Sunan Abu-Dawud (Introduction to Partial Translation)
Foods (Kitab Al-At'imah)
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: He who does not accept an invitation which he receives has disobeyed Allah and His Apostle of, and he who enters without invitation enters as a thief and goes out as a raider.
Narrated Anas ibn Malik:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) held a wedding feast) for Safiyyah with meal and dates.
Narrated Zubayr ibn Uthman:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) 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.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
When the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) returned to Medina, he would slaughter a camel or a cow.
Narrated AbuHurayrah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Hospitality extend for three days, and what goes beyond that is sadaqah (charity).
Narrated AbuKarimah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) 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.
Narrated Al-Miqdam AbuKarimah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) 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.
Narrated Abdullah Ibn Abbas:
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.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) forbade that the food of two people who were rivalling on another should be eaten
Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:
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 Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) 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, Apostle of Allah? He replied: It is not fitting for me or for any Prophet to enter a house which is decorated.
Narrated AbdurRahman al-Himyari:
A companion of the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) 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.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Prayer should not be postponed for taking meals nor for any other thing.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
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?
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) came out from the privy and was presented to him. They (the people) asked: Should we bring you water for ablution? He replied: I have been commanded to perform ablution when I get up for prayer.
Narrated Salman al-Farsi:
I read in the Torah that the blessing of food consists in ablution before it. So I mentioned it to the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him). He said: The blessing of food consists in ablution before it and ablution after it.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) came out from the valley of a mountain where he had eased himself. There were some dried dates on a shield before us. We called him and he ate with us. He did not touch water.
Narrated Wahshi ibn Harb:
The Companions of the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) we eat but we are not satisfied. He said: Perhaps you eat separately. They replied: Yes. He said: If you gather together at your food and mention Allah's name, you will be blessed in it.
Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: When one of you eats, he should mention Allah's name; if he forgets to mention Allah's name at the beginning, he should say: "In the name of Allah at the beginning and at the end of it."
Narrated Umayyah ibn Makhshi:
Umayyah was sitting and a man was eating. He did not mention Allah's name until there remained the last morsel. When he raised it to his mouth, he said: In the name of Allah at the beginning and at the end of it. The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) laughed and said: The devil kept eating along with him, but when he mentioned Allah's name, he vomited what was in his belly.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) was never seen reclining while eating, nor walking with two men at his heels.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: When one of you eats, he must not eat from the top of the dish, but should eat from the bottom; for the blessing descends from the top of it.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Busr:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) had a bowl called gharra'. It was carried by four persons. When the sun rose high, and they performed the forenoon prayer, the bowl in which tharid was prepared was brought, and the people gathered round it. When they were numerous, the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Allah has made me a respectable servant, and He did not make me an obstinate tyrant. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Eat from it sides and leave its top, the blessing will be conferred on it
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) forbade two kinds of food: to sit at cloth on which wine is drunk, and to eat by a man while lying on his stomach.
Narrated Umar ibn AbuSalamah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Come near, my son, mention Allah's name, eat with your right hand and eat from what is next to you.
Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: Do not eat meat with a knife, for it is a foreign practice, but bite it, for it is more beneficial and wholesome.
Narrated Safwan ibn Umayyah:
I was eating with the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and snatching the meat from the bone with my hand. He said: bring the bone near your mouth, for it is more beneficial and wholesome.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud:
The bone dearer to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) was the bone of sheep.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Mas'ud:
The tradition mentioned above (No. 3771) has also been narrated by Ibn Mas'ud with a different chain of narrators.
This version has: The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) liked the foreleg (of a sheep). Once the foreleg was poisoned, and he thought that the Jews had poisoned it.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The food the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) liked best was tharid made from bread and tharid made from Hays.
Narrated Qabisah ibn Halb:
A man asked the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him): Is there any food from which I should keep myself away? I heard the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) say: Anything which creates doubt should not occur in your mind by which you resemble Christianity.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) prohibited eating the animal which feeds on filth and drinking its milk.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) prohibited to drink the milk of the animal which feeds on filth.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) forbade riding the camel which feeds on filth and drinking its milk.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
On the day of Khaybar we slaughtered horses, mules, and assess. The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) forbade us (to eat) mules and asses, but he did not forbid horse-flesh.
