IMAM GHAZZALI’S IHYA ULUMIDDIN, VOLUME.II, CHAPTER I
FIVE RULES OF ACCEPTANCE OF INVITATIONS
To accept invitation is sunnat or the practice of the Prophet. Some say it is compulsory.
The Prophet said : If I am asked to eat goat’s thigh, I shall accept it. There are five rules of accepting invitation .
(1) Don’t distinguish between the poor and the rich. It appertains to pride and is prohibited. For this reason, those who accept the invitation of the rich in comparison with that of the poor appertain to the class of proud people and are opposed to the ways of the Prophet . The Prophet used to accept the invitation of the slaves and the poor. Once Hasan, son of Hazrat Ali, was passing by a group of poor people who were begging by the side of a path way and were eating food in a dusty place. Hazrat Hasan was riding on a camel. They said : grandson of the Prophet, join us in our food. He at once got down, sat with them on the ground, ate food with them and the rode upon his camel and said: I accepted your invitation. Now accept my invitation. They accepted it and he entertained them on a fixed date.
(2) Invitation should not be refused for distance. There is written in the Torah : Go to see a sick man even to a distance of one mile. Join a funeral prayer even to the of three miles and meet with a friend for the sake of God even to the distance of four miles.
The Prophet said : Had I been invited to a place in the village of Gamim (It is several miles off from Medinah), I would have accepted it. The Prophet once broke fast there in Ramadan and made his prayer short.
(3) Don’t refuse invitation owing to fast and attend feast and breakfast so as to incur the pleasure of the host, as it brings greater rewards than that of optional fast.
The Prophet said: Your brother has taken trouble and you say: I am fasting. Hazrat Ibn Abbas said : The best virtue is to eat with friends after breaking (optional) fast. There are signs of entertainment of guest-to give antimony and scents or scented oils.
(4) Don’t accept invitation where you know or doubt that food unlawful earned will be served or irreligious acts will be performed such as unlawful food and wine will be placed, gold and silver cups and plates will be used or immoral songs will be sung. Acceptance of invitation is not lawful if the host is a tyrant, transgressor or innovator.
(5) Don’t accept invitation for satisfaction of belly, but intend to gain strength for acquiring merits in the next world. Be careful of disobeying God.
The Prophet said : He who does not accept invitation , disobeys God and His Apostle , According to this Hadith, intend to honour your brother believer. Intend to incur pleasure in the minds of the Muslim according to this Hadith : He who incurs the pleasure of a believer incur the pleasure of God ; Intend to meet a believer in order that you may love him as the Prophet imposed this condition for it. Therein there is meeting with each other and expense for the sake of God. Intend to be free from defamation, so that ‘it may not be said that he did not attend owing to pride. Don’t take pride in it and don’t show bad conduct and don’t hold in contempt your brother Muslim. If one of the above intentions is observed, it will bring one to the nearness of God. A certain sage said : I wish to have niyyat or intention in all my actions, even in food and drink.
The Prophet said : All actions are judged by intention. Every man gets what he intends. Whose emigrates for the sake of God and His apostle, his emigration is for God and His Apostle, he who emigrates for worldly gain or for marrying a woman will get that for which he emigrates. There is no effect of intention in unlawful things. So don’t intend to do an unlawful thing.
