Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Drinking water while standing is against Sunnah and Makruh!

Sayyiduna Anas ibn Malik (Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) disapproved the drinking of water while standing. (Sahih Muslim 2024)
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said, “None of you should drink while standing; and if anyone forgets, he must vomit.” (Sahih Muslim 2026)

The great Hadith scholar and Faqih [jurist], Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) explains in his Commentary that the prohibition in the above hadiths refers to this practice being mildly disliked (makruh tanzih), and not unlawful (haram). This is because it is established that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) drank whilst standing up. He (Allah Allah bless him & give him peace) would occasionally carry out certain actions in order to show their permissibility – despite his regular practice being to the contrary. As such; his regular practice was to drink water while being seated, but on a few rare occasions he stood up and drank to show that it was not unlawful to do so. (Nawawi, Al-Minhaj sharh Sahih Muslim p: 1532)

Thus, in accordance with the regular practice of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), it is a Sunna and better to drink water while being seated, and Makruh [mildly disliked] to drink it in a standing position.
Extracted from a longer fatwa on http://www.daruliftaa.com/ by Mufti Muhammad bin Adam.

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