وَعَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ
قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «إِذَا صَنَعَ لِأَحَدِكُمْ خَادِمُهُ طَعَامَهُ ثُمَّ جَاءَهُ بِهِ وَقَدْ وَلِيَ حره ودخانه فليقعده مَعَه فَليَأْكُل وَإِن كَانَ الطَّعَامُ مَشْفُوهًا قَلِيلًا فَلْيَضَعْ فِي يَدِهِ مِنْهُ أَكلَة أَو أكلتين»
Abu Hurayrah reported God’s Messenger as saying, “When anyone’s servant prepares his food and brings it to him after being near its heat and smoke, he should make him sit down with him and eat; but if the company is large* and the food small in quantity he should put one or two mouthfuls of it in his hand.” * Mashfuhan qalilan. The word mashfuhan is applied either to food which is small in quantity, or to food which is being partaken of by a number of people.
The latter meaning obviously applies here as it is followed by qalil (small in quantity); but some people understand mashfuh here as ‘small in quantity’ followed by qalil expressing the same meaning.