Question

Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said the best drink in this world is water, when you are thirsty drink it by sips and not gulps, gulping produces sickness of the liver.

Is this reliable?

Answer

I haven’t seen a Hadith with these exact wordings.

1. Drinking water in sips and not in gulps has been authentically mentioned in numerous Hadiths, that are recorded by Imams: Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Bayhaqi, Baghawi, Tabarani, Ibn Mandah and others (rahimahumullah)

(refer to Takhrij al-Ihya, Hadith: 1319, Majma’uz-Zawa’id vol. 5, pg. 80, and Fathul Bari vol. 10, pg. 114-115).

2. Gulping being the cause of a sickness of the liver has been recorded in various collections of hadith, among them are the following:

Musannaf Abdur-Razaq, vol. 10, pg. 428 Hadith 19594; Shu’b al-Iman of Imam Bayhaqi (rahimahullah), Hadith 6012; Sunan Sa’id ibn Mansur; Al-Tibb of Imams Abu Nu’aym (rahimahullah) and Ibn al-Sunni (rahimahullah) and others.

(Refer al-Ithaf of ‘Allamah Zabidi (rahimahullah) vol. 5, pg. 592).

These narrations collectively are classified as hasan (soundly authentic).

(Ibid vol. 5, pg. 592-593 – ‘Ilmiyah)

And Allah Ta’ala Knows best,

Answered by: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar

Checked by: Mawlana Haroon Abasoomar