What is the ruling on exaggeration in food and drink during the daytime of Ramadan?
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Question : Exaggeration in serving food and drink during the daytime of Ramadan. Perhaps you have a comment on this, Honorable Shaykh.
Answer : Exaggeration in eating and drinking on a day of Ramadan is mostly extravagance and transgressing the limit, and Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said: "Say: Eat"[Al-A'raf 7:31]. And it is astonishing that many people—and I do not say most people, I say many of them—treat Ramadan as if it were days of leisure, sleeping during the day, and eating and drinking extravagantly at night, with the chaos in the markets. There arises from this a fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) of which Allah is the All-Knowing.
That is to say, if you saw the scene of water in Ramadan, unfortunately, you would see a scene far removed from what is desired of the servants, namely seizing the season of this good, doing righteous deeds, by reciting the Qur'an, by giving charity, by excellence in worship, by dutifulness, by maintaining family ties. This is Ramadan. Ramadan is not a place for exile and luxury. My advice to my Muslim brothers is to seize this blessed month with true fasting during its day, and standing in prayer during its nights, which is the state they should be in. And let them make this opportunity—how many a person prepared for Ramadan but then died? And how many a person reached Ramadan but lost it? He fulfills his obligation, so we ask Allah for guidance and success for us and our brothers, and that He help us to remember Him, thank Him, and preserve His worship.
The presenter : O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer : Exaggeration in eating and drinking on a day of Ramadan is mostly extravagance and transgressing the limit, and Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said: "Say: Eat"
and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.
وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَThat is to say, if you saw the scene of water in Ramadan, unfortunately, you would see a scene far removed from what is desired of the servants, namely seizing the season of this good, doing righteous deeds, by reciting the Qur'an, by giving charity, by excellence in worship, by dutifulness, by maintaining family ties. This is Ramadan. Ramadan is not a place for exile and luxury. My advice to my Muslim brothers is to seize this blessed month with true fasting during its day, and standing in prayer during its nights, which is the state they should be in. And let them make this opportunity—how many a person prepared for Ramadan but then died? And how many a person reached Ramadan but lost it? He fulfills his obligation, so we ask Allah for guidance and success for us and our brothers, and that He help us to remember Him, thank Him, and preserve His worship.
The presenter : O Allah, amen. May Allah reward you with good.
Source
ابن العثيمين - فتاوى على الهاتف - فتاوى الصيام — archive.org (57:42)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.