Narrated Khalid ibn al-Walid:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) forbade us to eat horse-flesh, the flesh of mules and of asses. The narrator Haywah added: Every beast of prey with a fang.
Narrated Thabit ibn Wadi'ah:
We were in an army with the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him). We got some lizards. I roasted one lizard and brought it to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) and placed it before him. He took a stick and counted its fingers. He then said: A group from the children of Isra'il was transformed into an animal of the land, and I do not know which animal it was. He did not eat it nor did he forbid (its eating).
Narrated AbdurRahman ibn Shibl:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) forbade to eat the flesh of lizard.
Narrated Safinah:
I ate the flesh of a bustard along with the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him).
Narrated at-Talabb ibn Tha'labah at-Tamimi:
I accompanied the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him), but I did not hear about the prohibition of (eating) insects and little creatures of land.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
Numaylah said: I was with Ibn Umar. He was asked about eating hedgehog. He recited: "Say: I find not in the message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden." An old man who was with him said: I heard AbuHurayrah say: It was mentioned to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him). Noxious of the noxious. Ibn Umar said: If the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) had said it, it is as he said that we did not know.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The people of pre-Islamic times used to eat some things and leave others alone, considering them unclean. Then Allah sent His Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and sent down His Book, marking some things lawful and others unlawful; so what He made lawful is lawful, what he made unlawful is unlawful, and what he said nothing about is allowable. And he recited: "Say: I find not in the message received by me by inspiration any (meat) forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it...." up to the end of the verse.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
I asked the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) about the hyena. He replied: It is game, and if one who is wearing ihram (pilgrim's robe) hunts it, he should give a sheep as atonement.
Narrated Al-Miqdam ibn Ma'dikarib:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Beware, the fanged beast of prey is not lawful, nor the domestic asses, nor the find from the property of a man with whom treaty has been concluded, except that he did not need it. If anyone is a guest of people who provide no hospitality for him, he is entitled to take from them the equivalent of the hospitality due to him.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
On the day of Khaybar the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) prohibited eating every beast of prey, and every bird with a talon.
Narrated Khalid ibn al-Walid:
I went with the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) to fight at the battle of Khaybar, and the Jews came and complained that the people had hastened to take their protected property (as a booty), so the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: The property of those who have been given a mules, every fanged beast of prey, and every bird with a talon are forbidden for you.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
AbuzZubayr quoted the authority of Jabir ibn Abdullah for the statement that the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) forbade payment for a dog. Ibn AbdulMalik said: to eat a cat and to enjoy its price.
Narrated Ghalib ibn Abjar:
We faced a famine, and I had nothing from my property which I could feed my family ex except a few asses, and the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) forbade the flesh of domestic asses. So I came to the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and said: Apostle of Allah (may peace be upon) , we are suffering from famine, and I have no property which I feed my family except some fat asses, and you have forbidden the flesh of domestic asses. He said: Feed your family on the fat asses of yours, for I forbade them on account of the animal which feeds on the filth of the town, that is, the animal which feeds on filth.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-'As:
On the day of Khaybar the Apostle of Allah (may pease be upon him) forbade (eating) the flesh of domestic asses, and the animal which feeds on filth: riding it and eating its flesh.
Narrated Salman al-Farsi:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) was asked about (eating) locusts. He replied: They are the most numerous of Allah's hosts. I neither eat them nor declare them unlawful.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: What the sea throws up and is left by the tide you may eat, but what dies in the sea and floats you must not eat.
Narrated Jabir ibn Samurah:
A man alighted at Harrah with his wife and children. A man said (to him): My she-camel has strayed; if you find it, detain it.
He found it, but did not find its owner, and it fell ill. His wife said: Slaughter it. But he refused and it died.
She said: Skin it so that we may dry its fat and flesh and then eat them.
He said: Let me ask the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him). So he came to him (the Prophet) and asked him. He said: Have you sufficient for your needs? He replied: No. He then said: Then eat it.
Then its owner came and he told him the story. He said: Why did you not slaughter it? He replied: I was ashamed (or afraid) of you.
