Healing from the Quran and Sunnah (part 4) – prophetic food

BySaania Bhatti

 

Let me give you just a snapshot of some of the foods that have a particular place in the Quran and Sunnah. I cannot go into all their nutritional properties because we would be here all day, but there are a few that are worth looking at.

Dates

Dates are an obvious place to start. The Prophet ﷺ said to Aisha رضي الله عنها:

يَا عَائِشَةُ بَيْتٌ لَا تَمْرَ فِيهِ جِيَاعٌ أَهْلُهُ

“O Aisha, a household in which there are no dates, its people will be hungry.”
(Sahih Muslim)

That tells you something about the importance of dates as a staple food at the time. They are energy-dense, contain fibre and provide a range of minerals. But dates also appear in one of the most extraordinary moments in the Quran, when Maryam عليها السلام is giving birth to Isa عليه السلام. Allah tells her:

وَهُزِّي إِلَيْكِ بِجِذْعِ النَّخْلَةِ تُسَاقِطْ عَلَيْكِ رُطَبًا جَنِيًّا

“And shake the trunk of the palm tree towards you; it will drop fresh, ripe dates upon you.”
(Surah Maryam, 19:25)

There has actually been some research into eating dates towards the end of pregnancy. Studies have suggested possible benefits for cervical ripening and some aspects of labour, although the evidence is still limited and I would not turn that into a blanket recommendation that dates will induce labour.

Another practice mentioned in the Sunnah is nabidh. This was made by soaking dates or raisins in water and drinking the liquid before it fermented to the point of becoming intoxicating. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said that they would prepare it in the morning and the Prophet ﷺ would drink it in the evening, or prepare it at night and he would drink it in the morning. It is very simple to make.

Honey

Then there is honey, which we have already mentioned because Allah says:

يَخْرُجُ مِن بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ فِيهِ شِفَاءٌ لِّلنَّاسِ

“From their bellies comes a drink of varying colours, in which there is healing for people.”
(Surah al-Nahl, 16:69)

Honey has a long history of use in medicine, and this is one area where some traditional use has found its way into modern clinical practice. Medical-grade honey is used in certain types of wound care, although that is quite different from simply taking a jar of kitchen honey and putting it on a wound. Clinical trials have investigated specially prepared medical honey dressings, with evidence of benefit in some settings.

People also talk about honey for allergies, eczema and gut health. It is a beautiful food mentioned in the Quran, and it has genuine medicinal properties.

Talbina

Then we have talbina, a barley-based porridge. This is one of my favourites because the hadith is so lovely. Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) would prepare it when somebody was ill or grieving, and she said that she heard the Prophet ﷺ say:

التَّلْبِينَةُ مَجَمَّةٌ لِفُؤَادِ الْمَرِيضِ، تَذْهَبُ بِبَعْضِ الْحُزْنِ

“Talbina soothes the heart of the sick person and relieves some of his sadness.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)

So there is something very interesting about Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) giving this warm, nourishing food to people after bereavement.

Barley itself is a whole grain and a good source of fibre, including beta-glucan. More broadly, we now have research showing that the overall quality of the diet can influence mental health, and dietary interventions rich in whole grains, vegetables and other minimally processed foods have improved depressive symptoms in some clinical trials.

Milk

On the Night Journey, the Prophet ﷺ was presented with milk and wine. He chose the milk, and Jibril said:

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي هَدَاكَ لِلْفِطْرَةِ

“Praise be to Allah who has guided you to the fitrah.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)

Milk therefore has a beautiful association with fitrah in the Sunnah. It is also, of course, the first food a baby receives through its mother.

Someone asked me whether I think adults should still drink milk. Yes, adults can drink milk. I do not think adults need milk in the way that growing children do, and some people lose a significant amount of lactase activity as they get older and therefore struggle with lactose. But dairy is a much wider category than simply drinking glasses of milk. Yoghurt, cheese and kefir can all be nutritious foods, and fermented dairy in particular is interesting because of its interaction with the gut microbiome. Human studies with fermented dairy have shown changes in gut microbial composition, although claims that kefir itself treats anxiety are ahead of the evidence at present.

What exactly is A2 milk?

A1 and A2 refer to variants of beta-casein, one of the proteins in cow’s milk. They are not different types of lactose.

There is some interesting research suggesting that people who experience digestive symptoms after drinking ordinary cow’s milk may find milk containing only A2 beta-casein easier to tolerate. Several small trials have found fewer gastrointestinal symptoms with A2-only milk, although the evidence is not consistent enough to say that A2 milk is inherently healthier for everyone.

Regular supermarket cow’s milk is not simply “A1 milk”. Depending on the cows in the herd, it may contain both A1 and A2 beta-casein. Jersey milk is not automatically A2 either, and neither is organic milk. If somebody specifically wants A2 cow’s milk, the reliable way to know is to buy milk that has been identified as A2.

Buffalo milk

Buffalo is interesting because studies looking at the beta-casein gene in water buffalo have found the A2A2 genotype. Goat’s and sheep’s milk also have different casein profiles from ordinary cow’s milk and some people find them easier to tolerate, although that is very individual.

But if you have a splash of ordinary milk in your tea every day and you digest it perfectly well, I really would not worry about this. There is no need to create a problem where there isn’t one.

Buffalo milk is quite rich, so the amount matters. A little milk in tea, some buffalo mozzarella or burrata occasionally is very different from consuming large quantities every day. As always, look at the whole diet rather than becoming anxious about one food.

Raw milk

I know there is an attraction to the idea of having milk in its most natural, unprocessed form. I sometimes drinks raw milk but I only get it from a reputable farm that tests for things such as TB. Pasteurised milk is in some ways a different product. But wearing my GP hat, I do need to be clear here: raw milk carries a risk of infection. It can contain organisms such as E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria and Campylobacter. That risk is particularly serious for pregnant women, young children, older people and anyone with a weakened immune system.

Pomegranate

Pomegranates are mentioned several times in the Quran. Allah says:

وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَنشَأَ جَنَّاتٍ مَّعْرُوشَاتٍ وَغَيْرَ مَعْرُوشَاتٍ وَالنَّخْلَ وَالزَّرْعَ مُخْتَلِفًا أُكُلُهُ وَالزَّيْتُونَ وَالرُّمَّانَ مُتَشَابِهًا وَغَيْرَ مُتَشَابِهٍ

“He is the One who produces gardens, both cultivated and wild, palm trees, crops of different flavours, olives and pomegranates, similar yet different.”
(Surah al-Anam, 6:141)

And in the description of Jannah:

فِيهِمَا فَاكِهَةٌ وَنَخْلٌ وَرُمَّانٌ

“In both will be fruit, palm trees and pomegranates.”
(Surah al-Rahman, 55:68)

From a nutritional point of view, pomegranates contain a range of polyphenols, and there has been interesting research into their effects on cardiovascular health. Some trials have shown reductions in blood pressure with pomegranate juice, although findings across studies have not always been consistent. There is also growing interest in compounds produced when our gut bacteria metabolise pomegranate polyphenols, such as urolithin A, particularly in relation to mitochondrial and muscle health.

Juice

If you eat the whole fruit, you are getting the fibre and the structure of the food. Juice removes much of that structure and makes it very easy to consume a large amount of carbohydrate quickly. That does not make juice “bad”, and some of the cardiovascular studies have actually used juice. But if somebody has type 2 diabetes or is struggling with glucose control, I would rather they did not spend the day drinking glasses of fruit juice.

A small amount with or after a meal is quite different from drinking a large glass on an empty stomach. There is also some evidence that eating vegetables and protein before the carbohydrate portion of a meal can blunt the post-meal glucose rise, and even a short walk after eating can help glucose regulation. So again, context matters.

Superfoods

That is probably the broader point I want to make about all these foods. We can become so focused on whether dates, honey, barley, milk or pomegranate are “superfoods” that we miss the bigger picture.

For most of human history, food required effort and patience. Somebody had to grow it, harvest it, prepare it and cook it. If you were roasting a piece of lamb, you waited for the lamb. You could not open an app and have six different meals arrive at the door twenty minutes later.

Our problem now is not usually lack of choice. It is the opposite. We have an extraordinary abundance of food, much of it ready to eat, heavily marketed and available at every moment of the day.

Alhamdulillah for abundance. But abundance requires its own kind of discipline.

We have to learn to choose well when almost everything is available to us.

Juice made from concentrate

If you drink juice, buy a good one. The main thing is to look at the ingredients and make sure you are actually buying 100 per cent juice rather than a juice drink with added sugar and other ingredients.

