Muslim eating or drinking while standing

13-9-2001 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the ruling on a Muslim drinking/eating while standing? Is it Makrooh, Haram or what?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

There are sound Ahadeeth that tell Muslims not to eat or drink while standing. Muslim reported from Anas ibn Malik that he said: “The Prophet told (Muslims) not to drink while standing up.” When Anas was asked about eating while standing up, he replied by saying: “That is much worse.”

There are also other sound Ahadeeth that prove the lawfulness of drinking and eating while standing up. Al-Bukhari reported that Ali came to the gate of the courtyard (of the mosque) and drank (water) while he was standing and said, “Some people dislike to drink while standing, but I saw the Prophet doing (drinking water) as you have seen me doing now.”

At-Tirmithi reported in a sound Hadeeth from Ibn ‘Umar that he said: “We used to eat, during the era of the Prophet, while walking, and we used to drink while standing up.”

The scholars have different opinions about this issue. The most preponderant one is that whoever eats or drinks while standing up does not commit a sin, but it is preferable to avoid doing so.

Allah knows best.