Chapter: "Chapter on One Who Visits a People and Eats with Them." Explanation of the Hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him)

The Shaykh : Now he establishes a chapter and says:
"Chapter on One Who Visits a People and Eats with Them".
Al-Bukhari narrates it with his authentic chain of narration.
From Anas ibn Malik, .
In this hadith, there are benefits, among which is the chapter the author (may Allah have mercy on him) established: "One Who Visits a People and Eats with Them". The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) visited a group of the Ansar in their house. This visit did not stop at being merely a visit, even though visiting is one of the virtues, as we mentioned in the previous lesson. Rather, the visit was accompanied by the fact that they served him (peace and blessings be upon him) food, so he ate from their food and drank from their drink. This combines two virtues: the virtue of visiting, which realizes a type of companionship, and the other virtue is eating from the food of the household. This is because there is virtue in both eating and feeding. The household served food, and this is a favor. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said in some authentic hadiths: "The best of you are those who feed people." So the household served food to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and this is from purifying the soul and cleansing it from the filth of stinginess and miserliness. The one eating was the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). So by serving food to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), they realized two virtues. The other virtue we mentioned earlier: The second virtue is in another hadith, where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "And who is more God-fearing than the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family)?" So they fed people from one angle, and this virtue was repeated because they fed the Master of the God-fearing (peace and blessings be upon him). In this is the etiquette that it is recommended for a man who hosts a guest who visits him to honor him with something of food or drink that is available to him. This is an etiquette that is still practiced, but people vary between those who do it a lot and those who do it little. Then, in this hadith, there is a matter which, in my opinion, is not prescribed to be repeated after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). That is that he (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed for them in their house in a place they had sprinkled with water and cleaned, and he prayed there in that place, as if he made it a prayer place in their house so that they, in turn, could pray in this place whenever they wish to pray, whether voluntary or obligatory, each according to his status. As we all know, it is better for a woman to pray in the house, and the opposite is true for a man, who prays in the mosque. If he misses the prayer in the mosque, he prays in the house in congregation with his family. So this place where the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed, he prayed there so that the household could pray in it. This means seeking blessing in the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and by choosing a suitable place in the house for the household to pray in. I said that this should not be repeated after him (peace and blessings be upon him) because this is a type of seeking blessing in him (peace and blessings be upon him), and it is not permissible for any scholar or person of virtue to do what he did, because this scholar and this virtuous person cannot be in the position of infallibility in which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was. As has happened with the later scholars and Shaykhs today, their laxity and leniency with their followers, students, and disciples, and the seeking of blessing by these people in them, is a type of self-deception. It is not permissible for the pious scholar who fears Allah the Mighty and Majestic and who avoids the whispers of Satan to make himself and establish himself in the position of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), whom Satan does not overcome. So in this hadith, there is the virtue of visiting the household and the virtue of these people serving food to the visitor.