Stop Wasting Food : Think Again !

Every day 1.5 million people sleep hungry every night. Around 1 hun-dred thousand people don't have enough clothes to protect them from the hardships of weather and over 3 million people don't not have access to clean drinking water all over the world. Whereas, when I look around in Pakistan, I see levels of poverty and hunger increasing each day passing. What has hurt me the most is the recent event of wedding here as, in this environment, I happened to attend a wedding very recently and finally decided to write about this cruel thing we do everywhere. Ever seen people desirous over food when they go somewhere? How their eyes are only set on their target the food trays? And how they take food ruthlessly and heartlessly? Well I protest against those kinds o' people. They take so much food which is way more than their eating capability. And I want to tell them that wasting food is Haram. Well here's what happened at the marriage ceremony which dismayed me the most because our country is hanging by a thread, scarcity is spreading like wild fire and here we are discarding the amount of food which can feed at least 3 or more individuals.

At first everything was usual. People talking, ladies gossiping but then as soon as everyone saw the waiters bring-ing in the dishes, one by one the guests went over the table and started picking up plates, forks and spoons. I whispered my mom that why are they doing this? Even she didn't know what was happening and then there it was, the waiters opened the lids and the invitees looking like a huge swarm of bees attacked the food in one big blow. I cannot explain you all what I saw. I have never seen anything so upsetting and disturbing. It really hurts me watching all this. Why people are so ignorant? Where is there humanity? It's really sad watching all of it. Can you believe that I was actually getting shoved here and there by all the ladies and their kids. When I finally got what I wanted I looked for beverages. Every table had two bottles of cold drink but our table didn't get any. The table next to ours had three big bottles. I decided to ask them if I could take one bottle but to my shock and horror they refused right on my face! They wasted so much food; they had their plates filled to the highest. Some of them even took so much salad that there was none left for others and the funny thing is they weren't even eating it.

It's not the fault of the host because they can't control this type of invitees; all they want is to have a happy crowd at the end of the day. I don't blame them. Every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted, guys just think about! If we can start saving food from our house and don't throw any in the garbage and instead give it to some-one maybe by practising this we can even put a stop to poverty. Yeah some of you might say that I think big but hey someone has to. If we all start doing this we can save so many hungry and poor people who die every day because they don't have anything to eat. Wasting food is the worst thing one can do. One can only dispose food that has rotted or it cannot be eaten by anyone. But if food is left, we should store it for future use or give it to any domestic animal i.e. cats, dogs etc. and the best way is to give away the left over to the poor and needy. In our Holy Quran, Allah says. "Indeed those who waste are the brothers of shaitaan (Satan).

Verily shaitaan (Satan) was most ungrateful to his Rabb (Allah)", (S:17, V:27). Even cleaning your plates and dishes after you have done eating and leaving not even a single or tiny bit of food is a good deed and you will surely get rewards for that. As our Holy Prophet (P.B.U.II) said: "The one who eats in a plate, then licks it clean (with his finger), the utensil seeks forgiveness for him". It is mentioned that the utensil prays for him in the words, "May Allah free you from the fire as you have freed me from shaitaan (Satan) by not leaving any food behind for shaitaan (Satan)." And it's not just weddings that we waste food, it's everywhere even our own house. I am not saying that I don't waste food at all but after what I saw at the wedding I was hit by selfrealization. Just think about it, we are so much blessed. We eat healthy food, we wear clothes which are 'in', we study in one of the best schools and we own nice cars, expensive accessories. We can never thank enough for it because it can never be enough. Now tell me, how many of you don't like vegetables? Well, about 50%of people don't like vegetables and often say bad for it but never speak ill for food. When our mothers, after putting a great amount of hard work in preparing the food and if you speak unpleasant of it that would hurt her feelings, which is decadent. Thus, if you like it eat it but if you don't like it then leave it with soft words without hurting anyone's feeling.

 Never leave leftover food in your plate because our Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) said: "You do not know which part of your food that carries the blessings."Allah blesses our food when we eat it, so only try to take what you can eat and don't leave food in your plate because you never know maybe that particular part is blessed. I really hope that I have made an impact on all of you out there reading this and I really want to change the habit of all the people who waste food intentionally or unintentionally. I have / started practising this good act and it really helps in many ways. Tell your family and friends about this so you can change person by person and who knows maybe some-day the whole world!