The Messenger of Allah ﷺ disliked that food be taken from the top of the dish.
كان رسول الله ﷺ يكره أن يؤخذ من رأس الطعام.
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Tabarani narrated it in Al-Kabir (24/297) from Jafar bin Sulayman Nawfali and Muhammad bin Abdullah Hadrami, who said, Ibrahim bin Munzir Hizami told us, Maen bin Isa told us, Faid, the freedman of Abbad, told us, from his patron Ubaydullah bin Ali bin Abu Rafi, from his grandmother Salma, who said... and then he narrated it.Its chain of transmission is hasan because of Ubaydullah bin Ali bin Abu Rafi, for his hadith is graded hasan when he does not contradict others and does not bring anything that would be rejected from him, and this is one of those instances.Haythami said in Majma (27/5), "Tabarani narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy."As for Salma, she is Umm Rafi, the wife of Abu Rafi, the freedman of the Prophet ﷺ. It is said that she was the freedwoman of Safiyyah bint Abdul-Muttalib, and she is also called the freedwoman of the Prophet ﷺ, the learned woman.