#205: Can a Breast-Feeding Woman Eat with the Left Hand while Breast-Feeding?

QUESTION

CAN A BREAST-FEEDING WOMAN EAT WITH THE LEFT HAND WHILE BREAST-FEEDING?

“Jazakallahu khayr. What if one is breastfeeding a baby on the right side and needs to eat or drink, can she use left hand.”

ANSWER:

Alhamdulillaah!

Foremost, we ask Allaah to bless your baby and to make him/her among those who will be blessed with the understanding of Din, Aameen!

To answer your question, it is important to realise the gravity of eating or drinking with the left. In the Hadith reported and presented in our DailyPost, we mentioned the Hadith in which the Rasul – salallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam – mentioned that it is the Shayaatin that eat and/drink with the left hand, he said:

‘Indeed the Shaytaan eats with his left hand, and drinks with his left hand’

Likewise the Rasul – salallaahu ‘alayhi wassalaam – said:
…to a man who he saw eating with his left hand:

“Eat with the right hand”, the man said: “I cant” the Rasul – salallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam – repeated same and the man too repeated the same. Salamah bn Al-Akwa’a – radiyallaahu ‘anhu – who related the Hadith said: ‘nothing prevented him (from eating with his right hand) except for his arrogance” he said: “henceforth, he could not raise it (his right hand) to his mouth.”

The Hadith is recorded by Imaam Muslim. What is meant here is that his refusal to use his right hands led his hands to paralysis.

For this reason and others, the Ulamaa hold that eating with the left hand is Haraam, any anything that is Haraam can only be engaged in in times of dire necessity.

Islam gives a lot of rukhsa (dispensation) to the breastfeeding woman but certainly, eating/drinking with the left hand is not one of them. She must wait to breastfeed her baby – if she must breastfeed with the right side – before eating/drinking her food.

That is because, in this case, she has one of two choices. Either to wait until her baby has had its full or the baby waits until she has had her full. Hardly does any compelling situation arise in such a situation. But if it does arise, such as her coughing and choking, then she may – in that situation – drink some water to dispense off the situation.
Allaahu A’alam!

————————————————–

📨@IslamNode📤