1259. ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Let none of you drink while standing.” Recorded by Muslim (1).

Points derived from the ḥadith

1. The report contains a prohibition on drinking, and the default ruling for any prohibition is that the act is unlawful. For that reason the Ẓāhirīs declared drinking while standing to be forbidden.

2. The majority, however, regard it as merely contrary to what is preferable, because it appears to conflict with what Muslim (2027) relates from Ibn ʿAbbās: “I served the Messenger of Allah ﷺ some Zamzam water and he drank it while standing.” Al-Bukhārī (5615) likewise records that ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) drank while standing and said, “I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ do just what you have seen me do,” which shows that the original prohibition was not intended as an absolute ban.

3. Al-Adab al-Sharʿiyyah notes that the Prophet ﷺ drank while standing to show that it is permissible and not unlawful; therefore the prohibition denotes dislikedness or a departure from what is best. Al-Saffārīnī, in his commentary on Manẓūmat al-Ādāb, affirms that the reports of his drinking while standing are authentic; accordingly the prohibition is to be understood as discouraging the practice, while his own action was meant to establish the allowance.

Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar versified the issue:

When you would drink, sit down and you will succeed,
Following the custom of the folk of Ḥijāz indeed.
They deemed his standing drink authentic and sound,
But only to show that permission may be found.