Why do Muslims eat with only their right hand?

Answer 1

The Prophet (peace be upon him) commanded people to eat with their right hands and forbade them to eat with their left hands. He said, "The Shaytaan eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand." Narrated by Muslim (2020). This implies that eating with the left hand is haraam, and this is the correct view, because the one who eats with his left hand is either a shaytaan (a devil), or he is imitating the Shaytaan. Below is a little poem to teach your kids which is there left hand (so they don't using it). WHICH HAND DO I EAT WITH?

• Which hand is my right hand?
• It's sometimes hard to know.
• But I have a special way
• That I will share and show.
• Put both hands out horizontally in front of you, palms down
• Then it is easy to tell.
• Cause when you straighten out your thumbs
• The left hand makes an "L"

Answer 2

Eating with your Right hand.When a man ate with his left hand in the presence of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, he told him: "Eat with your right hand." (Reported by book "Muslim")

The Hadith above encourages us to teach proper manners of eating to a person who fails to abide by Islamic ethics of eating. Besides, eating and drinking with left hand is the habit of the Satan; this is clarified by the following Hadith: "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 Satan eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand." (Reported by Muslim).

It is true that in Islam it is highly recommended for us to use our right hand while doing things such as eating, drinking, dressing, and writing.

Muslims' feel that there is always wisdom in what Quran says or what the Prophet (PBUH) did. Quran invites mankind to think and surely science has proved what The Quran said 1400 years ago. Lets see if science helps us in finding an answer to why Muslims are asked to use their right hand more than the other. What could be the wisdom behind this?

As we know and science also tells us that when you exercise, it helps in keeping your body healthy. There are different exercises for every part of the body and if done over and over again keep that part more functional. Same goes with brain exercises, when you do them over and over again they help in developing connections in the brain. Now there are two main parts of the brain. Right and left.

"The concept of right brain and left brain thinking developed from the research in the late 1960s of an American psychobiologist Roger W Sperry. He discovered that the human brain has two very different ways of thinking. One (the right brain) is visual and processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole picture then the details. The other (the left brain) is verbal and processes information in an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to get the whole. Sperry was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1981, although subsequent research has show things aren't quite as polarized as once thought (nor as simple)."

The above discovery of science can help in understanding why Muslims are asked to use their right hand more. One thing is very important to remember that Right brain controls left part of the body and Left brain controls right part of the body.

When Muslims use their Right hand more and more everyday they are exercising their left brain (developing brain connections) which does logical operations and helps in being reasonable and thoughtful. It also helps in accepting the open invitation of The Quran, to mankind, to think.

Conclusion

Whether Muslims know the reason behind eating with right hand or not, they get the benefit by following the teachings of Islam.

Answer 3

Muslims eat with their right hand because the left hand is traditionally used for personal hygiene purposes, such as wiping oneself after using the toilet. Using the right hand for eating is seen as more hygienic and respectful.