When is it OK to use the left hand...?

DanyalSAC

Junior Member
Asalaamu alaikum -

I have a question regarding using the left hand. Yes I know that it is for hygiene so please let's not have 10 responses quoting daleel on that.

My question is more specific:

For example, if I'm eating a large sandwich (like from Subway) MUST I only use one hand to hold it? Its a big sandwich. Also, if I'm at a buffet at the masjid, am I allowed to carry my plate with one hand and my drink with the other, or must I make two trips?

If I'm eating finger food (say, dates or tea sandwiches) with my right hand and I go to take a sip of my tea/coffee, do I need to go and rinse off my right hand so I can grab the cup and not get it sticky or can I take a sip using my left hand seeing that my right is occupied?

I've been reprimanded at least twice by other Muslims who see me do something with my left hand that they felt was improper when I felt it was just plain common sense (once was the instance above, I had sticky date residue on my right hand but needed to rinse my mouth out with the tea so I grabbed it with my left...). Recently at the masjid Brother "A" asked Brother "B" to pass him some baklava that was on the the table on B's left hand side. As he couldn't reach it with his right hand, he stretched with his left, grabbed a piece, transfered it to his right and handed it over to Brother "A" only to be reprimanded for touching food with his left hand. The only other way B could've gotten it was to get up and walk to the plate...in which case A could've done the same thing & got it himself :p.

I am a 2 handed eater. When I have a plate in front of me and what I am eating requires me to cut it, I hold the fork in my left hand as I cut with my right. I do not transfer my fork back to my right hand with every bite, then back to cut, then back to bite, etc, as that's a phenomenal waste of time. The way I look at it is my hand is not touching the food, the utensil is.

Anyway thank you for your replies....

D.
 

alf2

Islam is a way of life
I think when eating, its kind of impossible not to use both hands eventually. Like you said, a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. Or eating a sandwich with two hands. (Lol, eating a Sub w/ one hand and all the crap falling out of the other side)
 

DanyalSAC

Junior Member
I think when eating, its kind of impossible not to use both hands eventually. Like you said, a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. Or eating a sandwich with two hands. (Lol, eating a Sub w/ one hand and all the crap falling out of the other side)

I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately the Haraam Police don't often see things that way.
 

al-fajr

...ism..schism
Staff member
Assalamu'alaykum,

(Lol, eating a Sub w/ one hand and all the crap falling out of the other side)

erm..what kind of Subs do you eat? (I kid..)

Rizq (sustenance) is a blessing from Allaah, how can we think of using the word 'crap' in place of it? How off putting (and disrespectful don't you think?).
 

alf2

Islam is a way of life
I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately the Haraam Police don't often see things that way.


When can the left hand be appropriate?

I dont mingle with Muslims at all in real life yet, but I am kind of scared too because I am left handed. I write with my left hand, that will never change. But I am trying to train myself to do other things with my right hand, its a very hard thing to do. Since what hand we use is connected to what side of our brain is dominant.

Also:

Assalamu'alaykum,



erm..what kind of Subs do you eat? (I kid..)

Rizq (sustenance) is a blessing from Allaah, how can we think of using the word 'crap' in place of it? How off putting (and disrespectful don't you think?).

I apologize, it is a habit that I am working on.
 

al-fajr

...ism..schism
Staff member
When can the left hand be appropriate?

I dont mingle with Muslims at all in real life yet, but I am kind of scared too because I am left handed. I write with my left hand, that will never change. But I am trying to train myself to do other things with my right hand, its a very hard thing to do. Since what hand we use is connected to what side of our brain is dominant.

Once when I was working in a place where there were no Muslims and my non-muslim colleagues had hardly met a Muslim in their lives, they would notice every minute detail in my habits and one of them said to me 'Oh you place samples right to left, is that because you read that way too?' I hadn't even noticed the way I placed patient samples, yet these non-muslims were watching me like hawks. Way to make a person self conscious right?

'Umar ibn al Khattab radiAllaah anhu was left handed and he was one of the greatest Muslims that ever lived, the second Khalif, a most respected companion of Muhammad salAllaahu alayi wasallam, one of the 10 companions promised Paradise ..the list goes on.

