Sunan Abi Dawud

when one of you is invited to a meal, he must accept. If he wishes he may eat, but if he wishes(to leave), he may leave.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: He who does not accept an invitation which he receives has disobeyed Allah and His Apostle, and he who enters without invitation enters as a thief and goes out as a raider. Abu Dawud said: Aban bin Tariq is unknown.

The worst kind of food is that at a wedding feast to which the rich are invited and from which the poor are left out. If anyone does not attend the feast to which he was invited, he has disobeyed Allah and His Apostle (may peace upon him).

The marriage of Zainab daughter of Jahsh was mentioned before Anas b. Malik. He said: I did not see that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) held such a wedding feast for any of his wives as he did for her. He held a wedding feast with a sheep.

The Prophet (ﷺ) held a wedding feast for Safiyyah with meal and dates.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: The wedding feast on the first day is a duty, that on the second is a good practice, but that on the third day is to make men hear of it and show it to them. Qatadah said: A man told me that Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab was invited (to a wedding feast on the first day and he accepted it. He was again invited on the second day, and he accepted. When he was invited on the third day, he did not accept; he said: They are the people who make men hear of it and show it to them.

When he was invited on the third day, he did not accept but threw pebbles on the messenger.

When the Prophet (ﷺ) returned to Medina, he would slaughter a camel or a cow.

He who believes in Allah and the Last Day should honour his guest provisions for the road are what will serve for a day and night: hospitality extends for three days; what goes after that is sadaqah(charity): and it is not allowable that a guest should stay till he makes himself an encumbrance. Abu Dawud said: Malik was asked about the saying of the Prophet: "Provisions for the road what will serve for a day a night." He said: He should honor him, present him some gift, and protect him for a day and night, and hospitality for three days.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Hospitality extend for three days, and what goes beyond that is sadaqah (charity).

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is a duty of every Muslim (to provide hospitality) to a guest for a night. If anyone comes in the morning to his house, it is a debt due to him. If he wishes, he may fulfil it, and if he wishes he may leave it.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: If any Muslim is a guest of people and is given nothing, it is the duty of every Muslim to help him to the extent of taking for him from their crop and property for the entertainment of one night.

we said: Messenger of Allah! You send us out and we come to people who do not give hospitality, so what is your opinion? The Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) said: If you come to people who order for you what is fitting for a guest, accept it; but if they do not, take from them what is fitting for them to give to a guest. Abu Dawud said: And this is an authority for a man to take a thing if it is due to him.

When the verse: "O ye who believe! eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities, but let there be amongst you traffic and trade by mutual good will" was revealed, a man thought it a sin to eat in the house of another man after the revelation of this verse. Then this (injunction) was revealed by the verse in Surat an-Nur: "No blame on you whether you eat in company or separately." When a rich man (after revelation) invited a man from his people to eat food in his house, he would say: I consider it a sin to eat from it, and he said: a poor man is more entitled to it than I. The Arabic word tajannah means sin or fault. It was then declared lawful to eat something on which the name of Allah was mentioned, and it was made lawful to eat the flesh of an animal slaughtered by the people of the Book.

The Prophet (ﷺ) forbade that the food of two people who were rivalling on another should be eaten Abu Dawud said: Most of those who narrated it from Jarir did not mention the name of Ibn Abbas. Harun al-Nahwi mentioned Ibn 'Abbas in it, and Hammad bin Zaid did not mention Ibn 'Abbas.

Safinah AbuAbdurRahman said that a man prepared food for Ali ibn AbuTalib who was his guest, and Fatimah said: I wish we had invited the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he had eaten with us. They invited him, and when he came he put his hands on the side-ports of the door, but when he saw the figured curtain which had been put at the end of the house, he went away. So Fatimah said to Ali: Follow him and see what turned him back. I (Ali) followed him and asked: What turned you back, Messenger of Allah? He replied: It is not fitting for me or for any Prophet to enter a house which is decorated.

A companion of the Prophet (ﷺ) reported him as saying: When two people come together to issue an invitation, accept that of the one whose door is nearer in neighbourhood, but if one of them comes before the other accept the invitation of the one who comes first.

When the evening meal is brought before one of you and the congregational prayer is also ready, he should not get up until he finishes(eating). Musaddad’s version adds: When the evening meal was put before ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Umar, or it was brought to him, he did not get up until he finished it, even if he heard call to prayer(just before it), and even if he heard the recitation of the Qur’an by the leader-in-prayer.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: Prayer should not be postponed for taking meals nor for any other thing.

Abdullah ibn Ubaydullah ibn Umayr said: I was with my father in the time of Ibn az-Zubayr sitting beside Abdullah ibn Umar. Then Abbad ibn Abdullah ibn az-Zubayr said: We have heard that the evening meal is taken just before the night prayer. Thereupon Abdullah ibn Umar said: Woe to you! what was their evening meal? Do you think it was like the meal of your father?