Life-of-Muhammad

198Life of Muhammad saTHE PROPHET'S sa SIMPLE LIFEThe Prophet sa was extremely simple in the matter offood and drink. He never expressed displeasure with illpreparedor ill-cooked food. If he could eat such food hewould do so to save the person who had prepared itfrom disappointment. If, however, a dish was uneatable,he merely refrained from partaking of it and neverexpressed his disapproval of it. When he sat down to ameal he paid attention to the food placed before him andused to say that he did not like an attitude ofindifference towards food as if the person eating wasabove paying attention to mere matters of food anddrink. When any eatable was presented to him healways shared it with those present. On one occasionsomebody presented him with some dates. He lookedround and after making an estimate of the number ofpeople present divided the dates equally among them,each of them receiving seven. Abu Huraira ra relates thatthe Holy Prophet sa never ate his fill even of barley bread(Bukhari).On one occasion while he was passing along a roadhe noticed some people gathered round a roast kid readyto enjoy the feast. When they saw the Holy Prophet sathey invited him to join them, but he declined. This wasnot due to his not having a liking for roast meat but tothe fact that he did not approve of people indulging in afeast in the open where they could be observed by poorpeople who had themselves not enough to eat. It isrelated of him that on other occasions he did partake ofroast meat. ‘A’isha ra has related that the Holy Prophet sadid not, till the day of his death, on any occasion, eat hisfill on three consecutive days. He was very particularthat a person should not go to a meal in anotherperson's house uninvited. On one occasion somebodyinvited him to a meal and requested that he might bringfour other persons with him. When he arrived at thehouse of his host he found that a sixth person had alsojoined his party. The host came to the door to receive