I've been reprimanded at least twice by other Muslims who see me do something with my left hand that they felt was improper when I felt it was just plain common sense (once was the instance above, I had sticky date residue on my right hand but needed to rinse my mouth out with the tea so I grabbed it with my left...). Recently at the masjid Brother "A" asked Brother "B" to pass him some baklava that was on the the table on B's left hand side. As he couldn't reach it with his right hand, he stretched with his left, grabbed a piece, transfered it to his right and handed it over to Brother "A" only to be reprimanded for touching food with his left hand. The only other way B could've gotten it was to get up and walk to the plate...in which case A could've done the same thing & got it himself :p.

The left hand isn't 'evil' and it is there to be used if we need to! SubhanAllaah, I think thats pernickety to the point of stupidity, this is a religion of ease..

wa-salaam
 

dunno

Junior Member
:salam2: :)

Eating with the right hand is a sunnah :) and please focus on the part when i said EATING u can hold food pass it etc with ur left hand just the action of moving it to your mouth would be preferred to be done with ur right hand

although here in saudi arabia if i ever take food or anything else like a laptop with my left hand it would be "not cool". People would be like "use ur right hand" it doesnt have to do with hygine just culture so the people you are with might be the same?
although in islam as far as i know eating is putting the food dont put the food using ur left use ur right hand :) as the sunnah it's perfectly okay to hold a sandwich with two hands or a burger etc
:wasalam:
 

eminbey

信得過…是我的名字
I think when eating, its kind of impossible not to use both hands eventually. Like you said, a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. Or eating a sandwich with two hands. (Lol, eating a Sub w/ one hand and all the crap falling out of the other side)

I do not use a fork nor a knife, jus my fingers and teeth
 

thariq2005

Praise be to Allah!
Wa `alaykum salaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh

Lol funny. Alhamdulillaah I can actually eat a Sub with one hand, as some of the sweetcorns, olives etc fall on the wrapper, I just take it up and eat it lol.

But in all seriousness the prohibition to using the left applies to eating, drinking and giving and taking. This is based on the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Let one of you eat with his right hand and drink with his right hand, and take with his right hand and give with his right hand, for the Shaytaan eats with his left hand, drinks with his left hand, gives with his left hand and takes with his left hand.” [Ibn Maajah, 3266]

What I mean by giving and taking, is when you are giving something to someone, or taking something from someone.

Its funny how some people actually consider the left hand to be "Najis"

Wassalaamu `alaykum
 

suhayb08

2moro mite neva be..
Asslmwalkm.

As someone said above eating with the right hand is a sunnah.

And concerning your question.. ive heard somwhere.. (I might be wrong, Allah knows best)

For example you've been eating a sandwich with your right hand and its kinda messy.. and you want a sip of your cofee or tea.. basically you can hold the cup with your left hand and touching the cup with the back of your right hand is enough.. and you can drink it that way while holding it with your left hand and the back of your right hand simply touching the cup. Im gona look for more clarification about that and inshallah will post.

And also eating subway or any other burger or food with both hands is alright actually as long as your right hand is involved as well. but again need more clarification.

Allah knows best.
JazakAllah.
 

WithAllahsPowers

WE ARE PROTECTED
salam,

im sorry i dont know what to say because all i did was laugh. its really funny. i love this topic. it made me laugh for some reason.

i can picture trying to eat enjoying your meal, in a rush everything falling out of the sandwich and the last thing on our mind is 'can i use my left hand to help' or 'i wish i was able to use my left hand to help me eat this or do this or pick this up' loool, im not laughing at the topic or the question is silly NO NO im laughing because its TRUE, we dont know and at times we just need that help and use our left hand.

i believe Allah gave us two hands for a purpose, so why not use them but use the right hand for the major tasks. but the left hand can always assist. otherwise, chop it off if its just going to sit there and watch. loool, i say all this without making fun of anything or anyone and without direct attack, i say it out of humour and only because everything you said is true and i enjoyed reading the posts.

please do not take anything i said personal, i really dont know why i found it funny but its nothing personal i enjoyed reading and will continue reading other posts.

who knows, maybe i'll learn to and learn how to hold a sandwich.
 

Tabassum07

Smile for Allah
:salam2:

For example, if I'm eating a large sandwich (like from Subway) MUST I only use one hand to hold it? Its a big sandwich. Also, if I'm at a buffet at the masjid, am I allowed to carry my plate with one hand and my drink with the other, or must I make two trips?

