Adab al-Zifaf fi al-Sunnah al-Mutahharah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (152)

Participation of the affluent in funding the banquet

It is recommended that those who are well-off and of high standing contribute to the preparation of the wedding feast. This is supported by the report of Anas concerning the Prophet’s marriage to Safiyyah. He said:

“When we were still on the journey, Umm Sulaym prepared her for him and sent her to him during the night, and the Prophet ﷺ awoke the next morning a groom,1 whereupon he announced: ‘Whoever has something, let him bring it.’ In another wording he said: ‘Whoever has surplus provisions, let him bring them to us.’ A leather mat was then spread out; one man would bring dried curd, another would bring dates, and another would bring clarified butter. They mixed it all into ḥays2 [and they kept eating that ḥays and drinking from pools beside them that were filled with rainwater]. That was the wedding banquet of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.”3

(1) The term ʿarus (‘bride/groom’) is used for the man just as it is for the woman; it designates either spouse at the moment they begin married life (al-Nihaya). (2) This refers to the meal prepared from the items cited in the hadith. (3) Reported by the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim); by Ahmad, 3/102 and 195—who also transmits the alternate wording—; by Ibn Saʿd, 8/122–123; and by al-Bayhaqi, 7/259. The wording followed here is al-Bayhaqi’s, while the additional phrase is taken from Muslim, 4/148.

٢٧- مشاركة الأغنياء بمالهم في الوليمة: ويستحب أن يشارك ذوو الفضل والسعة في إعدادها لحديث أنس في قصة زواجه ﷺ بصفية قال: "حتى إذا كان بالطريق جهزتها له أم سليم فأهدتها له من الليل فأصبح النبي ﷺ عروسا١ فقال: من كان عنده شيء فليجئ به وفي رواية: من كان عنده فضل زاد فليأتنا به قال: وبسط نطعا فجعل الرجل يجئ بالأقط وجعل الرجل يجيء بالتمر وجعل الرجل يجيء بالسمن فحاسوا حيسا٢ [فجعلوا يأكلون من ذلك الحيس ويشربون من حياض إلى جنبهم من ماء السماء] فكانت وليمة رسول الله ﷺ"٣.

١ يقال للرجل: عروس كما يقال للمرأة وهو اسم لهما عند دخول أحدهما بالآخر " نهاية". ٢ هو الطعام المتخذ من الأشياء المذكورة في الحديث. ٣ أخرجه الشيخان وأحمد ٣/١٠٢ و ١٩٥ والرواية الأخرى له وابن سعد ٨/١٢٢/١٢٣ والبيهقي ٧/٢٥٩ والسياق له والزيادة لمسلم ٤/١٤٨.