Honoring The Guest: An Islamic Perspective.
The Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) said: He who believes in Allah and the Last Day should honor his guest according to his rights. He was asked: What are his rights ? The Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) answered: A day and night of generous treatment and hospitality of three days. That which you may offer beyond this will be regarded as charity. (Bukhari and Muslim)
Entertaining a guest is an important feature of Islam which signifies the respect and concern of a host towards his guest. It is obligatory upon every Muslim to welcome his guest whether rich or poor, Muslim or non-Muslim with a cheerful countenance with out least expression of unpleasantness. When the angels of Allah arrived at Prophet Abraham's house in the garb of guests, he immediately served them a roasted calf.
Hospitality is prescribed for three days during which a host is bound to serve the best food in his capacity and take care of the needs and requirements of his guest. But, if he stays for a longer duration, the usual food may be served to him. The Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) said: it is not permissible for a Muslim to stay with one of his brother so long as to put host in to sin. He was asked: How could he put him in to sin? He answered: By staying so long that the host has nothing left to offer. Some people stay at the house of their host for a very long period unnecessarily with out caring for his difficulties and causing him much affliction and loss to his money and time. Such people will be reckoned for making their host uneasy on the retribution day.
There are numerous examples of hospitality in the history of Islam including that of Hazrat Abu Talha Zaid bin Sahl Ansari who was a devoted companion of Prophet Muhammed ( peace be upon him). One evening, while the Holy Prophet( peace be upon him) was sitting with his companions a hungry traveler came to him in a bewildered state and asked his help. Unfortunately, there was nothing to eat in the Prophet's (peace be upon him) house that day. He asked his companions if anybody could take the traveler to his house as guest. Hearing this, Hazrat Abu Talha agreed and took him to his house. He inquired his wife about food at which she told him that there was only a little bit of food to feed the children. Hazrat Abu Talha told her not to bother and some how manage to make the children sleep with out food and seemingly trying to set the lamp right should put it off at the time of dinner. By this trick, the guest would take the meal to his satisfaction, with out any hesitation in the darkness and they would move their mouth in a way as if they too were eating. The next morning when this unique host came to the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) he smiled and told him that Allah liked the way of his hospitality very much.
The host should consider the honor of his guest as his own and defend it with all his might if some body tries to injure it. Such was the case of prophet Lut (peace be upon him). When the Angels of Allah arrived at his house in the form of handsome boys, his licentious people tried to attack their honor, he firmly stood in his defense at the cost of his life.
It is a part of Sunnah that a man should go with his guest up to the door of his home.(Ibn Majah). Hospitality is the right of a guest upon his host and he does him no favor in it because its reward is with Allah. The host should adopt a humble and pride-free attitude towards his guest and do not reveal his unpleasantness and boredom in any case till the time of his departure. If he does so, all his pains and efforts in his hospitality will go in vain.
But today, with the decline in the moral values, hospitality is fast vanishing and is its lowest ebb. Earlier, people used to consider the arrival of a guest as his good luck and take care of his needs and requirements by all means in their power. But, today it adds to the uneasiness and unpleasantness of the people belonging to the elite modern society who consider the money and time spent in the entertainment of guest as wasteful and profitless. As a result, hospitality, for which the Muslim Ummah is famous, is fast disappearing. Good conduct and moral values have lost their importance and instead materialism has gained much weight in their eyes thereby converting them in to mere money hoarding machines with no humane feeling of affection, concern and care for their fellow beings. The Muslims should have perfect faith in Allah and His verdicts and consider all His commandments beneficial to the mankind. They should not behave like the hypocrites and leave the rest which does not comply with their wishes. Only then they can hope to attain peace in the world.
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