OverIndulgence and UnderNourishment

All praise is due to our Nourisher and Sustianer and may His choicest salutations continue to descend upon our Master and Leader Mohammad r. O Mankind! Partake of what is lawful and wholesome on earth and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitaan, for he is to you an avowed enemy. (2:168)

You are what you eat

We have ve all heard the old adage you are what you eat, but have you ever stopped to think exactly how true that is? The food that we eat has a bearing on our state of mind and health. Food affects every aspect of our being: our mood, energy levels, food cravings, thinking capacity, sleeping habits and general health.

n days gone by, people lived off the land; they grew their own crops and slaughtered their own animals. People prepared their own foods and used ingredients from the garden. However, this has changed over a period of time, we now no longer live of the land but live of the supermarket shelves. We have moved from eating organically produced fresh foods, to processed foods, frozen foods, fast foods and to genetically modified foods.

Over-Indulgence
"Eat and drink, but avoid excess." (20:81) Eating excessively causes harm to our system. Many ailments are related to uncontrolled eating habits such as, diabetes, vascular diseases, stroke, heart attack etc. Over indulgence and wasting of food are further dissuaded in the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him): '"No human being has ever filled a container worse than his own stomach. The son of Adam needs no more than a few morsels of food to keep up his strength, doing so he should consider that a third of his stomach is for food, a third for drink and a third for breathing." (Ibn Majah)

Processed Foods
The canning, freezing and dehydrating techniques used to process food destroys much of its natural flavours, texture, smell and taste. To make up for this loss in processed foods the industry now uses flavours, aromas, additives, sweeteners and fats that are either manufactured chemically or extracted from plants or animals, to create a particular taste, smell or to provide for longer shelf life. One single flaovour may contain about 150-200 chemical ingredients. Today, nearly six thousand additives and chemicals are used by food companies to process our food. Many of them can have a devastating effect on our health. The trouble is not just what is added to our foods, but also with what is taken away. Processed foods are often stripped of nutrients designed by nature to protect your heart, such as soluble fiber, antioxidants, and "good" fats.

Halaal and Tayyib

O Mankind! Partake of what is lawful and wholesome on earth and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitaan, for he is to you an avowed enemy. (2:168) Lawful is defined as food that is permissible according to Islamic law. Wholesome means food that is pure, nutritious and safe. We are commanded not only to eat what is lawful and wholesome but also prohibited from following the footsteps of Shaitaan. Following the footsteps of Shaitaan in the context of food includes eating the prohibited, the impure, the unhealthy, the injurious as well as eating excessively, greedily and extravagantly. This verse not only relates to the preservation of a human being's physical well- being, but also to his spiritual health. Why is it that despite the most advanced medical technology, the fact that we have more doctors, therapists, nutritionists, diet experts and diet books than ever before, we are seeing an alarming escalation in disease! Could it be related to the type of food we eat, our eating habits and the amount of food we consume? May Allah bless us with an inclination to all that is pure and wholesome and with the aversion for all that is foul and impure.

Globalization
In a world that is becoming increasingly borderless, raw materials are used by food manufacturers from all over the globe, processed and packaged in various locations and then distributed into global markets. A recent study in the USA found that a burger on sale in a fast food chain has ingredients that come from 54 different countries. (World Halal Forum)

Fraud
As the horse meat scandal rages in Europe, top local researchers have found fraudulent meat products across South Africa. The study found that anything from soya, donkey, goat and water buffalo was found in up to 68 percent of the minced meats, burger patties, deli meats, sausages and dried meats that were tested. Our study confirms that the mislabelling of processed meats is commonplace in South Africa and not only violates food labelling regulations but also poses economic, religious, ethical and health impacts, said Prof. Louw Hoffman of the Department of Animal Sciences.

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Potential Risks
There are three potential sources of risks to the food we eat:

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1. Hygiene: The risks associated with handling, processing and preparing food. 2. Fraud: The mislabeling of food ingredients 3. Chemicals: The ever growing use of chemicals in processed foods

Est. 1923 as Jamiatul Ulama Transvaal