I'm sure there's nothing wrong with at least carrying your plate with one hand and glass with the other. Really, if we can't do that much, that would be a REALLY difficult thing when us sisters are working in the kitchen. Honestly, it's not like you are forbidden to touch food with the left hand - imagine someone right handed chopping up vegetables. Cutting boards are a new invention - there are places in the world where people do not use them, but hold the vegetable/fruit in the left hand and cut with the right hand.

If I'm eating finger food (say, dates or tea sandwiches) with my right hand and I go to take a sip of my tea/coffee, do I need to go and rinse off my right hand so I can grab the cup and not get it sticky or can I take a sip using my left hand seeing that my right is occupied?

In this case, I would use a napkin first of all - and no I would not drink with my left hand, but transfer the cup to my right hand and drink. We are not supposed to drink with just our left hand.

I am a 2 handed eater. When I have a plate in front of me and what I am eating requires me to cut it, I hold the fork in my left hand as I cut with my right. I do not transfer my fork back to my right hand with every bite, then back to cut, then back to bite, etc, as that's a phenomenal waste of time. The way I look at it is my hand is not touching the food, the utensil is.

The left hand is not naajis, brother - think how impossible cooking and chopping food would be if it were so. Knife in the left hand, and fork in the right hand should be fine - that's how I always learned to eat when using a knife and fork, not the other way around (which I know the non muslims use.)


And before anyone says that I am giving my own opinions - yes, I am aware that I am giving my own opinions here. So please don't say to me that I should bring in some daleel - I would if I knew any existed. But here I am using common sense. Hope it's okay.
 

samiha

---------
Staff member
:salam2:

I wanted to dash off a quick reply to this, since I'd been intending to quite a while back and had come across a few fataawa in relation to this, and I must thank you really for bringing this point up, because sometimes there are some things in Islaam we just 'assume' rather than 'know' about, and only when someone asks can it be more clarified.

So in a short gist, what seems apparent is that the right hand is definitely favored over the left, as Allaah has placed honor in the right hand. This doesnt mean the left is 'evil' -- both are to be used together in cooperation, but in different ways. And the requirement of this is quite strong. So when eating, giving and taking - we should be very careful to do it with the right hand, unless there is a reason we are not able to. The following are snippets of the different fatawa I came across... I wish there was one about sandwiches though... maybe one day inshaAllaah will find that one!

There is a prohibition on giving and taking with the left hand in the report narrated by Ibn Maajah (3266) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), according to which the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Let one of you eat with his right hand and drink with his right hand, and take with his right hand and give with his right hand, for the Shaytaan eats with his left hand, drinks with his left hand, gives with his left hand and takes with his left hand.”

Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah.

And Muslim (2020) narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “No one among you should eat with his left hand or drink with it, for the shaytaan eats with his left hand and drinks with it.” And Naafi’ used to add: “and he should not take with it or give with it.”

Al-Shawkaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said in Nayl al-Awtaar (8/183): His words “No one among you should eat with his left hand” signify that it is not allowed to eat or drink with the left hand, and this prohibition has the sense of being haraam, as is established in usool; it should not be interpreted as meaning that it is no more than makrooh unless there is some indication to that effect in the context. Al-Nawawi said: This applies if there is no excuse. If there is an excuse which means that a person is unable to eat or drink with his right hand, because of sickness or injury and so on, then it is not disliked to use the left hand. End quote.

Based on that, if a person offers something with his left hand for a reason, there is nothing wrong with it, and if he says in that case, “my left hand does not hate you,” perhaps it would be more correct for him to say “my right hand does not hate you”, because he has an excuse for not giving it to you with the right hand, and it does not have anything against you. Or perhaps the meaning is that the left hand also loves you and would like to serve you.

