When food was available, the Prophet (Pbuh) was keen that as many of his companions as possible should share it. If they were around while meat was cooking, they would be eagerly waiting for it to cook. The Prophet wanted to end their expectation by starting with the portion that was the first to be ready.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) was not particular about the food he ate. Whatever was available was good enough for him. For most of his life, he lived in poverty. He could indeed have lived in luxury, had he so wished, but he preferred to share the life of his community, which was largely poor. He did not want to set himself apart from the weakest and the poorest in his community. In certain periods, days on end would pass and no fire was lit for cooking in his home. When things improved and poverty was reduced among his community, this was also felt in the Prophet’s home. His companions were keen to send him gifts of whatever was available to them. Thus, meat could be sent to him from time to time. People knew what he liked best and they favoured him with that. It is well known that he liked lamb shoulder. Hence, it is not surprising that we have several Hadiths mentioning this type of meat as part of the Prophet’s food. For example, Abu Hurayrah reports: “Meat was brought to the Prophet. The shoulder was handed over to him, as he liked it. He had a bite of it.” (Related by Ahmad, Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

In this Hadith, we have a clear statement that the Prophet liked the shoulder. However, his wife says that he did not have any particular preference for it. Hazrath Aishah reports: “The shoulder was not the Prophet’s most preferable type of meat. It is simply that he had meat infrequently. Therefore, he took the shoulder because it was the quickest to cook.” (Related by Al-Tirmidhi.) The Prophet’s wife, who knew him best, tells us that he simply had the shoulder because it cooked faster. It is normal that a person who has been suffering from hunger for a long time should want the cooking to be over quickly so that he and those with him could eat. When food was available, the Prophet was keen that as many of his companions as possible should share it. If they were around while meat was cooking, they would be eagerly waiting for it to cook. The Prophet wanted to end their expectation by starting with the portion that was the first to be ready.

Other Hadiths, however, give us a picture of a clear preference of the shoulder by the Prophet. In fact, when a Jewish woman tried to poison him, she put more of her poison in the shoulder before presenting him with a cooked lamb. One of his companions died as a result of eating. Abdullah ibn Massoud reports: “A lamb shoulder was the Prophet’s most preferable piece of meat on the bone. We thought that he was poisoned by eating of the shoulder, and we realised that the Jews were the ones who tried to poison him.” (Related by Ahmad, Abu Dawood and Al-Tirmidhi.)

In fact, one of the Prophet’s companions, Bishr ibn Al-Bara’, ate of the lamb and found it acceptable. The poison soon had its effect and he died quickly. The woman was called in and the Prophet asked her about the lamb. She confessed that she had poisoned it. Under further questioning, she explained her reason to the Prophet, saying: “You know what you have done to my people. I thought that if you were a king I would get my revenge and we would get rid of you. If you were truly a Prophet, you would be told of the poison.” The Prophet pardoned her. However, some reports suggest that she was put to death in punishment for killing Bishr ibn Al-Bara. The reports which suggest that she was pardoned are perhaps more accurate, and they are more in line with the Prophet’s attitude. This event took place shortly after the Battle of Khaybar in which the Jews in Arabia lost all their remaining power and forfeited their bases. The Prophet knew that people were always on the lookout for a chance to get some revenge on their conquerors, especially immediately after their defeat. It was his habit after every success in battle to do something, which would help in turning over a new leaf in the relations between the Muslims and those whom they had just defeated.

Other Hadiths that speak about the Prophet’s preference include one reported by Abu Hurayrah who said: “No part of a lamb was more favourable to the Prophet than its shoulder.” (Related by Abu Al-Shaykh.) Abu Ubayd also reports: “I cooked something for the Prophet in a saucepan. Since he liked the shoulder, I handed it to him. He then said to me: ‘Give me the shoulder.’ I said: ‘Messenger of God, how many shoulders does a lamb have?’ He said: ‘By Him who holds my soul in His hand, had you complied, you would have given me as many shoulders as I would have asked for.’” (Related by Ahmad, Al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Saad.)

These two Hadiths confirm that the Prophet liked a lamb shoulder best. However, we need to pause a little at what the second Hadith implies. The Prophet was fully aware that he just had the shoulder. Abu Ubayd’s question implies that he was also aware that the other shoulder was either eaten or not cooked. Otherwise, Abu Ubayd would not have asked that question. The Prophet tells him that he would still have given him a shoulder and another, provided that he did not question that possibility. This is definitely super-natural, but not unusual with the Prophet. On many occasions, the Prophet used very little food to feed a large group of his companions. He once fed a few hundred people from the meat of a small goat. While such events were miraculous in nature, we do not dwell much on them as proofs of his prophethood. We say that the proper proof of that is the Qur’an, which is the word of God received by him and delivered to us as it was given to him. The material miracles were never given as a proof of his status.