Sunan at-Tirmidhī Ḥadīth [2380] – The worst container a human can fill…

24 September 2022 · 28 Ṣafar 1444 AH

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حَدَّثَنَا سُوَيْدُ بْنُ نَصْرٍ قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنَا عَبْدُ اللّٰهِ بْنُ المُبَارَكِ قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ عَيَّاشٍ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنِي أَبُو سَلَمَةَ الحِمْصِيُّ، وَحَبِيبُ بْنُ صَالِحٍ، عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ جَابِرٍ الطَّائِيِّ، عَنْ مِقْدَامِ بْنِ مَعْدِي كَرِبَ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ: >مَا مَلَأَ آدَمِيٌّ وِعَاءً شَرًّا مِنْ بَطْنٍ. بِحَسْبِ ابْنِ آدَمَ أُكُلَاتٌ يُقِمْنَ صُلْبَهُ، فَإِنْ كَانَ لَا مَحَالَةَ فَثُلُثٌ لِطَعَامِهِ وَثُلُثٌ لِشَرَابِهِ وَثُلُثٌ لِنَفَسِهِ<

حَدَّثَنَا الحَسَنُ بْنُ عَرَفَةَ قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا إِسْمَاعِيلُ بْنُ عَيَّاشٍ، نَحْوَهُ، وَقَالَ المِقْدَامُ بْنُ مَعْدِي كَرِبَ: عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ، وَلَمْ يَذْكُرْ فِيهِ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى: هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ.

Reference

Book [36]: Chapters on zuhd [asceticism]
Chapter [47]: What has been related about it being disliked to eat much

Translation

Ḥadīth [2380]: It is narrated on the authority of Miqdām bin Ma’dī Karib ^{[d. 87H]} (may Allāh be pleased with him) that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) saying: “The human does not fill any container that is worse than his stomach. It is sufficient for the son of Ādam to eat what will support his back. If this is not possible, then a third for food, a third for drink, and third for his breath.”

(Another chain) “from al-Miqdām bin Ma’dī Karib from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him)” and he did not mention: “I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him).”

Abū ‘Īsā ^{[d. 279H]} said: This ḥadīth is ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.

Takhrīj

• Sunan ibn Mājah (3349)

• Musnad Aḥmad (17186 (28/422)) ^{[Shu’ayb al-Arna'ūṭ]}

• Musnad Aḥmad (17120 (13/294-295)) ^{[Aḥmad Shākir]}

• Musnad Shāmīn (1375-1376 (2/296) & 1946 (3/136))

• Musnad Shihāb (1340-1341 (2/271-272))

• Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (674 (2/449-450) & 5236 (12/41-42))

• Nasā'ī’s Sunan al-Kubrā (6737-6739 (6/268-269))

• Shu’ab al-Īmān (5260-5263 (7/446-448))

• Al-Mu’jam al-Kabīr (644-646 (20/272-274))

• Al-Mustadrak ‘alā aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥayn (7316 (8/98) & 8144 (8/671-672))

• Sharḥ as-Sunnah (4048 (14/249))

• Tārīkh ad-Dimashq (4952 (22/324-325) & 13064 (64/101-102))

• Ibn al-Mubārak’s az-Zuhd (603 (1/200-201))

• Ibn al-Mubārak’s ar-Raqā’iq (793 (1/629-630))

→ Non-primary books:

• Ṣaḥīḥ at-Targhīb (2135 (2/502))

• Kanzul ‘Ummāl (40870 (15/261))

• Al-Musnad al-Jāmi’ (11820-11822 (15/457-459))

• Tuḥfatul Ashrāf (11567 (8/216-217); 11575 (8/220) & 11578 (8/221))

• Siyar A’lām an-Nubalā' (8/326-327)

• ‘Umdatul Tafsīr ^{[Aḥmad Shākir]} (2/17)

• Bulūgh al-Marām (1274 (1/520-521))

• Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ (5192)

• Riyāḍuṣ Ṣāliḥīn (516)

• Al-Jāmi’ aṣ-Ṣaghīr ^[Suyūṭī] (8117 (1/496))

• Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmi’ (5674 (2/990))

• Irwā' al-Ghalīl (1983 (7/41-43))

• Silsilah Aḥādīth aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥah (2265 (5/336-338))

• Al-Jāmi’ al-Kāmil (4632 (6/740) & 15102 (17/705-706))

• Talkhīṣ al-Jāmi’ al-Kāmil (4632 (2/319-320) & 15102 (6/112))

• Jāmi’ al-‘Ulūm wal-Ḥikam (2/583)

• Jāmi’ al-Uṣūl (5480 (7/410))

