Thus the textual proofs that call for honoring the elder and those that call for favoring the right-hand side can be brought together. We say: The incident narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) states that he had a vessel from which he was drinking, with some elders seated to his left and a youth—ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbbās—to his right. The Prophet said to the boy, “Do you give me permission to pass it to these men?” The boy replied, “No, by Allah; I shall not let anyone receive my share from you.” The Messenger of Allah therefore handed it to him. Accordingly, when the setting is like this, you give to the person on your right; but when the people are directly in front of you, you start with the eldest, as the Sunnah indicates. This is the point of reconciliation between the two guidelines.

If you begin with the elder, who receives after him? Is it the person on the elder’s right—who will be on the server’s left—or the one on the server’s own right? We say: start with the one on the server’s right, even though he is to the elder’s left. After the priority of seniority has been observed, we revert to the rule of giving preference to the right, so the person on your right—who is on your opposite’s left—comes next. This holds unless the recipients defer to one another and say, “Give it to so-and-so, give it to so-and-so,” for the prerogative is theirs and they may waive it. Allah knows best.