Question
What is the authenticity status of the narration regarding the virtue of eating sweet food?
The Narration
❀ It is reported from Sayyiduna Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
إذا وضعت الحلوى بين يدي أحدكم فليصب منها ولا يردها
“When sweet food is placed before one of you, let him take from it and not return it without partaking.”
(al-Ḍuʿafāʾ by Abū Zurʿah 2/400; Kitāb al-Majrūḥīn by Ibn Ḥibbān 2/206; Muʿjam Abī Yaʿlā 95; al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ 7129)
Scholarly Ruling
This narration is weak and munkar.
- Faḍālah ibn Ḥuṣayn is muḍṭarib al-ḥadīth (inconsistent in narration).
❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī (رحمه الله) said:
كان متهما بهذا الحديث
“The blame for fabricating this ḥadīth rests upon Faḍālah ibn Ḥuṣayn.”
(Shuʿab al-Īmān 8/89)
The narration in which he has been followed up is also weak and munkar, because it contains ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Shaybah, who is weak.
❀ Imām Abū Zurʿah al-Rāzī (رحمه الله) said:
هذا حديث منكر
“This ḥadīth is munkar.”
(ʿIlal al-Ḥadīth by Ibn Abī Ḥātim, no. 1514)
Conclusion:The narration about the virtue of eating sweet food is unauthentic (ḍaʿīf and munkar) and cannot be relied upon.
