Riyāḍ uṣ-Ṣāliḥīn · Chapter 109 of 372
Excellence of Eating with three Fingers and Licking them
The Book About the Etiquette of Eating – Chapter 109 : Ahadith 748 – 754
Imam Abu Zakariyya Yahya ibn Sharaf an-Nawawi (d. 676 AH)
🎧 Listen to all hadiths in Arabic Ch 109 H 748 – 754
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748 Ibn `Abbas (radiyallahu anhuma) reported: Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “When one of you finishes eating, he should not wipe his fingers until he has licked them himself or has given them to someone else to lick for him.”[Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
749 Ka`b bin Malik (radiyallahu anhu) reported: I saw Messenger of Allah ﷺ eating with three fingers (i.e., the thumb, the index finger and the middle finger) and licking them after having finished the food.[Muslim].
750 Jabir (radiyallahu anhu) reported: Messenger of Allah ﷺ commanded the licking of fingers and the gleaning of the dish, saying, “You do not know in which portion the blessing lies.”[Muslim].
751 Jabir (radiyallahu anhu) reported: Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “When a morsel of any of you falls, he should pick it up and remove any of the dirt on it and then eat it, and should not leave it for Satan nor should wipe his hand with towel until he has licked his fingers, for he does not know in what portion of the food the blessing lies.”[Muslim].
752 Jabir (radiyallahu anhu) reported: Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Satan appears at every thing done by you; he appears even at one’s dinner. When a morsel of any of you falls, he should pick it up and remove any dirt on it, and then eat it. He should not leave it for Satan, nor should he wipe his hand with the towel until he has licked his fingers, for he does not know in what portion of the food the blessing lies.”[Muslim].
753 Anas (radiyallahu anhu) reported: Whenever Messenger of Allah ﷺ ate food, he would lick his three fingers and say, “If anyone of you drops a morsel of food, he should remove any dirt that may have stuck on it and then eat it, and should not leave it for Satan.” He ﷺ also commanded us that we should glean the pot, saying, “You do not know in which part of your food the blessings lies.”[Muslim].
754 Sa`id bin Al-Harith reported: I asked Jabir (radiyallahu anhu) whether it was obligatory to make Wudu’ for Salat (prayer) after eating cooked food. He said: “No, because in the lifetime of Messenger of Allah ﷺ, such food was rarely available. We had no handkerchiefs, so when we ate such food we would wipe our fingers against our palms, forearms or (the sole of our) feet, and would offer Salat without fresh Wudu’ (for prayer).”[Al-Bukhari].