A guest asking the host for salt and the like

Question

Question: Is it permissible for a guest to ask the host for the following things or not, whether or not there is informality between them? If there is too little salt, is it better to ask for it or to eat just as it is? May he also ask for chilli, unrefined cane sugar and the like or not?

Answer

Where it is customary (‘urf) to ask for these things, there is no harm in asking; and where there is informality, asking is also not wrong. Being patient is the higher station.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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