Abu Salih said: I was sitting with my father and there was also a boy with him. He got up and then returned. So my father mentioned a tradition on the authority of Abu Hurairah from the prophet ﷺ saying: If anyone gets up from where he has been sitting and comes back to it, he has most right to it.
Hadith Referenceسنن ابي داود / كتاب الأدب / 4853
Hadith Gradingالألبانی:صحيح | زبیر علی زئی:صحيح مسلم (2179)
Hadith Takhrij« تفرد بہ أبو داود، (تحفة الأشراف: 12627)، وقد أخرجہ: صحیح مسلم/السلام 12 (2179)، سنن ابن ماجہ/الأدب 22 (3717)، مسند احمد (2/342، 527)، سنن الدارمی/الاستئذان 25 (2696) (صحیح) »
Benefits and Issues: This ruling appears to pertain to scholarly and specific gatherings, where people sit in an organized manner with due diligence. In general assemblies, if someone wishes to leave and return, he should leave some sign at his place. As is mentioned in the following narration.
Source: Sunan Abu Dawood – Commentary by Shaykh Umar Farooq Saeedi, Page: 4853
'A'isha reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) was shrouded in three cotton garments of white Yamani stuff from Sahul, among which was neither a shirt nor a turban; and so far as Hullah is concerned there was some doubt about it in the minds of people, that it was brought for him in order to shroud him with it, but it was abandoned, and he was shrouded in three cotton garments of white Yamani stuff from Sahul. Then 'Abdullah bin Abu Bakr (RA) got it and said: I would keep it in order to shroud myself in it. He then said: If Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, would have desired it for His Apostle, he would have been shrouded with it. So he sold it and gave its price in charity.
Shaykh Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi
Hadith Commentary: Benefits and Issues: ➊ Sahuliyyah: There are both fathah (zabar) and dammah (pesh) reported on the letter "seen." If read with fathah (zabar) on the "seen," it refers to white or cotton garments. And it is better to ascribe it to a particular town, meaning Sahuli garments. ➋ According to Imam Shafi‘i rahimahullah, Ahmad rahimahullah, and the hadith scholars, there are three shrouds (kafan) for a man, and these do not include a shirt (qamis) or a turban (‘imamah). Because if these were included, the number of garments would become five. And this is also the position of Imam Malik rahimahullah. According to the Hanafis, there are three garments, one of which is a shirt (qamis), i.e., a shirt, a sheet, and a wrapper. However, including the shirt among these three garments is contrary to the explicit narration.
Source: Tuhfat al-Muslim: Commentary on Sahih Muslim, Page: 2179