the vessel, the dislike of exhaling into it, and the recommendation that the vessel be passed to the one on the right, then to each successive person on the right after the first drinker.

The author has already, in the previous chapter, dealt with what pertains to food; many statements regarding the etiquette of eating have preceded. Allah—glorified and exalted—is continually bestowing favors upon His servants, favors without number, as He says: “If you were to count Allah’s favor, you could never enumerate it.” Eating and drinking are among those favors of Allah, and no one truly appreciates their worth except the one who has been deprived of them. We ask Allah not to withhold them from us. Whoever has been denied these things, who has tasted hunger and thirst, will recognize Allah’s blessing found in food and drink. This is one of the wisdoms of fasting: a person refrains from eating and drinking so that he may come to realize the magnitude of Allah’s kindness in making food and drink readily available.

Drinking, too, has etiquettes. Among them is that one pronounce Allah’s name when drinking, saying: “Bismillah” (In the name of Allah). Another is that one breathe during the act of drinking three times, for Anas ibn Mālik (Allah be pleased with him) reported: “Whenever the Prophet ﷺ drank, he would breathe during the drink three times.” How is that done? He would drink, then remove the vessel from his mouth, breathe, then drink again, remove it, breathe, and then a third time—without exhaling into the vessel—just as is clarified in the hadith of Abū Qatādah.