A worldview approach to the subject of food and eating from an Islamic perspective taking into consideration the prevailing general outlook shared by most people in today’s world. There is an urgent need for more education regarding our beliefs and practices surrounding food. Our future and the survival of our planet may well depend on it.

In the recent wonderful animated film, Over the Hedge, R.J the raccoon utters a profound truth: “For humans, everything is about food!” Food does indeed seem to consume us just as much as we do it—in its absence as strongly as in its presence. We wake up thinking of food (I will eat such and such, but what if it is gone?!!!).

We exercise—to make room for more food. We take pills—when too much food makes us feel bad. We celebrate with food—after we have had a good week of dieting. We have extended, elaborate meals, but eat on the run, just to keep us going—between those extended, elaborate meals. There are foods we eat to make our skin look better, to make our hearts healthier, to give us instant energy, to help us wake up, to make us go to sleep. We even eat foods to make us stop eating or to “burn up” what we just ate. So it seems our little cartoon raccoon is not so far off the mark.

Once upon a time, in a faraway land called Paradise, for the whole of humanity, the Shari’ah comprised exactly one solitary law: You shall not come near this [single] tree [to eat of its fruit] [2:35]. How telling that the first divine commandment to man was in relation to eating! Amid all the glory of Heaven, the perfectly delectable within its gates, with limitless access to everything edible, there was one forbidden food—and we could not resist. I say “we” because this was an undeniably human act—and not one of us would have responded differently and, more importantly, because the desire for food unlocks the door to the sensual nature of man, rather throws it wide open in welcome
to our other consuming desires—which is why food and eating must be well understood and closely regulated.