No recommended color for dining table cloth in Sunnah

28-3-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is it Sunnah to eat on a red dining cloth? Is there any hadith about this? What color should the dining cloth be?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

As far as we know, there is no text in the Quran or the Sunnah indicating that it is recommended to eat on a dining table or cloth of a specific color, neither red nor otherwise. We do not know of any scholar who mentioned a recommended color for this.

It was mentioned in Tafseer (exegesis) books that the table spread with food that Allah sent down for the disciples of Prophet ‘Eesa (Jesus) may Allaah exalt his mention was red. This report was cited by Ibn Abi Haatim with his chain of narration from Wahb ibn Munabbih, from Abu ‘Uthmaan An-Nahdi, from Salmsan, that he said, “...So ‘Eesa said (what means): {“O Allah, our Lord, send down to us a table (spread with food) from the heaven ...} [Quran 5:114] So Allah, The Exalted, sent upon them a red table between two clouds, one above it and one underneath it...” This was mentioned as part of a long story. Ibn Katheer may Allaah have mercy upon him cited this Mawqoof report (hadeeth that stops at the level of the Companion) in his Tafseer book and commented, “This is a very strange report.” Al-Qurtubi may Allaah have mercy upon him underlined that its authenticity is questioned and its chain of narration is inauthentic.

Allah knows best.

www.islamweb.net