Heavenly Jewels

20. Bat'kat will be attained in the food, if all friends or family members gather together and eat. A little food will suffice for many people and therewill bc no wastage : Once, a few Sahaabah J,i;, submitted to the Holy Prophet � that they eat but their stomachs do not get filled. "You probably eat separately?" Rassoollalah � enquired, to which they said yes. He then advised, "Eat together and say Bismillah, Barkat will be attained." (Ibn-Majah) 2 1 . If there are a few people at a table spread then the most eldest and respected should commence eating, thereafter the next person, according to seniority and reverence. 22. Ifa fly falls in your food , submerge it entirely in it and then throw it away as ifs one wing has sickness and the other cure. It goes into the food with the wing of sickness first and saves the other. Hence it should be submerged entirely. (Hadeeth) Thinking the food in which a fly has fallen as dirty and throwing it away is Israaf (wastage) . This is absolutely not cleanliness but following the practice of the Christians. Who can be more cleaner than our beloved Prophet ftj.? 23 . After eating, the plate and fingers should be l icked so that nothing remains on them. Thinking doing so to be against mannerism is contrary to the sayings ofour Holy Prophet &i as a Hadeeth states, "Ifa person l i cks the plate after he has eaten from it, then it makes dua for him. It says, "Allah free you from the fire ofJahannamjust as how you have protected me from Shaitaan." Another nan'ation states that the plate makes Istighfaar for him. 24. Eating should be commenced with salt and terminated with it as well . Doing so removes severa l sicknesses. This i s when both salty and sweet items of food are present on the table spread. I f only items with salt are to be eaten, then to have something sweet afterwards is familiarly known to be the practice ofSayyidunaAl i �. 25 . After eating, Shukr should be made to Allah �. At this occasion, many duas have been narrated in the Ahadeeth but the most famous one 298