Adab al-Akl
- Author died
- 808 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyyah
Adab al-Akl (The Etiquette of Eating), also referred to as Risālah fī Ādāb al-Akl or Ādāb al-Ṭaʿām, is a treatise on Islamic dining manners and mealtime legal rulings by the Egyptian Shafi'i jurist Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn 'Imad al-Aqfahasi (d. 808 AH / 1405 CE) .
Structure and Content
The work is structured as a didactic poem followed by the author's own prose commentary and legal explanations . Al-Aqfahasi opens the text with verses praising God, followed by an introductory linguistic and theological discussion on the distinction between ḥamd (praise) and shukr (gratitude), emphasizing that divine blessings must be met with acts of obedience .
The treatise then systematically examines the etiquette and legal rulings of consuming food and beverages, addressing:
- Pre-meal preparations: The recommendation to wash one's hands prior to eating without drying them with a towel, lest dust or impurities from the towel stick to the hands and contaminate the food . It also discusses the precedence of young boys washing before elders prior to the meal—because children's hands are more prone to dirt and available water might run out—whereas after the meal, elders take precedence .
- Postures and manner of eating: The disapproval of eating while reclining or lying flat, noting the prophetic practice of sitting with humility, such as resting upon the left foot while raising the right knee .
- Use of the hand and sharing food: The propriety of eating with three fingers when consuming solid food, citing the disapproval transmitted by Shafi'i scholars regarding eating with one or two fingers out of pride or arrogance . It outlines the requirement to eat from what is directly in front of the diner, excepting diverse platters of fruit where one may reach across, and details the prohibition against qirān (eating two dates simultaneously) when sharing a bowl, along with its exceptions .
- Drinking: Etiquettes of drinking water, such as pausing for three breaths, reciting the basmalah before each sip and praising God after, alongside the medical virtues of sipping rather than gulping water, and the distinct recommendation regarding milk .
- Invocations and closures: The supplications associated with dining, including the recommendation noted from al-Aqfahasi to follow the meal with blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ .
Sources and Reception
In compiling the work, al-Aqfahasi drew upon prophetic hadiths, legal rulings from the Shafi'i tradition—referencing authorities such as al-Shafi'i and al-'Abbadi—and classical spiritual literature, incorporating material from Abu Hamid al-Ghazali's Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn .
The treatise served as a practical reference for subsequent scholars on the subject of dining ethics. The Damascene historian and scholar Ibn Tulun (d. 953 AH) drew extensively upon al-Aqfahasi's verses and legal insights from Adab al-Akl when composing the dining sections of his banquet treatise Faṣṣ al-Khawātim fīmā Qīla fī al-Walāʾim .
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