What do you do in situations where wine is served in a office dinner?

[random_user]

My sibling is going to be graduating from a UK university in a few months. My family and I will be attending and we have also booked some seats for a dinner that will occur after the graduation ceremony. The dinner would consist of other university students (there will be Muslims attending as well) and will also serve halal meals (which my family and I selected). Now for this dinner everyone will be seated in a big dining table and wine/alcohol will be served to individuals who choose to drink (non-muslims, Christians, etc).

I recently came across some hadiths and rulings which stated that it is haram to sit in a table where wine/alcohol is being served and wanted to ask if my family and I (including my siblings) would need to cancel our booking? (I also have some additional questions about this topic which I have included in the end of this post)

Another question that popped up in my head is that are the same rules of not being able to sit in the table where wine/alcohol is being served applicable to other haram things such as pork?

Here are the hadiths that I found from al-islam .org:

 

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Liquor At The Dinner TableLiquor At The Dinner Table

If liquor is served on a table, it is Haram to sit there and eat even if one does not touch the wine.

Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (‘a) informs that the Holy Prophet (S) said:

“Accursed, accursed is the one who sits at a table where wine is being served.”15

The Holy Prophet (S) also says:

“One who believes in Allah and the last day, must not even sit at the table where wine is kept.”16

Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (‘a) says:

“Do not sit with drunkards because when the curse descends it engulfs all the people in the company of the drunkards.”17

Some scholars have stated that it is not permitted to be in the company of people where anything Haram is being done. For example, backbiting about a Muslim. It is then obligatory on a person to leave immediately if possible and be free of the sin of just being in this company. Also, if by his leaving, the others will discontinue their sinful action, it is obligatory on him to do so.

 

I also found a link from Sistani's website which says that one must leave the table where wine/alchohol is being served:

 

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Question: A Muslim enters a café and sits down at a table to drink tea, then a stranger comes at the same table to drink wine. Is it obligatory upon the Muslim to stop drinking tea and leave?

Answer: Yes, it is obligatory to move away from that table.

 

Question 1 (For Muslim students who are studying at a university abroad)

So I am planning on going to the UK for my masters degree and the university that I plan on attending allocates students to different colleges that host daily lunches and dinners (halal food options are available). My siblings have shared that wine/alcohol is served in these events so I am confused on how to approach this type of situation in the future where my class mates are having a class lunch/dinner and expect me to attend. I am guessing that I would have to refuse to attend these events because wine/alcohol will be served?

My siblings shared how there is a mix of Muslim and non-Muslims students at the dining table and everyone usually discusses things related to their particular university course. They also mentioned how some of these lunches/dinners are networking events so I am personally not sure on whether I can attend a lunch/dinner for the purpose of networking or listening to a speech (given by industry professionals) at these events. (I would like to point out that my siblings were not aware of the rule that it is haram to sit in a table where alcohol is being served and they have just found out about it recently)

My question for Muslims university students (who have attended or are attending university abroad) is how do you handle/deal with these type of situations? I am guessing the answer is to not attend these events but I am curious to hear if there are some other responses.

Question 2 (How to handle situations where work events serve wine/alcohol and you are required to attend)

Another question that I have is that how do Muslim working professionals deal with work situations where they need to attend a event where wine/alcohol is being served?

I am planning on making a career change to the start-up investing/venture capital sector and I have noticed is that a lot of venture capitalists are required to attend networking events to talk/engage with start-up founders (from what I have observed, these networking events do serve wine/alcohol). I guess my question is that how should one handle situations where their work requires them to attend certain events but the events serve something haram like wine/alcohol?

[Shian e Ali]

It is permissible for a Muslim to go to places where wine is being served with the food, provided that it does not lead to promotion of those restaurants. However, he cannot eat from the table on which wine is being consumed and should not, based on obligatory precaution, sit at that table. There is no problem though, in sitting at a table near the table on which wine is being consumed.

Source: sistani.org

 

From the above, you could either skip the meal at such places or find a separate table to sit at.

[random_user]

18 hours ago, Shian e Ali said:

It is permissible for a Muslim to go to places where wine is being served with the food, provided that it does not lead to promotion of those restaurants. However, he cannot eat from the table on which wine is being consumed and should not, based on obligatory precaution, sit at that table. There is no problem though, in sitting at a table near the table on which wine is being consumed.

Source: sistani.org

 

From the above, you could either skip the meal at such places or find a separate table to sit at.

Thank you for your reply. Would you know if it would be permissible to sit & eat at a table after everyone drinks their wine in that table? Like in some college dinners my siblings say how the drinks are served in the beginning but then later on in the dinner the main course and tea is served instead of wine. So I am not sure if it would be permissible to attend the college dinner a bit later when most people are eating their main meal and have finished their drinks?

[Shian e Ali]

16 hours ago, random_user said:

Thank you for your reply. Would you know if it would be permissible to sit & eat at a table after everyone drinks their wine in that table? Like in some college dinners my siblings say how the drinks are served in the beginning but then later on in the dinner the main course and tea is served instead of wine. So I am not sure if it would be permissible to attend the college dinner a bit later when most people are eating their main meal and have finished their drinks?

However, he cannot eat from the table on which wine is being consumed and should not, based on obligatory precaution, sit at that table. 

If the wine is no longer available on the table, the above ruling no longer applies. Whether the wine is removed because they're no longer consuming it or because you asked them to remove it, you'll be allowed to sit there. As a precaution, make sure you only sit once the wine bottles and glasses have been removed from the table, not just empty.