and fed us, gave us drink, and bestowed every good blessing upon us. All praise is for Allah, who has provided us with food and drink, clothed us against nakedness, guided us out of error, given us sight in place of blindness, and greatly favoured us above many of those He created. All praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds.” (1).

Sometimes he said: “All praise is for Allah, who has provided food and drink and made it easy to swallow.” (2).

When he had finished eating, he would lick his fingers. They had no cloths with which to wipe their hands, nor was it their custom to wash their hands every time they ate (3).

He usually drank while seated; indeed, he sternly forbade drinking while standing. On one occasion, however, he drank while standing. Some said that this abrogated his prohibition; others said that this act was abrogated by the prohibition (4); still others said that he did so to demonstrate that both were permissible. What seems apparent—and Allah knows best—is that this was a particular incident in which he drank while standing for a valid reason. The account of the incident (5) supports this: he came to Zamzam while they were serving water from it (6), so he took