Being “from concentrate” does not mean it has never been near the fruit. It means that some of the water was removed during processing and added back later. Freshly pressed juice and juice from concentrate will not be nutritionally identical, and processing and storage can affect some nutrients, but I would not get too hung up on it.

Olives and olive oil?

Olives have a special place in the Quran. In Ayat al-Nur, Allah gives us the extraordinary parable of His light and describes the lamp as being lit:

يُوقَدُ مِن شَجَرَةٍ مُّبَارَكَةٍ زَيْتُونَةٍ لَّا شَرْقِيَّةٍ وَلَا غَرْبِيَّةٍ يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ وَلَوْ لَمْ تَمْسَسْهُ نَارٌ

“Lit from the oil of a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even without being touched by fire.”
(Surah al-Nur, 24:35)

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

ائْتَدِمُوا بِالزَّيْتِ وَادَّهِنُوا بِهِ فَإِنَّهُ مِنْ شَجَرَةٍ مُبَارَكَةٍ

“Use olive oil with your food and anoint yourselves with it, for it comes from a blessed tree.”
(Sunan Ibn Majah)

If I am buying olive oil, my preference is extra virgin olive oil. It retains more of the naturally occurring polyphenols than refined olive oil, and those polyphenols appear to contribute to some of its cardiovascular benefits. Olive oil consumption more generally is associated with better cardiovascular outcomes, and clinical studies suggest that the polyphenol-rich varieties can improve some cardiovascular risk markers.

You do not need to reserve extra virgin olive oil only for salad. It is reasonably heat-stable and can be used for most ordinary home cooking, including sautéing and roasting. Olive oil has also performed well under frying conditions compared with oils that are more susceptible to oxidation.

I would not, however, drink enormous quantities of it because somebody on the internet has told you it is medicinal. It is still an energy-dense fat. Use it generously enough to enjoy it, but within the context of a balanced diet.

Avocado oil

There is nothing wrong with avocado oil. If you like it and can afford it, use it. Personally, if I were choosing one oil to have in the kitchen, I would probably choose a good extra virgin olive oil because we have such a strong body of evidence around it and, for us, that beautiful connection with the Quran and Sunnah. Then eat the avocado as an avocado.

I want to keep emphasising this because food can become such a distraction. The benefit is not in finding one magical food. There is benefit in variety, in eating different plants, colours and textures, and in appreciating the extraordinary range of foods Allah has provided.

If we eat some of the foods specifically mentioned in the Quran or loved by the Prophet ﷺ, we can also attach a beautiful intention to that. We can eat them because we love him and want to keep something of his way of life present in our own homes. But that should not turn into anxiety about whether we have bought the perfect milk or the perfect olive oil.

Gourd or squash

We know authentically that the Prophet ﷺ liked gourd. Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) described eating with him and noticing that the Prophet ﷺ was picking out the pieces of gourd from around the dish. Anas said that from that day onwards, he himself loved gourd.

There is also a lovely Quranic connection with Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him). After Allah delivered him from the great fish, the Quran says:

فَنَبَذْنَاهُ بِالْعَرَاءِ وَهُوَ سَقِيمٌ ۝ وَأَنبَتْنَا عَلَيْهِ شَجَرَةً مِّن يَقْطِينٍ

“We cast him onto the open shore while he was sick, and We caused a gourd plant to grow over him.”
(Surah al-Saffat, 37:145–146)

I find that image very moving. Yunus (peace be upon him) did not simply emerge from the ordeal completely unaffected. Allah tells us that he was saqim, unwell or exhausted, and then Allah caused this plant to grow over him.

Ginger

Ginger is zanjabil in the Quran. Allah mentions it among the drinks of Jannah:

وَيُسْقَوْنَ فِيهَا كَأْسًا كَانَ مِزَاجُهَا زَنجَبِيلًا

“There they will be given a drink mixed with ginger.”
(Surah al-Insan, 76:17)

Ginger has also been used medicinally in different cultures for a very long time. There is genuine research behind some of its gastrointestinal effects. It can influence gastric motility, and there is evidence for its use in certain forms of nausea.

Black seed

The famous black seed, habbat al-sawda, also known as Nigella sativa is one of the strongest and best-known prophetic references. The Prophet ﷺ said:

إِنَّ فِي الْحَبَّةِ السَّوْدَاءِ شِفَاءً مِنْ كُلِّ دَاءٍ إِلَّا السَّامَ

“Indeed, in the black seed there is healing for every disease except death.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari)

That is an extraordinary hadith, and Muslims have used black seed medicinally for centuries.

