These meal-related entries bring together remembering Allah before eating and thanking Him afterwards. The first entry also includes wording recorded for remembering after a meal has already begun.
Read the different wordings within each source entry carefully. The wider food and fasting collection includes breaking the fast, prayers for a host, and other related occasions.
Before eating, or when remembering later
Occasion: Invocations before eating
إِذَا أَكَلَ أَحَدُكُم طَعَاماً فَليَقُل بِسمِ اللَّهِ، فَإِن نَسِيَ فِي أَوَّلِهِ فَليَقُل بسمِ اللَّهِ فِي أَوَّلِهِ وَآخِرِهِ
Pronunciation reading aid
Approximate Arabic reading aid; listen to the recording on the individual page.
Idhā akala aḥadukum ṭa'āman falyaqul bismi allāhi, fa'in nasiya fī awwalihi falyaqul bismi allāhi fī awwalihi wa ākhirihi
English meaning
When you are about to eat, you should say:(Bismil-lah.)and if you forget to say it before starting, then you should say (when you remember):In the name of Allah in it’s beginning and end.
Explanation
This entry instructs the eater to begin in Allah’s name. If that remembrance was forgotten at the start, the later phrase includes both the beginning and the end. The wording restores remembrance without pretending the omission did not happen, bringing the whole meal under Allah’s name.
Source: Hisn al-Muslim 178
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Asking for blessing in food and milk
Occasion: Invocations before eating
مَن أَطعَمَهُ اللَّهُ الطَّعَامَ فَليَقُل: اللَّهُمَّ بَارِك لَنَا فِيهِ وَأَطعِمنَا خَيراً مِنهُ، وَمَن سَقَاهُ اللَّهُ لَبَناً فَليَقُل اللَّهُمَّ بَارِك لَنَا فِيهِ وَزِدنَا مِنهُ
Pronunciation reading aid
Approximate Arabic reading aid; listen to the recording on the individual page.
Man aṭ'amahu allāhu aṭ-ṭa'āma falyaqul: allāhumma bārik lanā fīhi wa'aṭ'imnā khayran minhu, waman saqāhu allāhu labanan falyaqul allāhumma bārik lanā fīhi wazidnā minhu
English meaning
Whomever Allah feeds, should say:(O Allah, bless it for us and feed us better than it.) and whomever Allah gives milk to drink should say:(O Allah, bless it for usand give us more of it.)
Explanation
This prayer responds to food by asking Allah to bless it and provide something better, while the wording for milk asks for blessing and an increase of the same drink. Both forms recognize nourishment as Allah’s gift and join receiving it with a request for continued good.
Source: Hisn al-Muslim 179
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Gratitude for being fed
Occasion: Invocations after eating
الحَمدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَطعَمَنِي هَذَا، وَرَزَقَنِيهِ، مِن غَيرِ حَولٍ مِنِّي وَلاَ قُوَّةٍ
Pronunciation reading aid
Alhamdu lillahil-lathee at'amanee hatha warazaqaneehi min ghayri hawlin minnee wala quwwah
English meaning
All praise is for Allah who fed me this and provided it for me without any might nor power from myself.
Explanation
After eating, this prayer directs all praise to Allah for both the food and its provision. It explicitly denies that the meal came through the speaker’s own might or power, joining gratitude for what was received with acknowledgment of complete dependence upon Allah.
Source: Hisn al-Muslim 180
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Praising Allah after a meal
Occasion: Invocations after eating
الحَمدُ لِلَّهِ حَمداً كَثِيراً طَيِّباً مُبَارَكاً فِيهِ، غَيرَ [مَكفِيٍّ وَلاَ ] مُوَدَّعٍ، وَلاَ مُستَغنَىً عَنهُ رَبَّنَا
Pronunciation reading aid
Alhamdu lillahi hamdan katheeran tayyiban mubarakan feeh, ghayra makfiyyin wala muwadda'in, wala mustaghnan 'anhu rabbuna
English meaning
Allah be praised with an abundant beautiful blessed praise, a never-ending praise, a praise which we will never bid farewell to and an indispensable praise, He is our Lord.)(There are other views as regards to the understanding of this supplication, from them: Allah be praised with an abundant beautiful blessed praise. He is The One Who is sufficient, feeds and is not fed. The One Who is longed for, along with that which is with Him and The One Who is needed, He is our Lord.
Explanation
This praise after eating describes gratitude to Allah as abundant, beautiful, and blessed. It also presents that praise as continuing, never abandoned, and always needed, before addressing Allah as Lord. The phrases move beyond thanks for one meal to ongoing recognition of dependence upon Him.
Source: Hisn al-Muslim 181
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