#136: Does Eating with Spoon Constitute Bid`ah
الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على المبعوث رحمة للعالمين
Beloved one! Know, may Allāh be merciful to me and to you that the author of the article you forwarded is an ignoramus who has studied close to nothing of the Dīn due to what his article contains of evident errors and misconceptions.
I will suffice by referring to a few as a few illustrations suffices the intelligent.
1. His understanding of what constitutes bid’a in the Dīn is heavily flawed.
Imām Ash-Shātibī – rahimahullāh – said in defining bid’a:
طريقة في الدين مخترعة، تضاهي الشرعية، يقصد بالسلوك عليها المبالغة في التعبد لله سبحانه
_”It is a way that is innovated in the Dīn that is made to look like that which is legalized and whose threading is aimed at emphasizing more worship to Allāh, glorified is He.”_
Ref: Al-I’tisām
Muhammad Al-Khādimī Al-Hanafī said:
الزيادة في الدين أو النقصان منه الحادثان بعد الصحابة بغير إذن من الشرع
_”It is an addition to the Dīn or a subtraction from it that both occurred anew after the Companions without an authority from the Shar’ (Law of Allāh)”_
For this reason, the Ulamā of Sunnah are at a consensus that there is difference between the linguistic ‘Bid’a’ and thex technical use of the word in the Sharī’a.
Linguistically, it is used to mean any practice that never existed before. But technically in the Sharī’a, it is used to imply practices that were innovated by individuals as a means of worshiping Allāh in the Dīn and which didn’t exist before. This is what Imām Ash-Shātibī – rahimahullāh – referred to in his definition.
What this means is that practices that do not constitute Ibādah are not in anyway regarded as bid’a if they are not used by its practice as a way of drawing close to Allāh.
2. The Writer made a gross misunderstanding between that which is Harām and that which is bid’a.
It is important to note that an act may be Harām but not necessarily referred to as bid’a, though the reverse is not true. Example, to commit Zinā is Harām but it isn’t considered as a bid’a. It may become a bid’a if for instance, there is a tradition that says that a person must commit Zinā on the Day of Īd as a way of celebrating the Day.
But every Bid’a is a sin and Harām as the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – has forbidden it.
The writer, may Allah guide him, has not made that difference. Instead, he compounded both and sought to prove that eating with the spoon was bid’a by way of proving that eating with the spoon was Harām. A premise which he failed woefully at adopting.
3. His mis-interpretation of text.
There are so many examples of this in his article. One of them is his attempt at translating Imām Ahmad’s words, quoting from _Sharhu Al- ‘Iqnā’_, _Akrahu_ as ‘I hate’ instead of ‘I dislike’ or ‘I detest’.
This is an error by the longest stretch of the word.
4. His use of Scholarly statements as he wishes without quoting a single Ālim, past or present that support his view.
This is clear in his writing for he quoted Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Sālih Al-Uthaymīn – rahimahullāh – in his article several times but failed to emphasize his position on the same matter. Probably because he knows that he disagrees with him on this.
5. His ignorance of the Methodology of Scholarly Essays
The Ulamā of the Salaf based their writings on specific methods of presenting evidences, quoting of Precepts, Universals and laying of arguments, premises and facts.
None of those established methods found their ways in this article.
6. Shaykh Muhammad Nāsiruddīn Al-Albānī – rahimahullāh – did not author a book and call it ‘Al-Ikhtiyārātu Al-Fiqhiyyah’ as the writer claims. Instead, his students put together his positions on matters of Fiqh in that collection and referred them to him.
We would suffice by pointing out to those six. Otherwise, had we wanted, we would have mentioned that there is no three lines that is free of errors, and prove it.
Lastly, what did the Ulamā say about Spoon-using?
Imām Ibn Al-Muflih – rahimahullāh – mentioned in _’Al-Ādāb Ash-Shar’iyyah’_ quoting Imām Ahmad:
” .. السنة أن يأكل بيده، وأن لا يأكل بملعقة ولا غيرها، ومن أكل بملعقة وغيرها أخلَّ بالمستحب وجاز”
_”The Sunnah is that he eats with his hand, and that he does not eat with spoon or other than it. And whosoever eats with spoon or other than it has gone out of the Mustahabb (recommended), and it is permissible.”_
Imām Ibn Al-Hāj Al-Mālikī – rahimahullāh – said in the Madkhal:
_”And it is supposed of him not to eat with these spoons nor with other than it. And that is due to three facts:_
_The First: that it opposes the practice of the Salaf in that regard_
_The Second: that it enters his mouth, (mixes with his saliva) and then returns it to his food_
_The third: in it is some sort of luxury, except if in that he has some excuse…”_
Imām As-Safārīnī – rahimahullāh – said in Ghadhā’u Al-Albāb Sharhu Mandhūmatu Al-Ādāb:
_”Benefit: there is no harm in the use of spoon as was referred to in the Iqnā’ and in other than it and Al-Jalāl As-Suyūtī mentioned in ‘Al-Awā’il’ that the first to implement the use of the spoon is our Master, the Khalīl Ibrāhim, upon him and upon our Prophet be the best of Peace and the most perfect of greetings…”_
Note: Imām As-Suyūtī’s reference on the first to use the spoon being the Khalīl – alayhi salām – is weak.
This is the fatwa of the People of Knowledge, intellect and rootedness. That:
1. It is not the Sunnah of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam. The sun ah is to use the hands, three fingers of it.
2. In it is what may constitute Harām if it is done as a way of emulating the Kuffār or out of arrogance
3. It is permissible as Imām Ahmad is quoted to have said.
* * * *
And thereafter, it therefore becomes apparent that the writer of this article is a Jāhil in the Dīn, and someone who picks just any kind of book in the market and teaches himself without returning to Ulamā for guidance.
I advise the questioner and every of our brothers and sisters to be careful with such kinds of writers, and how many are they in these Internet Days?
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran.
وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى أهله وصحبه وسلم
7th Rabi-ul-awwal 1438H
📚 *IslamNode*
