Chapter: Chapter

The Shaykh: All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the evil of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can mislead, and whom He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows:
The best of speech is the speech of Allah, the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the worst of matters are their innovations. Every innovation is a religious innovation, every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.
Our lesson now is in the chapter sixty-eight after the hundred, which is: "Chapter: Giving the fruit to the youngest of the children present." Note the juristic precision of the Imam al-Bukhari in his chapter headings and titles. We previously covered the chapter sixty-three after the hundred: "The virtue of the elder," followed by: "Reverence for the elder," then: "The elder begins the conversation and questioning," then: "If the elder does not speak, may the younger speak?" and the last chapter of the previous lesson: "Chapter: Giving precedence to the elders." This long series of chapters explains the practical etiquette with the distinguished and the elders. Now, in contrast, he lists chapters clarifying how one should treat the young, and the etiquette and gentleness with them. So the first chapter he establishes in this regard says: "Chapter: Giving the fruit," meaning the new fruit when it arrives, "to the youngest of the children present." He cites a hadith with its authentic chain: Abu Hurayrah said: .
Abu Hurayrah said: "When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was brought the zahw—a type of date in the early stages of ripening—he said: , then he gave it to the youngest of the children next to him."
This is one of the Prophetic etiquettes that few people know, and even fewer practice. The first thing to do when new fruit arrives is to present it to the youngest child. This is the Sunnah; this is what the Messenger (peace be upon him) used to do. When this fruit came to him, he would first invoke blessings upon the city. He would say: The city, one of whose names is Taybah. On this occasion, I remind you that many Islamic writers call it Yathrib. This is a pre-Islamic name that a Muslim should not follow; rather, he should oppose the pre-Islamic people in this. He should either call it by its well-known name, al-Madinah, or, better yet, call it Taybah, because Allah named it so on the tongue of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). So, we should either say Taybah or al-Madinah, but Yathrib is one of the pre-Islamic names. It is regrettable that Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali, in his book *Fiqh al-Sirah*, frequently uses this name, Yathrib, for the city. When I checked his hadiths, I pointed this issue out to him. Here, the hadith comes with the well-known name: Al-Zahw is the fresh dates, and fresh dates are the first stage of ripening. Usually, when dates are like the unripe grapes of the vine, they are green, then they begin to turn yellow or red depending on their variety. The beginning of their turning yellow or red means the sweetness is starting to seep into them, but the hard, fibrous substance is still very strong, so they are not eaten until the redness begins to intensify from the bottom, from the lower part. We have seen in al-Madinah, during many periods, that the fresh dates are hard all over, and the beginning is either yellowing or reddening, while the bottom is redder and more developed. This is the fresh date. All of this is an indication that this is the first stage of the date's ripening. So, when this al-Zahw, whose name is fresh dates and whose name is al-Zahw, came to him (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him), he would invoke blessings for the people of al-Madinah and say: , as they used to, and still do, use the mudd and the sa' for measuring, and rarely use the scale for grains like wheat and barley. And in this hadith he says: , and in some hadiths: And Ibrahim (peace be upon him) invoked blessings for Makkah, and the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned it and said: . Then he would hand this new fruit to the youngest of the children sitting closest to him.