full. The challenge is to come to dinner with a Sharpie marker in your hand. Take the Seven-Bite Challenge: Eat seven bites (a “few morsels”), drink your water, and wait ten minutes. It takes the stomach ten minutes to tell your brain to slow down. If you are still hungry after the seven bites, a drink of water, and waiting ten minutes…then get back in line for seconds.

This is not a diet plan. This whole message is a simple explanation of a very simple verse: “Wa ku-lu wash-rabuu wa laa tusrifuu. ‘Innahu la Yuhibbul Musrifeen”. Eat and drink, but don’t waste anything. Allah doesn’t like those who waste. [7:31].

We began with the story of the Pepenadores. The people who live on the trash dump in Mexico City. If you do nothing else today, just Google the word ‘Pepenadores’, and look at the pictures. Then when you sit down to eat, the ‘Bismillah’ will erupt out of your heart first before any food reaches your lips. Our challenge is to get more blessings from the food we eat (not more calories). That requires us all to start looking at food differently.

How strong are we as a community? Real strength cannot be measured in a gym. A man’s true strength is his ability to control his hands. His ability to control his eyes. His ability to control his tongue. His ability to control his stomach.

Dr. Abdul-Hakim Jackson said, “You gotta tell your nafs, ‘I’m in charge up in here. You eat when I say you eat. You sleep when I say you sleep.’ You gotta tell your nafs that.”

Innal-lahu wa Malaaikatuhu yassaloona alan-Nabi

Yaa aiyuhal latheena aamanoo, salloo alaihy, wa sallimou tasleema

Allahumma Salli ‘Ala Muhammad, wa ‘Ala alee Muhammad,

Kama sallaita ‘Ala Ibrahima wa ‘ala alee Ibrahim

Fil ‘alameena innaka hamidun Majeed.

Oh Allah, help us to remember that food is a gift. Help us be grateful.

Oh Allah, don’t let us be preoccupied with food and drink.

Oh Allah, don’t let it be the center of our relationships, our holidays, our homes, our lives.

Instead, Oh Allah, help us get more blessings from what we do eat and drink.

Give us the strength to control our hands, our eyes, our tongues, and our appetites.

Ya Aqeemas salati yarhumukumullah.

A growing record of 25 million people in the US are on diets. Although this message is not intended to add to that record, it does seem to evoke sensitive personal identities and self-image psychology. Feeling fat has nothing to do with being fat. Regardless of what a person weighs, when they feel fat, then they think that being loved and accepted has everything to do with a particular size. Their internal monologue is harsh and cruel. Some diets are like having an abusive parent stuck inside your head. Long-lasting change needs kindness, curiosity, a willingness to act, and trust in the Creator. See Geneen Roth’s books for more.