Right manners of drinking Zamzam water

In fact, Zamzam water is the blessed water on the earth which was spurted in the holy sanctuary of Makkah for removing the thirst of Ismael (AS). The pilgrims who go to Makkah to perform Umrah they drink Zamzam water as a blessing. Though it is the ritual of Umrah but not obligatory, yet people should not miss such blessed rite of pilgrimage. 

Although regular water is advised to drink by seated, yet Zamzam is highly recommended to drink it by standing. However, drinking Zamzam by seated is not sinful. So, you can drink it by seated when you get an opportunity to visit Kaabah through December 2020 umrah package to perform the pilgrimage. Let’s see different opinions of different Muslim scholars regarding drinking Zamzam.

Standing up or being seated whilst drinking Zamzam

Some Muslim scholars say it is ‘recommended’ to stand and drink Zamzam. They are called a group of Hanafi scholars like Mulla Ali al-Qari, Imam al-Lakhnawi, and Imam Ibn Abidin who mentioned ‘standing’ as one of the etiquettes (adaab) of drinking Zamzam. They give the reference of the following reports of Hadiths. They claim that once Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas served the Zamzam water to the Messenger of God and he drank it while standing. 

The well-known Hadith scholar Imam Mulla Ali al-Qari’ (Allah have mercy on him) has described that the general practice of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) regarding regular water was to drink whilst being seated. However, one should drink Zamzam whilst standing. 

 

According to many other Muslims scholars such as Shafi’i and other jurists, it is a Sunna to be seated whilst drinking Zamzam water, and slightly disliked to stand. They claim that this is due to the general prohibition in various Hadiths of drinking water whilst standing up. They give the reference of the following hadiths.

They say that Sayyiduna Anas ibn Malik (RA) reported that the Messenger of God disapproved the drinking of water while standing.  They also give the reference of hadith that Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (RA) reported that the Messenger of God said, “None of you should drink while standing; and if anyone forgets, he must vomit.”

The well-known Hadith scholar and Shafi’i jurist known as Imam Nawawi (Allah have mercy on him) explicate in his Explanation that the prevention in the above hadiths refers to this practice being slightly disliked but not unlawful. This is because it is established that the Messenger of God drank whilst standing up. The Messenger of God would seldom carry out certain actions in order to show their permissibility in spite of his regular practice being to the contrary. As for as his regular practice has concerned, so that was to drink water while being seated, yet on some rare occasions he stood up and drank to show that it was not unlawful to do so.

Consequently, it is neither necessary to drink Zamzam in the standing state nor be seated, as both are permitted. Since there is a genuine and valid difference of opinion on the issue of drinking Zamzam, so no one should be rebuked or looked down upon whether they drink Zamzam water standing up or being seated.

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