🕌 Islamic education

Table manners

📖 In short

Food is a blessing from God, so we eat it with the good manners the Prophet ﷺ taught us: we wash our hands, say “Bismillah”, eat with our right hand from what's in front of us, don't waste, and praise God when we finish.

يا غلام، سمِّ الله، وكُل بيمينك، وكُل ممّا يليك.

Young boy, mention God's name, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is in front of you.

Hadith, reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim

🤩 Did you know?

  • God says in Surat al-A'raf: «وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُسْرِفُوا»
  • Umar ibn Abi Salamah was the Prophet's ﷺ stepson, the son of his wife Umm Salamah, may God be pleased with her.
  • The Prophet ﷺ said: “Food for two is enough for three”, meaning that sharing makes food go further.
  • It's the Prophet's way to drink water in 3 sips, breathing outside the cup.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Before eating

We wash our hands, sit politely and say “Bismillah”. If we forget and remember in the middle of the meal, we say: “In the name of God, at its beginning and its end.”

🔍 While eating

The Prophet ﷺ said this hadith to Umar ibn Abi Salamah, a little boy whose hand wandered all over the dish. So we eat with our right hand, from the side in front of us, chew well, and don't talk with our mouth full.

💡 We don't criticize food

The Prophet ﷺ never criticized any food: if he liked it he ate it, and if he didn't he left it. So we don't say “this is horrible” about food our mother worked hard to make.

🎯 We don't waste

We put on our plate what we can eat, and don't throw away bread or food. We thank God and whoever made the meal, and help clear the plates.

📚 Key words

Saying Bismillah
Saying “Bismillah” (in the name of God) before eating
Waste
Taking more than we need and wasting it
Criticize
Saying something is bad or not good enough

🌱 Put it into practice today

At dinner tonight, be your family's “manners monitor”: gently remind everyone to say Bismillah, eat with the right hand and praise God at the end. Then swap roles tomorrow.

🧩 Test yourself

1 Which hand do we eat with?

2 You forgot to say Bismillah at the start of the meal. What do you say when you remember?

3 What did the Prophet ﷺ do with food he didn't like?

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🎮 Try it yourself