When the one who takes says “Your left hand is like your right,” he means that it does not matter with which hand you give. If there is an excuse there is nothing wrong with saying that, but if there is no excuse, it is wrong to say that because it is contrary to sharee’ah. The left hand is not like the right hand; rather it is forbidden to give with the left hand as stated above. FULL

It is unlawful to eat with the left hand using a fork or your bare hand as the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Say Bismillah, eat with your right hand and eat from what is nearer to you" .
...
There are many Hadith proving this. But the solution to what the questioner said is to put the fork in the right hand and the knife in the left hand because the eating should be with the right hand only. FULL

I thought this one brought up some good points so had to bring the whole thing:

Doing good is a habit and doing evil is a habit. Man is always either making progress or falling behind. When a person gets used to doing something, he becomes very fond of it and loves it, and dislikes anything else. Then he thinks that the thing he is not used to is not possible, but this way of thinking is not right and it goes against both the laws of Islam and the facts of reality. Therefore the one who uses his left hand to eat and drink should be taught the Islamic ruling and should be reminded of the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) on this matter. When a man ate with his left hand in his presence, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “Eat with your right hand.” He said, “I cannot.” He said, “May you never be able to!” Nothing was stopping him but his stubborn arrogance, and he never raised his right hand to his mouth after that. (Reported by Muslim, 3776). According to a report narrated by al-Daarimi, “his right hand never reached his mouth”. This man suffered paralysis because of the du’aa’ of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “In this hadeeth we have an indication that it is allowed to pray against a person who breaks a shar’i rule with no excuse. We also see the principle of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil in all situations, even with regard to eating. It encourages us to teach proper manners of eating to a person who is eating if he is doing something wrong. The hadeeth also teaches us that the Shaytaan eats with his left hand, because of the hadeeth: “When any one of you eats, let him eat with his right hand, and when he drinks, let him drink with his right hand, because the Shaytaan eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand.” (Reported by Muslim, 3764). The Shaytaan eats with his left hand so the person who eats with his left hand resembles the Shaytaan, indeed the Shaytaan is sharing his food with him. Ahmad reported with a hasan isnaad from ‘Aa’ishah and attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): “Whoever eats with his left hand, the Shaytaan eats with him.” (Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi, commentary on hadeeth 1721).

Moreover, the left hand should be reserved for removing dirt, as when cleaning oneself after going to the toilet (istinja’) and blowing one’s nose and other kinds of cleaning oneself and removing dirt. How can a person use that which is used for removing dirt and impurities for putting food in his mouth?

Hafsah (may Allaah be pleased with her), the wife of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to use his right hand for eating, drinking and getting dressed and his left hand for everything else. (Reported by Abu Dawood, no. 30)

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

“This is a fixed rule in sharee’ah. It has to do with honourable things such as putting on one’s shirt, trousers and shoes, entering the mosque, using siwaak, applying kohl, … combing and styling one’s hair, … shaving the head, giving salaam at the end of prayer, washing oneself in ghusl or wudoo’, leaving the toilet, eating, drinking, shaking hands, acknowledging the Black Stone, and other things where we are encouraged to use the right hand or start with the right. As for the opposite [things that are not honourable], such as entering the toilet, leaving the mosque, blowing one’s nose, washing oneself after using the toilet, taking off one's shirt, trousers and shoes, and so on, then we should start with the left or use the left hand. All of this has to do with honouring the right hand or right side.”

Some people may have a real problem that prevents them from using their right hand, such as being paralyzed and so on. In this case they are excused and there is no blame on them. Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “If he has an excuse for not eating and drinking with his right hand, such as sickness or an injury, then this is not makrooh…”

Most likely the problem of the boy you are asking about has to do with habit, so try to get him used to eating with his right hand and keep on advising him and reminding him to do so. You could seek the help of psychiatrists, because some of them may have some useful ideas. We ask Allaah to give you strength, May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad. Link

And this point was interesting to note, although it doesnt have to do with eating/drinking: Carrying Mushaf with Left Hand

Although some of these arent very 'big' things, it's always good to know and be aware of what is said regarding them. A memory that still makes me cringe is when I served an auntie some food using my left hand (with a spoon) since I had things in my right and she looked at me scandalized as if I'd just dumped a load of najis on her plate right there! At that time I got a bit offended myself since she then went on to make a big deal about it, but perhaps now I'd be a bit more... careful.

Anyways, JazaakAllaahu khayran for asking.

wasalaamu 'alaykum
 

booya

Junior Member
When talking about this, I always wonder, if we are eating with utensils (like a fork) with the left hand, is it also discouraged? But then I guess it is not simply because of hygiene.

Another thing that's become a habit is whenever I drink off a bottle, I open the cap with my right and drink with my left. I've been trying to reverse it though.
 
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