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Can you offer food to non-Muslims during Ramadan?

Can you offer food to non-Muslims during Ramadan?
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March 22, 2024
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If a non- Muslim visits you during Ramadan would it be permissible to offer them food during fasting hours in Ramadan? Can you share dates in your office among non-Muslims while you yourself are fasting? Or should you avoid this because it is encouraging people to ignore Allah’s command to fast during Ramadan?

In Surat al Baqarah, Allah Almighty stated:

The verse from the Quran in which Allah instructs fasting is:

“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you that you may become righteous.” (Quran 2:183)

Does this command apply to all people or just Muslims? There are two views among scholars. The debate is a matter of Usul Fiqh principles of jurisprudence that scholars use to understand and interpret Islamic law.

One opinion is that the Shariah applies to all people regardless whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. The other opinion is that it applies to Muslims only.

Accordingly, some say it is haram to give food to non-Muslims because it goes against Allah’s command to fast during this holy month, because the Shariah applies to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. However, the other opinion is that if a person has not taken the shahada and accepted Islam, their actions are invalid. Their fast does not count – it is not accepted.

Personally, I follow the second opinion that it is not haram to offer non Muslim food during Ramadan. If you wanted to share dates in your office during Ramadan, as an act of dawah, this would be fine.

Shaykh Haytham Tamim

21st March 2024

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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.

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