Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutuha

Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutuha (Responding to Invitations and Its Conditions) is a contemporary legal and hadith monograph by the Saudi scholar Ibrahim ibn Ali ibn Ubayd al-Ubayd, focusing on the Islamic rulings and prerequisites concerning accepting invitations to banquets and social gatherings Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu….

Background and Purpose

The author, a faculty member in the College of Hadith and Islamic Studies at the Islamic University of Madinah, composed the work in response to contemporary confusion surrounding social invitations—such as wedding feasts (walimah), marriage agreements (imlak), infant naming banquets (aqiqah), and hospitality for guests Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…. Many individuals struggled to determine which invitations were obligatory (wajib) or recommended (mustahabb) to accept, and which conditions or impediments relieved an invitee of attendance Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…. An earlier iteration of the research was published under the title Bahth fi Ijabat al-Dawa in the journal of the Islamic University of Madinah, dated 1 Muharram 1417 AH (1996 CE), before appearing as an independent treatise published by Dar Ibn al-Jawzi Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…+1.

Methodology and Sources

The author originally planned to gather all relevant hadiths in one independent chapter and discuss legal rulings in another, but combined the traditions directly with their legal discussions to maintain conciseness and prevent redundancy Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…. The hadith material is compiled and referenced from primary collections, including the Nine Books (al-Kutub al-Tis'ah), the Musannaf of Abd al-Razzaq al-San'ani, the Musannaf of Ibn Abi Shaybah, the Shama'il of al-Tirmidhi, al-Tahawi's Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar and Sharh Mushkil al-Athar, the three Mu'jams of al-Tabarani, the Sunan of al-Bayhaqi, al-Baghawi's Sharh al-Sunnah, al-Matalib al-'Aliyah, Majma' al-Zawa'id, Majma' al-Bahrayn, and Kashf al-Astar Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu….

For narrator criticism, biographical entries are taken from al-Dhahabi's al-Kashif and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani's Taqrib al-Tahdhib, turning to broader biographical dictionaries when narrators do not appear in those texts Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…. Obscure words are clarified through lexicographical and gharib al-hadith works, followed by indices for hadiths, references, and subject topics Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu….

Contents and Structure

The book is structured into an introduction, two main chapters, and a conclusion Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…+1:

• Chapter One: Responding to Invitations (Ijabat al-Dawa): Comprises two sections. The first examines the legal rulings on accepting invitations, surveying divergence among classical jurists between absolute obligation, specific obligation for wedding feasts, and recommendation Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…+1. The second section examines the invitee's consumption of food upon attendance, detailing the rules governing non-fasting attendees as well as those observing obligatory or voluntary fasts Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…+1.
• Chapter Two: Conditions for Responding to an Invitation (Shurut Ijabat al-Dawa): Divided into three sections:
  1. Conditions pertaining to the invitation itself: Covering eleven conditions and impediments, including the absence of unlawful activities (munkarat), that the food not be illicit (haram) or doubtful, that attendance does not cause harm or compel association with inappropriate company, that the invitation not be motivated by fear of the invitee or desire for worldly influence, and that the invitation not be restricted exclusively to the wealthy Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu…+2.
  2. Conditions pertaining to the inviter (al-da'i) Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu….
  3. Conditions pertaining to the invitee (al-mad'u) Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu….

In the conclusion, the author highlights his preferred legal assessments: attendance is strictly obligatory for wedding feasts and recommended for other invitations; fasting does not constitute a valid legal excuse to boycott an invitation entirely; eating is preferable for the non-fasting guest; attendees under strict obligatory fasts are forbidden to break their fast; and those on voluntary fasts may break their fast if maintaining it would distress the host Ijabat al-Dawa wa Shurutu….