The Book of the Etiquette of Eating: The Chapter on Invoking the Name of Allah at the Beginning and Praising Him at the End.

The reciter: In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The Book of the Etiquette of Eating, The Chapter on Invoking the Name of Allah at the Beginning and Praising Him at the End. 'Umar ibn Abi al-Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me:

Say the Name of Allah, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is in front of you.

سم الله وكل بيمينك وكل مما يليك

Sunan Ibn Majah 3267Sahih (Darussalam)

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim. And 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

When one of you eats, he should mention Allah's name; if he forgets to mention Allah's name at the beginning, he should say: "In the name of Allah at the beginning and at the end of it."

إذا أكل أحدكم فليذكر اسم الله تعالى فإن نسي أن يذكر اسم الله تعالى في أوله فليقل بسم الله أوله وآخره

Sunan Abi Dawud 3767Sahih (Al-Albani)

Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, who said: It is a good, authentic hadith".

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the book *Riyad al-Salihin*: The Book of the Etiquette of Eating. Food is what a person consumes, meaning what he tastes, whether it is a drink or food. The evidence that a drink is called food or taste is the statement of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: Then he said: "The Chapter on Invoking the Name of Allah at the Beginning and Praising Him at the End". Then he mentioned the hadith of 'Umar ibn Abi al-Salamah (may Allah be pleased with him), who was the foster son of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), meaning the son of his wife Umm Salamah. He presented food to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and he was a young boy, so his hand would move about in the dish here and there. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not leave any area that required teaching without teaching it, even to the young ones. So he said to him: These are three etiquettes of eating that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) taught this boy. First, he said: meaning, say "In the Name of Allah." There is no harm if a person adds "the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy," because Allah praised Himself with these two names in the Basmalah in the Noble Qur'an: "In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy". So if he says "In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy," there is no harm, and if he limits it to "In the Name of Allah," that is sufficient. He said: Invoking the Name of Allah when eating is obligatory. If a person leaves it out, he commits a sin, and Satan shares in his eating. No one desires that his enemy share in his eating. No one is pleased that an enemy, Satan, share in his eating. So if you do not say "In the Name of Allah," Satan shares in it with you. If you forget to invoke the Name at the beginning and remember in the middle, say: "In the Name of Allah, at the beginning and at the end", as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) guided to in the hadith narrated by 'A'ishah, which was recorded by Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi. The second, he said: Whoever eats with his left hand is a sinner who has disobeyed the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Whoever disobeys the Messenger has disobeyed Allah, and whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed Allah. The third is: meaning, if you have a companion, eat from what is nearest to you. Do not eat from the side of what is nearest to him, for this is bad etiquette. The scholars said, except if the food is of different types, such as if it contains pumpkin, eggplant, meat, or the like, then there is no harm in reaching your hand to that type. As the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) used to pick out the pumpkin from the dish and eat it. Pumpkin means the gourd. Likewise, if you are eating alone, there is no harm in eating from the other side, because you are not harming anyone by doing so. But do not eat from the top of the dish, for the blessing descends upon its top. But eat from the sides. In this hadith is evidence that it is incumbent upon us to teach boys and young men the etiquettes of eating and drinking, and likewise the etiquettes of sleeping, let alone other matters such as prayer. For the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And success is from Allah.