175 — “None of you must ever drink while standing.”

Muslim transmitted it (6/110–111) through ʿUmar ibn Ḥamzah, who reported that Abū Ghaṭafān al-Murrī informed him that he had heard Abū Hurayrah say: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said so—and he added, “Whoever does so out of forgetfulness should make himself vomit.”

I say: Although Muslim relied on this ʿUmar, Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, al-Nasāʾī and others judged him weak. Hence al-Ḥāfiẓ [Ibn Ḥajar] said in al-Taqrīb, “Weak.” Therefore the ḥadīth with this additional wording is weak.

It is, however, authentic in another wording, which is why I have cited it here without that addition. Abū Ziyād al-Taḥḥān said: “I heard Abū Hurayrah relate that the Prophet ﷺ saw a man drinking while standing. He said to him, ‘Spit it out!’ The man asked, ‘Why?’ He replied, ‘Would it please you if a cat drank with you?’ He said, ‘No.’ The Prophet said, ‘Then someone worse than a cat has been drinking with you—the Devil!’”

Aḥmad (7990), al-Dārimī (2/121), and al-Ṭaḥāwī in Mushkil al-Āthār (3/19) recorded it through Shuʿbah from Abū Ziyād.

This chain is sound: its transmitters are trustworthy and belong to the narrators accepted by the two Shaykhs, apart from Abū Ziyād himself. Ibn Maʿīn declared him reliable, and Abū Ḥātim said, “An elder whose ḥadīth is acceptable,” as cited in al-Jarḥ wa al-Taʿdīl (4/2/373). Hence al-Dhahabī’s remark that he is “unknown” carries no weight after these two leading authorities have accredited him.

The ḥadīth has also reached us in another form: “If the one who drinks while standing knew what was in his stomach, he would certainly vomit.”