❖ Question:
Is it permissible to accept a gift given by a polytheist or disbeliever? Likewise, can a gift be given to a disbeliever or polytheist? Kindly provide guidance in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah.
✿ Answer:
If a disbeliever or polytheist gives a Muslim a present or gift, then it is permissible to accept it. One point should be kept in mind: the item must be permissible and proper to use in Islam. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ accepted presents and gifts sent by several disbelievers.
Imām al-Bukhārī رحمه الله, in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Hibah wa Faḍlihā wa al-Taḥrīḍ ʿalayhā, established the chapter “Bāb Qabūl al-Hadiyyah min al-Mushrikīn” (Chapter: Accepting Gifts from Polytheists), thereby proving its permissibility, and presented the following evidences:
◈ Evidences from Sunnah
① Narrated by Sayyidunā Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“Ibrāhīm عليه السلام migrated with Sārah عليها السلام and reached a city where there was a disbelieving and oppressive king. He said: ‘Give her (Ibrāhīm) Ājar (Hājar).’”
Imām al-Bukhārī has mentioned this narration briefly in the chapter under discussion and in detail in:
- Kitāb Aḥādīth al-Anbiyāʾ
- Chapter: The saying of Allah the Exalted: “And Allah took Ibrāhīm as a Khalīl”
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī: 3358, 2217]
This narration makes it clear that the oppressive and tyrannical Pharaoh king gave Lady Hājar to Ibrāhīm عليه السلام as a gift, and he accepted it. Whatever is reported in the Sharīʿahs prior to ours is permissible for us as long as our Sharīʿah has not prohibited it — and regarding such presents and gifts, our Sharīʿah has reported no prohibition.
② Narrated by Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه:
A Jewish woman brought poisoned goat meat to the Prophet ﷺ. He ate some of it. Then, when the woman was brought, she confessed to having put poison in the meat. It was said, “Shall we not kill her?” He said, “No!”
Anas رضي الله عنه said:
“I always felt the effect of that poison in the palate of the Prophet ﷺ.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī – Kitāb al-Hibah – Chapter: Accepting Gifts from Polytheists (2617)]
③ On the way from Makkah to Egypt, there was a port on the seashore called Ayla; the name of its Christian ruler was Yūḥannā ibn Ubah. This ruler sent a white shirt and a cloak as a gift to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ wrote to him that he would remain as the ruler of his people, because he had agreed to pay the jizyah.
[See: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī – Kitāb al-Zakāh – Chapter: ʿArḍ al-Tamr (1481); Musnad al-Dārimī: 2537]
④ Narrated by Sayyidunā Anas bin Mālik رضي الله عنه:
The Prophet ﷺ was given a silk robe (jubbah) as a gift; this robe was sent to him as a present by Ukaydir, the Christian of Dūmah (a place near Tabūk).
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī – Kitāb al-Hibah – Chapter: Accepting Gifts from Polytheists (2615, 2616)]
⑤ Narrated by Sayyidunā ʿAbdur-Raḥmān bin Abī Bakr رضي الله عنهما:
“We were one hundred and thirty men with the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Does any of you have anything to eat?’ One Companion had about one ṣāʿ of food (flour), which was kneaded. Then a tall, lanky, dishevelled polytheist came driving some goats. The Prophet ﷺ asked him: ‘Will you sell, or give as a gift (ʿaṭiyyah)?’ Or perhaps he said hadiyyah instead of ʿaṭiyyah. He said: ‘No, rather I will sell.’ So he bought a goat from him; it was slaughtered, and then he ordered its liver to be roasted. By Allah! The Prophet ﷺ cut a piece of that liver for every one of the one hundred and thirty. Those who were present were given it at that time, and the share of those who were absent was kept aside. Then the meat was put in two large vessels, and everyone ate their fill, and what remained in the vessels was loaded on a camel and brought back.”
[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī – Kitāb al-Hibah – Chapter: Accepting Gifts from Polytheists (2618)]
The hadiths above make it clear that polytheists sent presents and gifts to the Prophet ﷺ and he accepted them. This last hadith is also evidence for accepting a polytheist’s gift, because the Prophet ﷺ asked the polytheist whether he would sell the goats or give them as a gift — these words of his indicate accepting a polytheist’s gift.
◈ Clarification Regarding Some Weak Narrations
There is a narration from ʿIyāḍ bin Ḥimār which says that he gifted a she-camel to the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ said:
“Have you accepted Islam?”
He replied: “No!”
So the Prophet ﷺ said:
“I have been forbidden from the gifts of the polytheists.”
[Abū Dāwūd – Kitāb al-Kharāj – Chapter: The Imām Accepting Gifts from the Polytheists (2007); al-Tirmidhī: 1977; Musnad al-Ṭayālisī: 1083; al-Muntaqā by Ibn al-Jārūd: 1110; Ibn Khuzaymah, with reference to Fatḥ al-Bārī (5/221)]
This narration is weak due to the tadlīs (concealment) of Qatādah, and it also contradicts authentic hadiths.
Similarly, the narration reported by Mūsā bin ʿUqbah in Kitāb al-Maghāzī — that ʿĀmir bin Mālik, a polytheist, came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and presented him a gift, and he ﷺ said:
“I do not accept the gift of a polytheist,”
—this narration is weak because it is mursal. Some have also narrated it from al-Zuhrī as mawṣūl (connected), but that is not authentic.
[Fatḥ al-Bārī (5/230), Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī (5/188)]
For further details, books such as Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī and Fatḥ al-Bārī should be consulted.
✿ Can a Gift be Given to a Polytheist or Disbeliever?
As for giving a gift to a disbeliever or polytheist, Imām al-Bukhārī رحمه الله has argued for its permissibility from verse 8 of Sūrah al-Mumtaḥanah, in which Allah says:
﴿لَا يَنْهَاكُمُ اللَّهُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُقَاتِلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَلَمْ يُخْرِجُوكُمْ مِنْ دِيَارِكُمْ أَنْ تَبَرُّوهُمْ وَتُقْسِطُوا إِلَيْهِمْ﴾
“Allah does not forbid you from being kind and just to those who have not fought you because of religion nor expelled you from your homes.”
📖 [Sūrah al-Mumtaḥanah: 8]
This verse shows that worldly good manners and good treatment are not prohibited towards those disbelievers who have not fought the Muslims nor expelled them from their homes. It should also be remembered that every act of kindness, good-doing and benevolence does not necessitate that the disbelievers be taken as intimate friends and that one begin increasing ties of love with them, because taking disbelievers as intimate friends is forbidden, as Allah the Exalted says:
﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا بِطَانَةً مِنْ دُونِكُمْ لَا يَأْلُونَكُمْ خَبَالًا وَدُّوا مَا عَنِتُّمْ قَدْ بَدَتِ الْبَغْضَاءُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ وَمَا تُخْفِي صُدُورُهُمْ أَكْبَرُ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ﴾
“O you who believe! Do not take as intimate friends anyone other than the believers; the disbelievers spare no effort in ruining you. They wish that you remain in hardship. Their hatred has already become apparent from their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is even greater. We have made the verses clear to you, if you understand.”
📖 [Āl ʿImrān: 118]
In any case, under worldly good manners and conduct, a gift may be given to a polytheist and may also be accepted from him. The narrations of prohibition are not valid as proof. However, because of these presents and gifts, one should not establish intimate friendship, love and affection with them, because for a Muslim the standard of friendship and enmity is Islam.
