Chapter: The etiquette of eating and drinking, and rulings thereon

When we attended a dinner along with the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) we did not lay our hands on the food until Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had laid his hand and commenced eating (the food). Once we went with him to a dinner when a girl came rushingly as it someone had been pursuing her. She was about to lay her hand on the food, when Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) caught her hand. Then a desert Arab came there (rushingly) as if someone had been pursuing him. He (the Holy Prophet) caught his hand; and then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Satan considers that food lawful on which Allah's name is not mentioned. He had brought this girl so that the food might be made lawful for him and I caught her hand. And he had brought a desert Arab so that (the food) might be lawful for him. So I caught his hand. By Him, in Whose hand is my life, it was (Satan's) hand that was in my hand along with her hand.

When we were invited to a dinner with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) ; the rest of hadith is the same but there is a slight variation of wording (and the variation is) that in that hadith the desert Arab precedes the arrival of that girl, and at the conclusion there is an addition (to this effect):" He (the Holy Prophet) then mentioned the name of Allah and ate."

This hadith is reported on the authority of A'mash with the same chain of transmitters but with a slight variation of wording.

When a person enters his house and mentions the name of Allah at the time of entering it and while eating the food, Satan says (addressing himself: You have no place to spend the night and no evening meal; but when he enters without mentioning the name of Allah, the Satan says: You have found a place to spend the night, and when he does not mention the name of Allah while eating food, he (the Satan) says: You have found a place to spend the night and evening meal.

This hadith has been narrated on the authority of Jabir b. Abdullah through the same chain of transmitters but with a slight variation of wording.

Do not eat with your left hand, for the Satan eats with his left hand.

When any one of you intends to eat (meal), he should eat with his right hand. and when he (intends) to drink he should drink with his right hand, for the Satan eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand.

This hadith is reported by Zuhri on the authority of Sufyan with a different chain of transmitters.

None of you should eat with his left hand and drink with that (left hand), for the Satan eats with left hand and drinks with that (hand). Nafi' has made this addition in that:" Do not take up anything with that (left hand) and do not give anything with that" ; and in the narration transmitted on the authority of Abu Tahir there is a slight variation of wording.

Eat with your right hand. He said: I cannot do that, whereupon he (the Holy Prophet) said: May you not be able to do that. It was vanity that prevented him from doing it, and he could not raise it (the right hand) up to his mouth.

I was under the care of Allah's Messenger (way peace be upon him), and as my hand used to roam about in the dish he said to me: Boy, mention the name of Allah, and eat with your right hand and eat from what is near to you.

I (had the opportunity) one day to dine with Allah's Messenger (ﷺ), and I picked up flesh from around the dish. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Eat from that which is near to you.

Abu Sa'id (Khudri) reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) forbade from turning the waterskins upside down and drinking from its mouth.

Abu Sa'id Khudri reported that Allah's, Messenger (may peace he upon him) forbade from turning the waterskins upside down and drinking from their mouths.

This hadith has been reported from Zuhri with the same chain of transmitters, but he also said that Ikhtinath means that its head (i. e., of the waterskin) be turned upside down and then (water) be drank from that.