Grading

• Ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh Al-Albānī (Sunan at-Tirmidhī (2380 (1/535-536)); Sunan ibn Mājah (3349 (1/563)); Ṣaḥīḥ at-Targhīb; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmi’ & Irwā' al-Ghalīl)

• Ṣaḥīḥ by Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr ‘Alī Za'ī (Sunan at-Tirmidhī (2380 (1/713-714)); Sunan ibn Mājah (3349 (1/611-612)) & Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ (5192 (3/172)))

• Ṣaḥīḥ by Majlis ‘Ilmi Dar ad-Da’wah, New Delhi (Sunan at-Tirmidhī (2380 (3/346)) & Sunan ibn Mājah (3349 (4/447-448)))

• Ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh Dr. Ḍiyā'-ur-Raḥmān al-‘Aẓamī (Al-Jāmi’ al-Kāmil)

• Ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh ‘Eṣām Mūsā Hādī (Jāmi’ al-Kabīr (2380 (1/722)) & Sunan ibn Mājah (3349 (1/555)))

• Isnād ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna'ūṭ (Jāmi’ al-Kabīr (2537 (4/391-392)) & Riyāḍuṣ Ṣāliḥīn (516 (1/186)))

• Isnād ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh Dr. Ḥamzah Zayn (Musnad Aḥmad (17120 (13/294-295)))

• Ḥadīth ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh Muḥammad bin ‘Alī bin Ādam al-Ithyūbī (Al-Baḥrul Muḥīṭ ath-Thajjāj fī-Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Imām Muslim bin al-Ḥajjāj (34/463))

• Ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh ‘Abdul-Qādir al-Arna'ūṭ (Jāmi’ al-Uṣūl)

• Ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ by Imām at-Tirmidhī

• Ḥasan by Imām as-Suyūṭī (Al-Jāmi’ aṣ-Ṣaghīr)

• Ḥadīth is ṣaḥīḥ with its routes (but this isnād is ḍa’īf) by Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna'ūṭ (Sunan ibn Mājah (3349 (4/448)))

• Ḥadīth is ḥasan by Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna'ūṭ (Sharḥ as-Sunnah)

• Isnād ḥasan by Mukhtār Aḥmad an-Nadwī (Shu’ab al-Īmān (5261 & 5263))

Commentary

Commentary by Dārussalām (Jāmi’ at-Tirmidhī)

Eating and drinking is not the be all and end all of man’s life. The main purpose of his creation is to offer his obeisance and obedience to Allāh. To perform this, he needs health of body, which is only possible if man keeps part of his stomach empty be leaving himself a little hungry after the meals. To constantly keep eating to one’s fill causes the stomach to go bad. Man, therefore, would be well advised to not always eat to his fill but only as much as is absolutely essential.

• Reference: [2380 (4/397), Jāmi’ at-Tirmidhī, Dārussalām (Eng)]

Commentary by Dārussalām (Sunan ibn Mājah)

❶ Overeating results in food not being digested and leaves the body without any benefit. So, one should eat only the amount that could be digested easily and benefit the body.
❷ The purpose of eating is only to stay alive. Hence, instead of wasting time in preparing formal and delicious dishes, one should spend his time in good and useful deeds.

• Reference: [3349 (4/366), Sunan ibn Mājah, Dārussalām (Eng)]

Commentary by Dārussalām (Bulūgh al-Marām)

This ḥadīth elaborates that extending one’s requirement concerning food (i.e., developing extremely dainty and fastidious tastes regarding culinary delicacies) is very much despised. This forms the basis of many religious and worldly vices.

• Reference: [1274 (1/520-521), Bulūgh al-Marām, Dārussalām (Eng)]

Commentary by Ḥāfiẓ Ṣalāḥuddīn Yūsuf (may Allāh have mercy upon him)

This ḥadīth dissuades us from overeating as this causes laziness and affects one’s health.

• Reference: [516 (1/458), Riyāḍuṣ Ṣāliḥīn, Dārussalām (Eng)]

Commentary by Shaykh Dr. Ḍiyā'-ur-Raḥmān al-‘Aẓamī (may Allāh have mercy upon him)

And in it is a warning against excessive eating in general, and specifically during the nights of Ramaḍān, because they are for worship and reciting the Qurān, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him): “Whoever stands [in prayer] during Ramaḍān with faith and hoping for Allāh’s reward, his past sins will be forgiven.” [Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (37); Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (759); and others.]

However, people have innovated types of food that were not known before, and they have become extravagant in preparing dishes at the expense of worship and reciting the Qurān. And Allāh is the One whose help is sought.

• Reference: [4632 (6/740), Al-Jāmi’ al-Kāmil]

Translated by Mohammed Manna (India)

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