Drawing Attention to the Sunnah of Starting with the Right Side in Serving Drinks

The Shaykh : It is necessary to remind people of this Sunnah, which is considered one of the authentic Sunnahs that people have let die. This is not a death resulting from laxity in application, but rather a death caused by a mistake in understanding this Sunnah. The brother who is serving now—may Allah reward him with good—responded to this Sunnah when he was reminded of it. In his mind, the server should start with the most senior person of the group. This is a common misconception in many Islamic countries. It is very strange that the hadith is explicit, with an explicitness beyond which there is no other, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not start with the most senior person of the group, who was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had drunk. The boy who had not yet reached the age of religious accountability, Abdullah ibn Abbas, was on his right. Nevertheless, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drank from the vessel and some residue remained, he asked permission from the boy on his right to serve the senior person on his left. He did not start with the senior person on his left. I do not know where this misconception came from... The concise narration and the detailed narration: whoever among you, my brothers, wants to hear it, let him sit with us, and may Allah reward you with good. No, come forward, come forward, come forward. The more Muslims are close to one another in their bodies, the closer they become in their hearts; for the inner is connected to the outer, and the outer is connected to the inner. There are many hadiths on this, but we are not currently discussing any of them.
The concise narration says: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was brought milk mixed with water in a vessel, so he drank from it, and some residue remained in it," to the end of the hadith. Perhaps we will mention it in its entirety.
The detailed narration says: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked for a drink, so he was brought one," to the end of the hadith.
So the first narration appears to indicate that the server started with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) because he was the master and the great one of the group, and it is sufficient that he was their Messenger and their Prophet. This is where the problem and the doubt arose for those who say that the Sunnah is for the server to start with the most senior person of the group; because indeed the server started with the Messenger (peace be upon him). And why did he start with him? It is very clear because he was the master of the group. But if we return to the explanatory and completing narration, the answer changes completely; for this narration says: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked for a drink"; meaning: he requested a drink. So here, based on the first narration and the other narration, a question and answer arise. Regarding the first narration, if a questioner asks: Why did the server start with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? The answer is: Because he was their master. But if the question comes regarding the other narration: Why did the server start with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? The answer is: Because he was the one who requested the drink.
So if he was served, or if he was started with, because he (peace and blessings be upon him) requested the drink, then it is not permissible to cite this hadith as evidence that the Sunnah is for the server to start with the most senior person of the group. This is sufficient to clarify the error in using this hadith as evidence for the common belief that the server starts with the most senior person of the group. However, the research has a continuation, and there are other proofs in the hadiths confirming that the Sunnah is to start with the right side of the server.
We said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drank from the vessel of milk that was mixed with water, so some residue remained in the vessel, which was the large cup. Abdullah ibn Abbas was on his right (peace be upon him), and Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and the elders of Quraysh were on his left. So he (peace be upon him) said to Ibn Abbas: . He said: "No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah; I will not prefer anyone over the residue of your drink." In some narrations, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab was watching, interested in what the Messenger (peace be upon him) would do. So he offered the residue to Ibn Abbas and calmed the mind of Ibn 'Umar and others who imagined that he would start with Abu Bakr because he was the best of them after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So he gave it to Ibn Abbas and said: . In a narration: . So here is another proof that the server starts with the one on his right; he does not look at age, nor at knowledge, nor at virtue; for all these qualities were present in Abu Bakr al-Siddiq and not in Ibn Abbas. The Messenger (peace be upon him) did not look at all these qualities, but rather he preferred the rightmost over them, .
So the first server started with the Messenger because he requested the drink; he did not start with him because he was the most senior and great one of the group, though he was indeed so; this is first. Second: The Prophet started, when he became the server and the vessel was in his hand (peace be upon him), so he was the one who wanted to serve either the one on his right or the one on his left. So he served the one on his right, and he explained this with a legal explanation by saying: , .
Up to this point, the explanation ends that this hadith, which is narrated in "the two Sahihs" in the concise and complete narrations from two noble Companions, one of whom is Anas ibn Malik, and the other is Sahl ibn Sa'd al-Sa'idi, both of whom narrated this hadith with the additional wording—also: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) asked for a drink, so he was brought one," to the end of the hadith.
Let us now look at the issue from the theoretical and practical operational side; is it possible, and is it reasonable in the view of the leniency and ease of the Shari'ah, that the server of a large and very large gathering be required to know who is their most senior? Who is the second among them? This, in my opinion and critique, falls under the category of requiring what is not possible. This is what the people of the Sunnah agreed upon regarding the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): .
As for requiring... and he is usually a stranger to knowing the individuals, so to be told: Start with the most senior person of the group in terms of knowledge, righteousness, and perhaps age. I say if this server were Ibn Khaldun of his time in knowledge of the history of men and their ages, he would not have been able to know, in every gathering where that server is tested with serving them, this quality that some people think deserves to be started with its owner; this is requiring what is not possible. But start with the right; the boy is small, if he enters from the door, start from the right, start from this boy standing now. This is Islam, and this is the ease of Islam. So I hope you will understand this issue, not because Shaykh al-Albani says this, but because you first knew the completing narration of the first narration: "The Messenger asked for a drink," so the argument that the starting was because he was the most senior of the group falls away.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh: And upon you peace.
Second: The Prophetic hadith: is a general rule that should be applied.
Third: And finally, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) implemented this general rule himself when he started with the boy Ibn Abbas and preferred him over the elder of Quraysh, who was Abu Bakr al-Siddiq. So I hope you will grasp this. And I say finally: Let the witness convey to the absent one.
Please proceed.