What is the ruling on eating while leaning? What is its meaning and description?

The questioner : In the hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So what is the jurisprudential understanding of this hadith? Then the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith: Then he was leaning, so he sat up. So what is the description of this leaning?

The Shaykh : The leaning in the first hadith is not the same as the leaning in the other hadith. The leaning in the first hadith, in the opinion of the majority, is *turuq* (sitting with the knees bent and the hands placed on them). *Turuq* is known; it is the opposite of *iftrash* (sitting with the legs extended to one side) in prayer, and the opposite of *tawruk* (sitting on the heels). This is *turuq*. Some scholars interpret this leaning in the hadith "I do not eat while leaning" as *turuq*. If that is the case, this leaning contradicts the leaning mentioned in the hadith of the major sins, because the leaning in the hadith of the major sins is for a person to be leaning like this, talking in his natural state and at his ease. When he reaches a phrase he wants to show his emphasis on, he sits up straight and says: and so on. What appears to me, and Allah knows best, and I have mentioned this on many occasions, is that the leaning mentioned in the second hadith, the hadith of the major sins, is exactly the same as the leaning mentioned in the hadith: Because I do not know, even though the first meaning is what was mentioned in books of unusual language, such as the book of Ibn al-Athir known as *Al-Nihayah fi Gharib al-Hadith wa al-Athar*. They mentioned what I told you just now: that his saying (peace be upon him): the intended meaning is *turuq*. But wherever I have come across this term, *ittika'* (leaning), I do not find it to mean anything other than sitting tilted and leaning on one side. So interpreting the first hadith: meaning sitting in *turuq*, seems to be an anomaly and a deviation from the leaning known in the other hadiths, such as the hadith: "And he was leaning, so he sat up". This is one thing. The second thing is that the one sitting in *turuq* is sitting, so how can it be said that he is leaning? And the hadith of the major sins, which is narrated by Abu Bakrah al-Thaqafi in the two Sahihs, says: "And he was leaning, so he sat up" So leaning contradicts sitting and contradicts being settled. The one sitting in *turuq* is sitting and settled in his sitting. So it does not appear to me, and Allah knows best, I say this because, as I always tell you, clarifying the truth does not forget that I am a non-Arab, and Al-Albani and the people of language know it better than the foreigners or the Arabized, at least. But what I find widespread in the hadiths is that the leaning, as it came in the hadith of Abu Bakrah al-Thaqafi, is "so he sat up," whereas the one in *turuq* is sitting. This is part of the jurisprudential understanding of this hadith. And secondly, which is very important, some people take from this hadith: something like a prohibition against eating while leaning. So if they interpret the leaning as *turuq* and interpret: as a prohibition, they arrive at a result that legislates a ruling with heaviness and strictness on people, meaning it is not permissible for them to eat while leaning, meaning in *turuq*. This is also, in my opinion, an error, because his saying (peace be upon him): does not mean that it is not permissible, but rather it means that I do not eat while leaning out of *tanzuh* (elevating oneself above it), meaning it is not fitting for me to eat while leaning, because leaning is, as we said, a need for rest. So when the time for food comes, he continues to eat while leaning. This is a characteristic of the arrogant. So his saying: is an exhortation for the Muslim to elevate himself above eating in this manner. This is what I have, and Allah knows best.