Modern research is also beginning to look seriously at Nigella sativa. Systematic reviews of clinical trials have found possible improvements in blood glucose and lipid profiles, although the studies vary considerably in their size, dose, preparation and quality

People use it in different ways. Some take the oil, some use the seeds, and some particularly turn to it when they are ill. Personally, I like the idea of simply having black seed in the kitchen and making it part of food rather than feeling that everything has to come in a supplement bottle.

I sometimes make a mixture of seeds and spices and add it to food. You might include black seed, fennel or fenugreek and use a little in curries, breads or other dishes. It is an easy way of increasing variety without making nutrition another job.

Vinegar

Another food mentioned in the Sunnah is vinegar. The Prophet ﷺ said:

فَإِنَّ الْخَلَّ نِعْمَ الأُدُمُ

“Vinegar is an excellent condiment.”
(Sahih Muslim)

Vinegar is such an ordinary, inexpensive food, which I quite like. We use it in dressings and with salads, and it is very easy to include in the diet.

You sometimes hear live or unfiltered vinegar described as a probiotic. Some varieties do contain living microorganisms, but not every unpasteurised vinegar has a proven probiotic effect.

What is better established is the effect of acetic acid on the glucose response to certain meals. Small human studies have shown that having vinegar with a carbohydrate-rich meal can reduce the rise in glucose afterwards, although the effect varies according to the meal and the individual. In one study involving people with type 2 diabetes, the benefit was seen with a high-glycaemic meal but not with a low-glycaemic one.

So there is something interesting there, but I would not turn it into another internet “hack” where everybody feels they now have to take vinegar before every meal. It is a condiment. Use it as part of food if you enjoy it. If somebody has diabetes, the bigger picture still matters far more than a spoonful of vinegar.

Water

Water appears throughout the Quran in so many different ways. It is connected with creation, life, purification and sometimes destruction. Allah says:

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنَ الْمَاءِ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ حَيٍّ

“And We made from water every living thing.”
(Surah al-Anbiya, 21:30)

And in the story of Ayyub (peace be upon him), water is directly connected with his recovery. Allah tells him:

ارْكُضْ بِرِجْلِكَ ۖ هَذَا مُغْتَسَلٌ بَارِدٌ وَشَرَابٌ

“Strike the ground with your foot. Here is cool water for washing and drinking.”
(Surah Sad, 38:42)

After his long illness, Allah provided water for him both to wash in and to drink. Again, we see healing through something extraordinarily simple.

Coffee

Coffee, of course, is not a prophetic food. It became widespread in the Muslim world many centuries later. Interestingly, when it became popular there was actually a debate among Muslim scholars over whether it was permissible. Some were concerned about its stimulating effects and the culture developing around coffee houses, while others argued that it was not intoxicating and therefore should not be treated like alcohol. Eventually its permissibility became widely accepted.

Coffee also became associated in some Muslim communities with staying awake for worship and study. So it has an interesting history, even though I would not call it a Sunnah drink.

Someone once said to me that if you are going to have your coffee, have it with a good intention. If it gives you some energy to work, learn or worship, then use that energy well. I liked that idea.

And really that illustrates the point I keep trying to make. It is not simply, “Is coffee good or bad?” What is it doing to you?

If you drink coffee and it makes you jittery, increases your anxiety or means that you cannot sleep at night, then it may not be serving you particularly well. On the other hand, moderate coffee consumption has repeatedly been associated with lower rates of several adverse health outcomes and lower all-cause mortality in observational studies. That does not prove that coffee itself makes you live longer, but the overall evidence is far more reassuring than people once thought.

There is even interesting newer research showing a strong association between coffee consumption and particular patterns within the gut microbiome. Again, fascinating, but not a reason to start drinking six coffees a day.

Timing matters. Dose matters. Your own response matters. That is the point.

And this whole discussion of blessed foods has to sit within the principles we have already spoken about: halal, tayyib and moderation. There is little point becoming fascinated by dates, honey, olive oil and black seed if the overall way we eat is excessive or unhealthy.

Delivered by Dr Saania Bhatti to the Al Manaar Convert Club on 11th August 2026.

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