Narrated Al-Faji' ibn Abdullah al-Amiri:
Al-Faji' came to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) and asked: Is not dead meat lawful for us? He said: What is your food? We said: Some food in the evening and some in the morning. AbuNu'aym said: Uqbah explained it to me saying: a cup (of milk) in the morning and a cup in the evening; this does not satisfy the hunger. So made the carrion lawful for them in this condition.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: I wish I had a white loaf made from tawny and softened with clarified butter and milk. A man from among the people got up and getting one brought it. He asked: In which had it been? He replied: In a lizard skin. He said: Take it away.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) was brought a piece of cheese in Tabuk. He called for a knife, mentioned Allah's name and cut it.
Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri:
The garlic and onions were mentioned before the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him). He was told: The most severe of them is garlic. Would you make it unlawful? The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: Eat it, and he who eats it should not come near this mosque until its odour goes away.
Narrated Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman:
Zirr ibn Hubaysh said: Hudhayfah traced, I think, to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) the saying: He who spits in the direction of the qiblah will come on the Day of Resurrection in the state that his saliva will be between his eyes; and he who eats from this noxious vegetable should not come near our mosque, saying it three times.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Umar:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: He who eats from this plant should not come near the mosques.
Narrated Al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah:
I ate garlic and came to the place where the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) was praying; one rak'ah of prayer had been performed when I joined. When I entered the mosque, the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) noticed the odour of garlic.
When the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) finished his prayer, he said: He who eats from this plant should not come near us until its odour has gone away.
When I finished the prayer, I came to the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) and said: Apostle of Allah, do give me your hand. Then I put his hand in the sleeve of my shirt, carrying it to my chest to show that my chest was fastened with a belt. He said: You have a (valid) excuse.
Narrated Mu'awiyah ibn Qurrah:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) forbade these two plants (i.e. garlic and onions), and he said: He who eats them should not come near our mosque. If it is necessary to eat them, make them dead by cooking, that is, onions and garlic.
Narrated Ali ibn AbuTalib:
It is forbidden to eat garlic unless it is cooked.
Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
Khalid said: AbuZiyad Khiyar ibn Salamah asked Aisha about onions. She replied: The last food which the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) ate was some which contained onions.
Narrated Yusuf ibn Abdullah ibn Salam:
I saw that the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) took a piece of break of barley and put a date on it and said: This is the condiment of this.
Narrated Anas ibn Malik:
When the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) was brought some old dates, he began to examine them and remove the worms from them.
Narrated Abdullah ibn AbuTalhah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) was brought some dates which contained worms. He then mentioned the rest of the tradition to the same effect as the previous (No 3823).
Narrated Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) used to eat melon with fresh dates, and he used to say: The heat of the one is broken by the coolness of the other, and the coolness of the one by the heat of the other.
Narrated Abdullah ibn Busr ibn Atiyyah ibn Busr:
The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) came to visit us and we offered him butter and dates, for he liked butter and dates.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
I was on an expedition along with the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him). We got the vessels and skins of the polytheists and used them. But he did not object to them 9i.e. us) for that (action).
Narrated AbuHurayrah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: When a mouse falls into clarified butter, if it is sold, throw the mouse and what is around it away, but if it is in a liquid state, do not go near it. Al-Hasan said: AbdurRazzaq said: This tradition has been transmitted by Ma'mar, from az-Zuhri, from Ubaydullah ibn Abdullah ibn Abbas, from Maymunah, from the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him).
Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:
The tradition mentioned above (No. 3833) has also been transmitted by Ibn Abbas from Maymunah, from the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) like the tradition narrated by az-Zuhri, from Ibn al-Musayyab.
Narrated AbuSa'id al-Khudri:
When the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) finished his food, he said: "Praise be to Allah Who has given us food and drink and made us Muslims."
Narrated AbuAyyub al-Ansari:
When the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) ate or drank, he said: "Praise be to Allah Who has given food and drink and made it easy to swallow, and provided an exit for it.
Narrated AbuHurayrah:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: If anyone spends the night with grease on his hand which he has not washed away, he can blame only himself if some trouble comes to him.
Narrated Jabir ibn Abdullah:
AbulHaytham ibn at-Tayhan prepared food for the Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him), and he invited the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) and his Companions. When they finished (food), the said: If some people enter the house of a man, his food is eaten and his drink is drunk, and they supplicate (to Allah) for him, this is his reward.
Narrated Anas ibn Malik:
The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) came to visit Sa'd ibn Ubaydah, and he brought bread and olive oil, and he ate (them). Them). Then the Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: May the fasting (men) break their fast with you, and the pious eat your food, and the angels pray for blessing on you.