Warning Against Excess in Food and Drink

The Shaykh : And beware of excess in food and drink, for people have turned Ramadan into a feast for the bellies. They have made it a feast for the bellies, not a feast for the hearts. They have no concern except to have on the table for iftar or for suhur things they have no need for. Some people have adopted a bad, innovative custom that has no basis in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger, nor in the practice of the Companions. They slaughter animals as if it were the Festival of Sacrifice. We ask Allah for well-being. The slaughter is for the Festival of Sacrifice. But they slaughter animals and make arrangements among themselves, with each day assigned to one person for a sacrifice and a meal. Perhaps some of the neighbors are poor and borrow this sacrifice, and they burden them with what is not required of them in the religion of Allah. Add to that that some people make these tables, which are intended only to fill the bellies, like charity. They say, "This is my father's dinner, this is my mother's dinner," and the like. Perhaps they wave their hands over the food and say, "O Allah, make it for my father and not for my mother." Where are we, O people? Where are we from the guidance of the righteous predecessors? Are we commanded to follow our desires? Or to follow the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger, the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the rightly guided Companions? The latter, without a doubt. Did the Companions do this? They did not. For this reason, I fear that if time passes for people, I fear they will make Ramadan like the Festival of Sacrifice, where sacrifices are slaughtered. Then, with the length of the period, people will say: "If one of you wants to slaughter a sacrifice and Ramadan has entered, he should not cut any of his hair or nails." We do not know! Perhaps they will apply the rulings of the sacrificial animals to these slaughters. But here is a point so that we are not blamed for what we say. If someone says, "I want to invite my neighbors to get to know each other, and I want to slaughter a sacrifice because it is more suitable for me than taking meat from the slaughterhouse," then there is nothing wrong with that. But for them to believe that the slaughter itself is better than buying meat, not because it is better, tastier, or more delicious, but because they see it as an act of worship to Allah, that is a religious innovation.