Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Question: Assalamu alaykum
I am wondering if we have any knowledge of the percentage of the Prophet’s (Peace and blessings be upon him) diet in fruit. Also, I was wondering, when the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) spoke about eating one meal a day, would this include fruit?
Answer: Wa ‘alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh
I pray you are well.
Unfortunately, I was not able to find any details on what percentage of the diet of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was comprised of fruit. However, experts in the sira and shamaʾil literature, such as Imam Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Qastallani, have noted the he ate fruits in their season.
He mentioned that alongside the benefits to one’s health from doing so, one of the wisdoms of this is that summer fruits are beneficial in summer because they cool one, and winter fruits are beneficial in winter because do the opposite.
Also, I did not come across any narrations where he instructed us to eat only one meal a day. Rather, there are many narrations which state that he and his family (Allah bless them and grant them peace) rarely ate their fill twice a day due to their circumstances. (al-Qastallani, Mawahib al-Laduniyya, al-Tirmidhi, al-Shamaʾil, Jasus, Sharh al-Shamaʾil).
May Allah grant you the best of both worlds.
Wassalam,
[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat