Accountability for What Is Enjoyed

The third reason Ibrahim (peace be upon him) gave was that he never supped or dined, never had any food at all, without a guest present — somebody who would come and eat with him; that was his own character, his akhlāq. Never did he eat alone.

There is a hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that belongs here. Allah (swt) says:

Everything a person ever comes across, Allah (swt) is going to ask about it — how it was obtained, where it came from, lawfully or unlawfully. But the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says, in one hadith, that a person who eats in company, saying bismillāh, alḥamdulillāh, eating only what is lawful, will not be questioned on that verse concerning that meal, because the eating was done in jamāʿah, in barakah, eating together in barakah. The more hands that go into a single dish, the food dish, the greater the barakah, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says — the old, classic Muslim style, not the European style, where everybody has a little plate of their own, the dish is served, and everybody eats apart. Eating from the same dish lets mercy come right into the middle and spread outward through it; believers are meant to eat together, to eat together.