Question
I have read the following hadith in an article: “Why do not you eat “harisa?” There is the strength of forty men in this dish!” (Nasa’i)” I want to know the ingredients & recipe of Harisa with special context to the Prophet(PBUH) time.
Answer
All the variants of the ḥadīth about harisa and its merits are extremely unreliable. Therefore, it would not be proper to ascribe them to the Prophet (sws).
I would like you to appreciate that the Prophetic sayings regarding medicine are not part of the divine guidance. These only refer to the available knowledge in this field that the Prophet earned from his experience or learned from his elders. Therefore, we need not follow the prescriptions attributed to him. For it was only the religious guidance which the Prophet (sws) was bound to provide and where he could not err and if he did he was immediately corrected by the Almighty himself. Therefore, the medicine attributed to the Prophet (sws) must not be considered final and they only portray the Arabs scientific development in this regard.
We think it would be a serious misunderstanding to ascribe the medicine the Prophet (sws) used to divine knowledge. All the companions of the Holy Prophet (sws) and great scholars of the Muslim history were alive to this status of the traditions relating to medicine.
I am sorry it would not be possible for us to research on the importance of harisa and its recipe during the time of the Prophet (sws) for this, we believe, does not relate to the religious guidance provided by the Prophet (sws).
Answered by: Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Date: 2015-01-29
