WELCOME & HOSPITALITY

Rasulullah (Sallallaahu A'laihi Wasallam) showed us how to regulate our everyday actions. He has not only taught us how to live with others but above all, he gave us a portrait as an example of his conduct and how to follow his precepts.

The teaching and practice of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu A'laihi Wasallam) is called the Sunnah‎.

One among the great Sunnah‎s of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu A'laihi Wasallam) is the rule of hospitality.

He showed us what warmth and tenderness someone should show towards their guests. Guests are not only those who have been invited, but anyone who has entered our homes. The reason for their coming by us is secondary. It is a guest who is at our threshold and our duty is to receive him. To make your guest feel the meaning of your hospitality, there are no other more sincere means than those practiced by Rasulullah (Sallallaahu A'laihi Wasallam), mentioned here below. The person who believes in Allah and the Last Day must honour and care for his guests.

Receive your guests for three days and if anyone receives his guests for more than three days, he will have the charitable sawaab for each meal served.

Receiving a guest who had previously acted badly, the master of the house must display to him all his goodness and generosity. A Muslim must demonstrate the ability to change a bad action for a good one. The master of the house must display whatever formalities he possesses to make his visitor happy. When he eats in the company of his visitor, he must be the last to finish the meal so that the guest does not find himself in an uncomfortable position and to ensure that he eats to his satisfaction.

May Allah Ta'ala give us the courage to show our hospitality to our visitors and guests in accordance with the precepts of Shari'ah. Ameen

• 1. It is a part of my established Sunnah that a host accompanies his guest to the threshold of his door. (Ibn Maajah)
• 2. The blessings of Allah Ta'ala come faster to a house where food is served from it than the knife to the hump of the camel. (Ibn Maajah)
• 3. Every time Rasulullah (Sallallaahu A'laihi Wasallam) took a meal in the company of people, it was certainly he who finished the last one. (Baihaqui)
• 4. Whoever believes in Allah Ta'ala and the last day, must honour his guest, his care is for a day and a night upto three days and exceeding this period is charity. It is not permitted for the guest to stay so long as to put his host in difficulty. (Bukhari & Muslim)
• 5. O Rasulullah (Sallallaahu A'laihi Wasallam), enlighten me, if I meet a man and he does not entertain me or does not grant me hospitality and after which he comes to pay me a visit; should I honour him or treat it the same way? Rasulullah (Sallallaahu A'laihi Wasallam) replied: It would be better to grant him hospitality. (Tirmizi)

[English version of "L'accueil & l'hospitalité" – Al Haadi – Vol. 1 No. 1]