# Is it haram to sit at a table where people are drinking alcohol?

*Is it a sin to sit at a table where alcohol is served?*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/tr4-gh0qez4/s/5/
- Date: 2020-08-04 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth #176 *Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted!* 🤣 (16:30–20:06)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR4-gh0qEZ4&t=990s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/tr4-gh0qez4/

**Topics:** Intoxicants and substances; Individual hadith explained

**Question as asked:** What about the instruction not to sit at a table where alcohol is served?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth says it is not a sin to sit at a table where alcohol is served; the hadith was part of a gradual move away from alcohol.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says there is no sin in sitting at a table where there is alcohol.

**Evidence, his words at 16:58:** “there is no sin in sitting at a table with is alcohol. But this hadith uh if true is part of a series a systematized approach to distance people from alcohol” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR4-gh0qEZ4&t=1018s)

## Longer summary

A chat comment cites the instruction not to sit at a table with alcohol. Mufti Abu Layth says there is no sin in sitting at such a table, and that the hadith, if true, is part of a systematic, incremental approach to distance people from khamr, alongside reports cursing those who serve or buy it, which Mufti calls religious rhetoric to create distance before the prohibition. Mufti says that once that generation had settled the ruling was stabilised, and that if sitting with alcohol were haram one could not marry a Christian woman. Mufti cites Imam Malik's answer that a husband has no right to stop a Christian wife from bringing alcohol into the home or eating pork, and says Imam Ahmad said something very similar.

## Sources and names cited

- alcohol (khamr)
- report: do not sit at a table where wine is served
- Imam Malik
- Ahmad ibn Hanbal

## Transcript (machine tier, 16:30–20:06)

[16:30] Do not sit on the table with the alcohol. You know this. [laughter] Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah Allah So what is this?

[16:58] Um you see look I've explained this in much detail before [snorts] there is no sin in sitting at a table with is alcohol. But this hadith uh if true is part of a series a systematized approach to distance people from alcohol. So it begins by saying well you know if you're um if you're drunk then don't pray or if you're like this then don't do this.

[17:29] And it there's a a a an incremental um development towards the prohibition of kamar [laughter] [laughter] an incremental developed approach. [laughter] So we can see that the there's several things mentioned about alcohol being maybe being perceived to be something very

[18:05] dirty and uh nudgeous almost and these this perception appears to distance the public from it and amongst that the prophet saying look such and such is cursed and such and such is cursed and uh don't even sit at the table and then the person who's serving it is cursed and the person who's buying it is cursed. And these things are like religious rhetoric to just create a distance between the people and the alcohol and it's made haram.

[18:42] So that's all it was. I would say that once that generation had settled, the ruling was stabilized anyway. So, it's not that sitting at a table with alcohol is haram because if that's the case, then you wouldn't be allowed to marry Christians. As Imam Malik said that, well, if you marry uh when he was asked about marrying the Christian lady, he said, well, you know, you have no right to then stop her from bringing alcohol in the home or in consuming pork.

[19:14] And in fact, you'd have to pay for it. You know, you would because you're paying for her to take care of her. So she eats pork and drinks wine and that comes part of the parcel. So a lot of people don't realize these things but it's actually in our fick books. Even Imam Ahmed Hul said a very similar thing. U all right Sansari just subscribed.

[19:40] You're doing it. You're doing it. Um right. So I hope that makes much sense. Uh, somebody saying I don't know what that's in reference to, right? Let's see. Allah Allah Allah who what's going down?

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment TR4-gh0qEZ4/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/tr4-gh0qez4/s/5/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.