Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
17. The host should ensure that he conducts with good character and good manners when interacting with his guest. He should not speak to him impolitely or make him feel uncomfortable in his home, etc. Rather, he should speak to him with respect and honour.
عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه عن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: من كان يؤمن بالله واليوم الآخر فليكرم ضيفه (صحيح البخاري، الرقم: 6138)
Hazrat Abu Hurairah (radhiyallahu anhu) reports that Rasulullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said, “The one who believes in Allah Ta’ala and the last day (the day of Qiyaamah) should honour his guest.”
18. When the guests consist of non-mahram males and females, then the host should ensure that he arranges separate seating for the non-mahram males and females. Similarly, the entrance point of his home should be different. If there is only one entrance, then the womenfolk should to be made to enter first and be received by the womenfolk of the home, and thereafter the men should be made to enter and be received by the men of the home.
19. The males should serve the male guests and the females should serve the female guests. A female should not bring the food to the male quarters and serve it to them, and nor should a male bring the food to the female quarters and serve it to them.
20. The host should design his home in a way that purdah can be observed between non-mahram males and females. There should be a separate room for the males and a separate room for the females. In this way, the males and females will not see each other, nor have any contact with each other.
However, if the home is not designed in this manner (e.g. it is an open plan home), then the host should at least have some segregation between males and females through putting a screen/partition or hanging a curtain in between.
