Overconsumption of Meat & Prophet (PBUH) Was Semi-vegetarian by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Traditional Islamic diet was Semi-Vegetarian
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Traditionally Muslims were semi-vegetarians.Meat is not a necessity in Shari’ah.Most meals of our Beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) did not have meat in them. Meat was rarely eaten in the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him).In those days you had to personally sacrifice an animal before you had meat and so meat was usually only eaten when people were invited somewhere as guests. There was a companion of Prophet(peace be upon him) who was a vegetarian and our Prophet(peace be upon him) accepted this from him. Once Hazrat ‘Umar(Radiyallahu Anhu) saw a man buying meat everyday in the market and he rebuked him. During caliphate of Hadrat Umar(RA) he prohibited the eating of meat every day. This is permissible for the Khalifah to do because it is only mubah (permissible) to eat meat every day.
Imam Malik has a chapter called Bab Al-Lahm (The Chapter about Meat) in his collection of hadith entitled “The Muwatta”. There are two hadith from in that chapter and they are both warnings about eating excessive meat.In the old days most Muslims used to eat meat,like middle class once a week(on Fridays) or if they were poor (on the Eids.)
One of the conditions which Imam Sahl Al-Tustari(R.A.) stipulated, when he took students was that they eat meat only once a week. In Maliki Fiqh a rich woman is entitled to meat twice a week.We now have muslims who are eating meat three times a day and then we wonder why we have so many diseases.In most cases, it is our own appetite (nafs) that leads to heart conditions and we should really only blame ourselves.
Food is the foundation of our material existence.If we eat food in its right proportions, and if we eat good food, then it is going to be beneficial to the body. The opposite is also true. The worst thing you can do is to completely fill the body with food.The Sunnah is to consume enough morsels to keep our backs straight, while filling one third of the stomach with food, one third air and one third with water, is the dispensation (rukhsa) given to us by the Prophet (peace be upon him). At the same time, we know that the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not encourage asceticism and he did not like going to extremes.We should have moderation in our diets.
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Hadith which shows that our Beloved Prophet(pbuh) didn’t eat meat frequently
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Our Beloved Prophet(peace be upon him) was not a frequent meat-eater. Most of his meals did not have meat in them. This is a muttafaq alaih hadith from Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim which is a proof of this:
Hazrat ‘Urwa(Radiyallahu Anhu) related that Hazrat ‘A’isha(Radiyallahu Anha) said to ‘Urwa, “Son of my sister, we used to see three crescent moons in two months without there being a fire lit in the houses of the Messenger of Allah.”
He said, “I said, ‘What did you survive on?’
She said, ‘The two black ones – dates and water. However, the Messenger of Allah(peace be upon him) had some neighbours of the Ansar who had sheep which were lent to them for milking and they used to give the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, some of their drink and he would let us drink.'”
►{Sahih Bukhari,Kitab Al-Riqaq,Hadith # 6094,Sahih Muslim, Kitab Al-Zuhd wa Al-Raqa’iq, Hadith #7419}

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