250325P - CONTROL OF FOOD APPETITE: AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Presented at a workshop on Integration of knowledge in Basic Medical Sciences at the University of Science and Technology, Gaziantep, Turkiye, Tuesday, 25th March 2025 by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard), DrPH (Harvard)

 

1.0 RAMADHAN AS A PERIOD OF PRACTICAL TRAINING WITH LONG-TERM EFFECTS

• Ramadhan is training in self-control and not denial of the 2 most powerful appetites in humans: food and sex.
• Training for a month out of 11, Training repeated every year.
• Forgiveness of sins after Ramadhan because of the empowerment due to self-control training

 

2.0 STATES OF SATIETY, maraatib al ghadha

• Satiety can be described in three states: the necessary, dharurat; the needed, haajat; and the excess, fadhl.
• Dharurat is the minimum nutritional intake necessary to maintain health in the best status. It represents the balance between excessive and too little intake.
• Haajat is intake that is more than dharurat but which prevents the feeling of hunger. It is, however, recommended not to eat to full satisfaction, shaba’u.
• Fadhl is the excess intake beyond the need.

 

3.0 CONTROL OF APPETITE BY IMAN

• The etiquette of eating is determined by the underlying vision or belief
• There is a difference in attitude to feeding behavior between the believer and the non-believer
• The believer eats to get energy for ibadat. The non-believer may eat for enjoyment or to get energy for evil.
• The Prophet described Muslims as a community who ideally eat only when hungry and who do not fill their bellies when they eat, nahnu qawmu la na akul hatta najuu’u wa idha akalna fala shabi’ina.
• There is blessing in the food of the believer; he gets satisfied easily. The non-believer has to eat more food to get satisfaction.
• The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in a very revealing hadith, mentioned that a believer eats in one stomach, whereas a non-believer eats in 7 stomachs. This means that a believer is satisfied with less food than a non-believer.

 

4.0 CONTROL OF APPETITE BY FASTING

• Both obligatory, fardh, and non-obligatory, nafilat, fasting help in controlling excess intake.
• Many opportunities for non-obligatory fasting: every 3 days, every Monday and Thursday, every other day, special days like Arafat and Ashurat.
• Recent scientific research on intermittent fasting demonstrates the health benefits of non-obligatory fasting.
• The fasting person takes and absorbs less food in a day than a non-fasting one.
• Fasting is also training in appetite control during the ensuing non-fasting period. If you can voluntarily get hungry, you can control the urge for excess food.
• The concept of hunger has been distorted from being a warning signal of hypoglycemia in the hours to come to being a need that must be addressed by immediate food intake.
• Psychological hunger is felt when it is the regular time of eating, although there is no physiological hunger.

 

5.0 THE PRINCIPLE OF EQUILIBRIUM, MIZAN, IN NUTRITION

• Satiety is the desire to stop eating further because of feeling satisfied,. It is controlled by the hypothalamus.
• Eating causes a rise in body temperature that signals to the hypothalamus to activate the satiety mechanisms.
• The distension of the stomach during a meal also sends signals that activate satiety.
• High blood sugar and high lipid levels may also cause satiety.
• Emotional and psychological factors also control satiety.
• In normal circumstances the above negative feedback mechanisms can keep food ingestion within physiologically acceptable levels.
• However human will is able to overrule normal physiological control mechanisms. The body may crave more food, but a strong will can overrule it. In the same way, the will can cause stopping feeding even before satiety is reached.
• Overeating or under-eating due to the action of the human will can be the basis for malnutrition and human disease.

 

6.0 THE DISEASE OF OVER-NUTRITION

• The diseases of over-nutrition are obesity, diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, and atherosclerosis. These diseases are more common in the rich countries with a higher prevalence of over-nutrition.
• The prophet taught the rule of the thirds (Musnad Ahmad) as a guide for food intake: one third for solid food, one third for water, and one third for air.
• The Prophet also taught that Muslims are a community who do not eat until they are hungry and when they eat, they do not fill their belly.
• Ibn al Qayim defined three levels of food: necessary, hajat, sufficient, kifayat, and excess, fadhlat. The necessary amount of food is that necessary for maintenance of life and health. The sufficient is more than the necessary and satisfies the psychological desire for food. The excess is what is beyond the body's needs and is harmful to health.
• Early man in agricultural societies could use up all the food ingested because of the hard physical work of looking for food and ensuring the necessities of life.
• A sedentary man in the modern industrial society still eats the same number of meals as early man, without the same amount of physical work, with the result that obesity develops.

 

7.0 OBESITY

• Fatness, sumn, was mentioned in the Qur'an in relation to animals being fed well and getting fat[i]. In a hadith reported by Aisha, the Prophet described obesity as one of the signs of social degradation.
• The Qur'an described some food as fattening, whereas other food is not.
• Obesity is a deviation from homeostasis.
• Obesity could be caloric or genetic; there is an interaction between the two forms. Caloric obesity develops when energy intake exceeds energy expenditure. In that situation, the equilibrium between lipolysis and lipid storage is shifted in favor of storage. There is an accumulation of fat. This affects androgen and estrogen metabolism. Atheroma and physical disabilities also develop.

 

8.0 CONTROLLING OWN APPETITE WHILE FEEDING THE NEEDY

• The Qur’an emphasized the virtues of giving food to the needy.
• The prophet taught the virtue of feeding others, especially the hungry. This can take any of the following forms: sadaqat, kaffaarat, zakat al maal, and zakaat al fitr.
• The prophet taught the virtue of sharing food when he said that the food of one suffices for 4.
• He also taught that food not needed should be given to the needy
• Satisfaction of hunger of those in need and thus preventing both psychological and physiological distress is emphasized by Islam. 
• Giving water to the thirsty, human or animal, is emphasised.

 

NOTE:

[i]  12:43, 12:46, 51:26