Is it permissible to mix with a sinner by eating and drinking with him?

The questioner : Some of them have been with him for three years, with continuous advice and admonition, but there is no response from him.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Some of them work with us in field work in the same profession. During the field work in the day, at ten or eleven o'clock, we go to a restaurant to break our fast. So, is it permissible to eat with him, to share a meal with him, and to drink with him, when he is immersed in sin and refuses to respond?

The Shaykh : Are you continuing to advise him and have not left him?

The questioner : Continuous.

The Shaykh : How is it not permissible? This is part of your persistence: that you eat with him, drink with him, and advise him. Is that clear? But suppose, may Allah forbid, that you have become desperate about him and have washed your hands of him, then you are not required to mix with him at all.

The questioner : Praise be to Allah, we have not reached despair.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, and this is what we want. Therefore, your eating and drinking with him is entirely permissible.