Question:
1. Is there any reward in tasting salt before food?
2. Is there any reward in doing Mustahab acts and acting upon the rulings of a Jurist?
Answer:
A person will receive reward for whatever action he/she carries out that is from the Mustahab Ibaadaat and as for those desirable habits that a person does, there is no promise that he/she will not receive any reward for carrying them out. The using of salt before eating is a Mustahab habit and not an Ibaadat. The meaning of the usage of salt to be Sunnah in any Fiqhi books refers, in actual fact, to the permissibility of the mentioned act.
We have hopes that those people who used salt, with the understanding of it being Sunnah due to that which they heard from Ulamaa, will receive reward for doing so Insha-Allah.
And Allah Ta’ala knows best
Mufti Muhammad Ashraf
Darul Iftaa
Jameah Mahmoodiyah
Springs
26 April 2004
05 Rabee’ul Awwal 1425