If a person sees food leftovers at the garbage disposal area, is he required to remove them, and does he commit a sin by leaving them?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: If a person sees some food leftovers at the garbage disposal area, is he required to take them? And does he commit a sin by leaving them? And if this happens frequently, what is the course of action?
Answer:
Yes, he should take them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he saw a fallen date, picked it up and said, "Were it not that I feared it might be from the zakah, or were it not that I feared it might be from charity, I would have eaten it." This indicates that one should not leave a blessing to be trampled on the ground or in the garbage; that is ingratitude toward the blessing. Taking it is part of forbidding evil, honoring the blessing, and giving thanks for the blessing.
And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: and he commanded licking the fingers before wiping them with a napkin so that the food remaining on them is taken.
Food is respected, and a blessing is honored and thanked for, and it is not to be placed in the garbage. One who places it there is rebuked and prevented from doing so. And if you take it, lift it up, and move it to a pure place, you have a great reward in that. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner says: If a person sees some food leftovers at the garbage disposal area, is he required to take them? And does he commit a sin by leaving them? And if this happens frequently, what is the course of action?
Answer:
Yes, he should take them. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he saw a fallen date, picked it up and said, "Were it not that I feared it might be from the zakah, or were it not that I feared it might be from charity, I would have eaten it." This indicates that one should not leave a blessing to be trampled on the ground or in the garbage; that is ingratitude toward the blessing. Taking it is part of forbidding evil, honoring the blessing, and giving thanks for the blessing.
And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
If one of you drops a morsel of food, let him take it, remove whatever impurity is on it, and eat it, and not leave it for Satan.
إذا سقطت لقمة أحدكم فليأخذها وليمط ما عليها من الأذى وليأكلها ولا يدعها للشيطان.Food is respected, and a blessing is honored and thanked for, and it is not to be placed in the garbage. One who places it there is rebuked and prevented from doing so. And if you take it, lift it up, and move it to a pure place, you have a great reward in that. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [436 -954] إذا رأى الشخص بقايا طعام عند موضع الزبالة، فهل يلزمه أن يخرجها، وهل يلحقه إثم بتركها.. — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.