Those who permitted eating fruit when passing by it

Abu Ja'far said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he went out, would order Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) to break open the edges of the walls.

Sayyiduna Rafi' bin Amr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I was a young boy and I used to throw stones at the date palms of the Ansar to bring down the fruit. This was mentioned to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "There is a boy who throws stones at our date palms." Then I was brought to him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said to me: "O boy! Why do you throw stones at the date palms?" I said: I want to eat the dates. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not throw stones at the date palms; eat what falls to the bottom." Then he passed his hand over my head and said: "O Allah, fill his stomach."

A man from the tribe of Muzaynah asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about the ruling on eating fruit still in its clusters. He said: "Whoever eats it there and does not fill a bag, there is no harm in that."

Sinan bin Salamah said: I was with some boys gathering unripe dates when Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) suddenly came there. The boys ran away and I stood there. I said: O Commander of the Faithful! I was picking up dates that the wind had brought down. He said: Show me. I showed him, and he told me to go. I said: The boys you just saw will snatch these dates from me, so please come with me. So Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) walked with me until I reached a place where I was safe.

Al-Ala' bin al-Musayyib said: I asked Hammad about what falls from date palms that are not yours. He said: Ibrahim said: The early Muhajirun saw no harm in eating it.

Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When you pass by an orchard, you may eat of its fruit, but you may not carry any away with you.

Abu Wa'il said: When we went on a campaign and came upon fruit, we saw no harm in eating it.

Sufyan bin Husayn said: I asked al-Hasan and Ibn Sirin: Sometimes I go out to al-Ubullah, and we pass by date palms and other trees and eat from them; what is the ruling? Both of them permitted it and said: There is no harm as long as you do not carry any away and do not cause damage.

Sayyiduna Abu Sa'id (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When you pass by an orchard, call out to its owner. If he answers, ask him for food and eat; and if there is no answer, eat, but do not cause damage.

Abu Zaynab said: I was in an army with Sayyiduna Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him), Sayyiduna Abu Barzah (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyiduna Abd al-Rahman bin Samurah (may Allah be pleased with him), and we used to eat of the fruit.

Zirr said: I used to travel with Ibrahim, and he would eat of the fruit.

It is narrated from Amr bin Shu'ayb that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever passes by an orchard may eat from it, but he may not carry any away with him."

Abu Ja'far said: There is no harm in eating the fruit of the protected non-Muslims (dhimmis).

Ibn Sirin said: I asked Ubaydah whether a traveller who passes by an orchard of fruit may eat from it. He said: He may eat, but he must not cause damage.

Something similar is reported from Muhammad (Ibn Sirin).

Sayyiduna Jundub al-Bajali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: We used to fight in jihad alongside the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) (may Allah be pleased with them), and we did as they did. We would eat of the fruit and would take a local non-Arab man, who would guide us from one village to another; but we did not share with them in their houses.

Shu'bah said: I asked Hammad whether a traveller may eat the fruit of an orchard. He said: If the rulers oppress the people, then in my view it is better that he does not eat.

And I asked al-Hakam, and he said: Eat.

Sayyiduna Abbad bin Shurahbil (may Allah be pleased with him), a man from Banu Ghubar, said: Once, in the days of a famine, I entered an orchard, plucked an ear of grain and rubbed it. Then the owner of the orchard came, struck me and snatched my cloak. We came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: "Why did you not feed him when he was hungry, and why did you not teach him when he did not know?" Then he had the garment returned to me.