Is It Disliked to Sit Partly in the Sun and Partly in the Shade?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

Is it disliked to sit in a place where part of the body is in the sun, and part is in the shade?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

It is disliked (makruh) to sit partway in the sun and partway in the shade for long periods of time, and the sunna in this case is to move so as to be entirely in one or the other.

The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “When one of you is in the shade, and it recedes from him, so that part of him is in the sun and part in the shade, let him get up.” [Abu Dawud]

In another narration, he forbade sitting between the sun and the shade and described it as “the sitting place of Shaytan.” [Ahmad] Imam Haythami declared its narrators reliable.

Scholars mention two reasons for this guidance. First, sitting with your body in both sun and shade can harm your health.

Second, and more importantly, this way of sitting is said to resemble the way Shaytan sits, so believers are advised to avoid it, just as they are told not to eat with the left hand. [See: Ibn Muflih, al-Adab al-Shar’iyya]

This rule is meant for guidance and personal refinement, not because it is sinful. The main idea is that Sacred Law looks after both your body and your heart, even in small matters like how you sit.

So if you notice the shade has moved, and you are now half in the sun and half in the shade, follow the Prophet’s advice: stand up and choose to sit fully in the sun or fully in the shade.

And Allah knows best.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.