Preventing the left hand from assisting the right hand in eating is considered an excessive display of piety.
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The Shaykh : Bankrupt.
Those present: Hehehe.
The Shaykh : ... .
The questioner : By Allah, O Shaykh, hehe, I beg you, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : I want to draw the attention of the brother to the fact that a Muslim should not be bound by the customs of Muslims, which vary from country to country, but rather he must follow the Sunnah in everything related to a religious matter. And I mean specifically—and peace be upon you—that in some countries, they use only the right hand for food. I do not want to speak about the other side, those who eat with their left hand and drink with their left hand, for the prohibition of that is well known. But we do not want to fall into the other extreme, and with that I began the example. So, in some countries, for example, they use the right hand for food, even if they need to use the left hand to help. One manifestation of that is, for example, a piece of meat sometimes... May Allah guide you... I cannot chew it; sometimes the food requires taking the piece of meat with the right hand, then separating the meat from the bone with the left hand, and then eating it with the right hand. They do not do that; rather, they cooperate on this piece, one holds it and the other cuts from it. I consider this to be an excessive display of piety, which we have been forbidden from, especially since there are many ignorant people, and Muslim preachers should naturally take their ignorance into account and adopt means that bring them closer to the Shari'ah and do not repel them from the Shari'ah. For example, when we see one of them eating with the left hand, we remind him of the command of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to eat with the right hand. He rushes to say, "Why did Allah create it?" out of ignorance, of course. But I now want to take advantage of this answer that was placed in the wrong context and put it in its proper place. We say to these people who are overly strict and display excessive piety: Our Lord created the left hand for you to use it to help you fulfill your needs. But there are things that the right hand can do independently, and they are specific to it, and it is not permissible to use the left hand in this state. However, if you divide the loaf with both hands and then take the mouthful with the right hand, there is nothing wrong with that. Likewise, the meat, as we said earlier.
Those present: Hehehe.
The Shaykh : ... .
The questioner : By Allah, O Shaykh, hehe, I beg you, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : I want to draw the attention of the brother to the fact that a Muslim should not be bound by the customs of Muslims, which vary from country to country, but rather he must follow the Sunnah in everything related to a religious matter. And I mean specifically—and peace be upon you—that in some countries, they use only the right hand for food. I do not want to speak about the other side, those who eat with their left hand and drink with their left hand, for the prohibition of that is well known. But we do not want to fall into the other extreme, and with that I began the example. So, in some countries, for example, they use the right hand for food, even if they need to use the left hand to help. One manifestation of that is, for example, a piece of meat sometimes... May Allah guide you... I cannot chew it; sometimes the food requires taking the piece of meat with the right hand, then separating the meat from the bone with the left hand, and then eating it with the right hand. They do not do that; rather, they cooperate on this piece, one holds it and the other cuts from it. I consider this to be an excessive display of piety, which we have been forbidden from, especially since there are many ignorant people, and Muslim preachers should naturally take their ignorance into account and adopt means that bring them closer to the Shari'ah and do not repel them from the Shari'ah. For example, when we see one of them eating with the left hand, we remind him of the command of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to eat with the right hand. He rushes to say, "Why did Allah create it?" out of ignorance, of course. But I now want to take advantage of this answer that was placed in the wrong context and put it in its proper place. We say to these people who are overly strict and display excessive piety: Our Lord created the left hand for you to use it to help you fulfill your needs. But there are things that the right hand can do independently, and they are specific to it, and it is not permissible to use the left hand in this state. However, if you divide the loaf with both hands and then take the mouthful with the right hand, there is nothing wrong with that. Likewise, the meat, as we said earlier.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.