Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Sixth Fascicle

Imâm Abû Yûsuf, it is permissible to silently blow on it. It is
makrûh never to talk when eating. It is a habit of fireworshippers.
Pleasant chats should be had. It is sunnat and healthful to start and
finish eating. [The sunnat will have been performed if the first and
last morsels taken consist of bread and the niyyat is made for the
salt in the bread.]
It is sunnat to lick the fingers before washing them or wiping
them with a piece of cloth (after a meal).
It is written in the book entitled Shir’at-ul-islâm that learning
the knowledge of eating and drinking takes priority over learning
the knowledge of worship. It is sunnat to add some barley into
bread made with wheat; it yields a lot of barakat to do so. One of
the earliest bid’ats that appeared in Islam is to eat until becoming
fully satiated. It causes vexation in the heart to eat meat daily.
Angels do not like a person who does so. Eating little meat, on the
other hand, causes moral corruption. It is commendable to eat
sitting on a blanket spread out on the ground. The blanket is
preferrably made of leather. Eating on a handkerchief was the
custom of ancient Persians. It is very good vegetables. A meal
table that does not contain any vegetable food is like an old
dotard. Imâm Ja’fer Sâdiq stated: “If a person wants to have plenty
of property and many children, he should eat vegetable food!”
First you must sit at the table, and the food must be brought in
thereafter. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “I
am a quls (born slave of Allâhu ta’âlâ). Like (other) quls, I eat
sitting on the ground.” You must not eat before becoming hungry,
you should stop eating before becoming fully satiated, you should
not laugh unless there is something laughable, and you should not
sleep during the day [any longer than the (forenoon siesta called)
Qaylûla, which is sunnat]. It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “The
source of all goodnesses is hunger. The source of all evils is (the
state of) satiatedness.” The more ravenously hungry a person, the
stronger flavour will he get from what he eats. The state of being
satiated causes forgetfulness. It makes the heart blind and, like
alcoholic beverages, it impairs the blood. Hunger cleanses one’s
mind and brightens one’s heart. You should not eat or drink with
fâsiq [wicked] people. Boiling food should be cooled down with a
cover on it. You should eat (no more than) twice a day; once in the
morning, and one in the evining. It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
“Eat with your right hand. Drink with your right hand.” It is
sunnat to eat with three fingers. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi
wa sallam’ would take bread with his right hand and eat the water-
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