In the name of allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful What is sin in Islam?

Sunna wa'l Jama'a

Now if we are supposed to follow the Sunna of the Prophet (saws), then what about his culinary habits? Should we not emulate these too or is that too hard - after all, said Umar (ra), meat is addictive like khamr!

A complete month would pass by during which we would not make a fire (for cooking), and our food used to be only dates and water unless we were given a present of some meat. (Bukhari 8.465 Aisha)

A tailor invited Allah's Apostle to a meal which he had prepared. I went with Allah's Apostle to that meal, and the tailor served the Prophet with barley bread and soup of gourd and cured meat. I saw Allah's Apostle picking the pieces of gourd from around the dish, and since then I have kept on liking gourd. (Bukhari 7.350) Anas. Anas is quoted in Muslim (5068) as saying "Allah's messenger (may peace be upon him) ate that pumpkin with relish...it was since then that pumpkin was always my favourite". Incidentally that tailor was a slave, see Bukhari 7.346)

There was a woman amongst us who had a farm and she used to sow silq (a kind of vegetable) on the edges of streams in her farm. On Fridays she used to pull out the silq from its roots and put the roots in a utensil. Then she would put a handful of powdered barley over it and cook it. The roots of the silq were a substitute for meat. After finishing the Jumua prayer we used to greet her and she would give us that food which we would eat with our hands, and because of that meal, we used to look forward to Friday. (Bukhari 2.60 & 3.539 Sahl bin Sad and 8.265 Abu Hazim)

The Prophet stayed for three days at a place between Khaibar and Medina, and there he consummated his marriage with Safiyya bint Huyay. I invited the Muslims to a banquet which included neither meat nor bread. The Prophet ordered for the leather dining sheets to be spread, and then dates, dried yogurt and butter were provided over it, and that was the walima (banquet) of the Prophet. (Bukhari 7.89 & 5.524 Anas)

Allah's Apostle used to love sweet edible things and honey. (Bukhari 7.342 Aisha)

I saw Allah's Apostle eating fresh dates with snake cucumber. (Bukhari 7.351 'Abdullah bin Ja'far bin Abi Talib)

The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) used to eat melon with fresh dates, and he used to say: The heat of the one is broken by the coolness of the other, and the coolness of the one by the heat of the other. (Abu Dawud 3827 Aisha)

The Prophet died when we had satisfied our hunger with the two black things, i.e. dates and water. (Bukhari 7.295 Aisha)

We were in the company of Anas whose baker was with him. Anas said, The Prophet did not eat thin bread, or a roasted sheep till he met Allah (died). (Bukhari 7.297 & 8.464 Qatada)

Nor did the Companions (raa) eat a lot of meat:

Abu Hurayra passed by a group of people in front of whom there was a roasted sheep. They invited him but he refused to eat and said, "Allah's Apostle left this world without satisfying his hunger even with barley bread." (Bukhari 7.325)

Yahya related to me from Malik from Yahya ibn Said from Sulayman ibn Yasar that Umar ibn al-Khattab led the people in the subh prayer and then went out to his land in Juruf and found semen on his clothes. He said, "Since we have been eating rich meat our veins have become fulsome." He did ghusl, washed the semen from his clothing, and did his prayer again. (Muwatta 2.84)

Allah's Apostle said, "A believer eats in one intestine (is satisfied with a little food), and a disbeliever or a hypocrite eats in seven intestines (eats too much)." (Bukhari 7.306 Ibn Umar)

So, it is an act of kufr (state of unbelief) to eat a lot - let alone eat a lot of meat! And there are other reasons for not eating meat: an important one being the barbaric practise of factory farming.

Care for animals

The Prophet (saws) as we know liked animals very much.

Malik related to me from Abu Ubayd, the mawla of Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik from Khalid ibn Madan who attributed it to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "Allah, the Blessed and Exalted is kind and loves kindness. He is pleased with it and helps you with it as long as it is not misplaced. When you ride dumb beasts, stop them in their stopping places, and quicken their pace when the land is barren. Travel by night, because the land is travelled faster at night than it is during the day. Beware of pitching tents on the road, for it is the path of animals and the abode of snakes." (Muwatta 54.38)

Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) forbade inciting animals to fight with one another. (Tirmidhi 4103 Abdullah ibn Abbas) Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud transmitted it.

We were with the Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) during a journey. He went to ease himself. We saw a bird with her two young ones and we captured her young ones. The bird came and began to spread her wings. The Apostle of Allah (peace be upon him) came and said: Who grieved this for its young ones? Return its young ones to it. He also saw an ant village that we had burnt. He asked: Who has burnt this? We replied: We. He said: It is not proper to punish with fire except the Lord of fire. (Abu Dawud 2669 Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, also reported by Abdul-Rahman ibn Abdullah, Abu Dawud 5248)

Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) was asked about the cleanliness of the cistern situated between Mecca and Medina and where the beasts, dogs and asses came down. He said: For them is that which they have taken into their bellies, we have what is left (from them) and it is pure. (Tirmidhi 488, Abu Said al-Khudri) Transmitted by Ibn Majah.

When a camel saw the Prophet (may peace be upon him) it wept tenderly producing yearning sound and its eyes flowed. The Prophet (may peace be upon him) came to it and wiped the temple of its head. So it kept silence. He then said: Whose camel is this? A young man from the Ansar came and said: This is mine, Apostle of Allah. He said: Don't you fear Allah about this beast which Allah has given in your possession? He has complained to me that you keep him hungry and load him heavily which fatigues him. (Abu Dawud 2543 Abdullah bin Ja'far)

A funeral procession passed by Allah's Apostle who said, "Relieved or relieving?" The people asked, "O Allah's Apostle! What is relieved and relieving?" He said, "A believer is relieved (by death) from the troubles and hardships of the world and leaves for the Mercy of Allah, while (the death of) a wicked person relieves the people, the land, the trees, (and) the animals from him." (Bukhari 8.519 Abu Qatada bin Rib'i Al-Ansari)