salam while eating

[fatma]

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

dear imam i hope this question reaches you in the best of health and Jazakallah Khair for answering all my previous questions.

i would like to know if you can give the reply to salam if you are eating as my uncle who is a hafiz said that it is a big sin to say salam while eating. but then would it not be wrong to talk while eating also as they carry on talking. personally i didn't know that it was ever wrong to give the answer to salam.

could you please clarify this matter as i'm quite confused and as it is my uncle i can't really push the matter.

Jazakallah Khair

Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

from fatma...

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Wa'alaykum 'Assalam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu


All Praise be to Allah who is the Lord of the Worlds, and may Endless Blessings be showered upon His Most Beloved, and Final Messenger of Islam, Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam

Your uncle seems to be quiet right. Whilst eating, if someone says salam, it is regarded as not being ja'iz (impermissable) to reply.

The purpose of not replying, relates to the fact that when someone walks in and says salam, you are distracted from eating which is already a sunnah within itself. Then there is the issue of standing up, and greeting someone, and if they are from far, of embracing them and doing musahafah. To prevent all this from happening, the scholars of the Hanafi madh'hab, have stated that to concentrate on your first sunnah, instead of being distracted from it, should remain intact, and that is by not replying at all.

The issue of talking whilst eating however, holds a different theory altogether. It is based on the fact that at the times of the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, there were some munafiqin who would be present amongst the feast which would be held. It wasn't that the beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam did not know them, but to protect themselves from being identified, they would remain very quiet, as opposed to being a True Participant. Therefore the Beloved Messenger of Allah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, gave the permission of talking, but only at intervals, whilst eating, at the feast. This would then differentiate the munafiqin from the Muslims, who would be non-talkative, as opposed to the Believers who would be slightly talkative, and it is based on this sunnah that we follow.

I hope I have made clear the distinction, and the purpose of not saying salam whilst eating, although there is not a strict application to this rule.


Jazak'allah for your question.





Wallahu A'lamu Biththawaab


M. Waseem Ashrafi