The Prophet Muhammad and the Stones Tied to Suppress Hunger
One day, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) led the Isha prayer in congregation at the mosque. After a little while, the congregation began to hear a creaking sound, especially when he moved to bow and prostrate. In their minds, the worshippers grew anxious, fearing that the Prophet might be shivering with illness. This is what they supposed.
After the prayer, Umar ibn al-Khattab asked him, ‘Are you ill, O Messenger of Allah?’ ‘No,’ replied the Prophet, ‘I am healthy and well.’ ‘But why, whenever you move to bow and prostrate, does a creaking sound emerge? Perhaps you are unwell?’ Umar asked again. ‘No. I am fit and well,’ the Prophet replied.
Nevertheless, the companions’ worry continued to grow. He then opened his cloak. The companions saw that he had bound his sunken stomach with a belt of cloth that was filled with small stones. He did this to suppress his hunger. It was the stones that produced the ‘kletak-kletik’ sound as he moved. Umar cried out, ‘O Messenger of Allah, how dishonourable we must seem in your eyes. Do you think that if you say you are hungry we would not be willing to offer you food?’ The Prophet shook his head and smiled.
‘Therefore, Umar,’ he said, ‘I know that you—the companions—love me very much. Yet, where shall I lay my face in front of Allah when, as a leader, I burden those I lead with hunger?’
Hearing this, the entire congregation fell silent. ‘Let me be hungry,’ the Prophet continued, ‘so that those behind me do not become so greedy that others go hungry.’
Wisdom of hunger
‘Fight your nafs with hunger and thirst, for indeed the reward in this is like the reward of waging jihad in the Path of Allah. There is no act more beloved to Allah than hunger and thirst.’ That Hadith from Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) may seem strange. How can hunger and thirst be the most beloved acts to Allah?
To understand it, first hunger is closely linked to nafs, the human self. In the spiritual journey (safar ruhaniy), the nafs often disturbs and deceives the traveler. For instance, the desire to eat can disrupt concentration and devotion during prayer. If a worshipper is full, they may usually feel reluctant and lazy.
That is why Luqman said to his son, ‘My son, if the stomach is full, the mind will sleep, wisdom will freeze, and the limbs will be reluctant to carry out worship.’ The stomach is a source of disease. Not only physical illnesses known in medicine, but also spiritual illnesses such as greed, laziness, a hard heart, love of the world, and the like.