Did Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Eat with Unclean Hands? Full Refutation of the Christian Polemic
Response to the Claim That Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Ate with Feces-Soiled Hands
Table of Contents
- Content of the Doubt
- Response to This Ridiculous Suspicion
- Conclusion
Content of the Doubt
They cite some narrations to support this, which we will present to you and then comment on.
Response to This Ridiculous Suspicion
Firstly
There is no text in the Bible that commands Christians to wash their penis after urinating.
Christianity is the religion of filth in the first place.
Then the God of Christians, called Jesus, forbade his followers from washing hands at all. Here are the teachings of the God of Christians:
The Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 15
2 “Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders, for they do not wash their hands when they eat bread?”
10 Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them:
“Hear and understand: It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a person.”
16 And Jesus said:
“Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is thrown out? And eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
The God of Christians told his disciples that what enters the mouth never defiles a person, even if a person eats something disgusting.
Jesus also told them that eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person, and therefore Jesus’ disciples ate with unwashed hands.
Knowing that Jesus’ disciples are Christian apostles such as the Apostle Peter, John, Matthew, and others, these apostles were Jesus’ disciples and they ate with dirty hands!
Indeed, the disgusting Jesus criticized the Pharisees because they washed pitchers, cups, utensils, and beds!!!
The Gospel of Mark, Chapter 7
2 When they saw some of his disciples eating bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed hands, they blamed him.
3 Because the Pharisees and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands carefully, do not eat, adhering to the tradition of the elders.
4 And from the market, if they do not wash, they will not eat. And many other things were handed down to them to hold on to, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and beds.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him:
“Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
6 Then he answered and said to them:
“Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For you have laid aside the commandment of God and hold the tradition of men, such as the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.’”
9 Then Jesus said to them:
“Well done! You rejected God’s commandment in order to keep your tradition!”
Here ☝, Jesus’ disciples were eating with dirty hands, so the Pharisees became angry because of that, but Jesus attacked the Pharisees and told them that washing the pitchers, cups, and bed is not from God’s commandment, but rather from your man-made tradition.
If we open the Bible from beginning to end, we will not find an explicit text stating that Jesus washed his buttocks, nor will you find that Paul, the Apostle of the Christians, washed his buttocks after defecating!!!
Even when performing Christian rituals and rites, Christians do not perform ablution before performing those rituals.
Secondly
Sahih Muslim 267 and Sahih al-Jamiʿ
It was mentioned in Sahih Muslim 267 and in Sahih al-Jamiʿ the following:
“None of you should hold his penis with his right hand while urinating, nor wipe himself after defecating with his right hand, nor breathe into a vessel.”
In the previous hadith ☝, the Prophet forbade us from holding the penis with the right hand, and he forbade us from using the right hand to wipe feces during defecation.
Rather, we must use only the left hand.
Sahih Muslim 262
It was mentioned in Sahih Muslim 262 as follows:
“Your Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, taught you everything, even defecation.”
He said:
“Yes, he forbade us from facing the qiblah when defecating or urinating, or from cleaning ourselves with the right hand.”
Sahih Muslim 2020
It was mentioned in Sahih Muslim 2020 as follows:
“When one of you eats, let him eat with his right hand, and when he drinks, let him drink with his right hand.”
Sahih Muslim 2021
The following was mentioned in Sahih Muslim 2021:
“Eat with your right hand.”
The Prophet ordered us to use the right hand when eating and drinking, and forbade us from using the right hand when urinating and defecating.
The Prophet used his right hand to eat and his left hand to defecate.
Therefore, Imam Abu Sheikh Al-Asbahani mentioned the following in his book The Ethics of the Prophet, 4/15:
“The Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, used his right hand for his purification and eating, and his left hand was for relieving himself and anything else that was harmful.”
Thus, the Prophet ensured that his food would not be contaminated due to the difference between the hand he used to eat and the hand he used to wash after defecating.
Third
Saʿid ibn al-Huwayrith narrated to me, on the authority of Ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, defecated and ate, but did not touch water.
And I reply to them and say:
We have just established that the Prophet used each hand separately; he used his right hand for eating, and his left hand for removing feces…, and thus the hand with which the Prophet ate would not be contaminated, and his food would not be contaminated.
Then the previous hadith does not mean that the Prophet did not wash his hands after defecating.
Rather, let me explain the matter to you more so that your doubts are removed.
The Prophet would go outside the city to empty places to defecate.
He would often wash his hands there and then return to his home, mosque, or meeting place.
When the Prophet returned to the place where he ate, he reached out and ate.
However, Ibn Abbas did not see the Prophet wash his hands while sitting at the place where he ate, as he had already washed his hands before arriving at the place where he ate.
Here is evidence that the Prophet often washed himself outside before returning.
Sahih al-Bukhari 1/188
It was mentioned in Sahih Al-Bukhari 1/188 as follows:
Shadhan narrated from Shuʿbah from ʿAtaʾ ibn Abi Maymunah who said:
I heard Anas ibn Malik say:
“Whenever the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, went out to relieve himself, a boy and I would follow him, carrying with us a crutch, a stick, or a stick, and a vessel. When he had finished relieving himself, we would hand him the vessel.”
The water jug is the vessel that contains water for purification.
The Prophet used to take the water jug to purify himself outside the city to the toilet.
Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim
The following was mentioned in Sahih Al-Bukhari and Muslim:
Ismail ibn Ibrahim narrated:
Rawh ibn al-Qasim narrated:
Ata’ ibn Abi Maymunah narrated on the authority of Anas ibn Malik, who said:
“Whenever the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, relieved himself, I would bring him water to wash with.”
The Prophet used to wash himself in the bathroom outside before returning to the place of eating or the place of meeting…, and therefore Ibn Abbas did not see him washing his hands in the place of eating.
In conclusion, the hadith of Ibn Abbas, which says that [the Prophet defecated and ate without touching water], this hadith does not mean that the Prophet did not wash his hands in all situations.
Rather the hadith means that the Prophet did not wash his hands only in the place of food, but rather he washed them in advance before he came to the place of food…
And therefore when we review the same hadith found in Musnad Al-Imam Ahmad, No. 2472, we will know that what is meant by the Prophet not touching water is that the Prophet did not perform ablution after he reached the place of food, and it does not mean that he did not perform ablution at all.
Musnad Ahmad 2472
It was mentioned in Musnad Al-Imam Ahmad - Hadith No. 2472 as follows:
“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, relieved himself, then he returned. A large vessel was brought to him, but he did not perform ablution, so he ate from it.”
ʿAmr added to this hadith on the authority of Saʿid ibn al-Huwayrith, who said:
It was said:
“O Messenger of Allah, you did not perform ablution!”
He said:
“I did not want to pray, so I performed ablution.”
If you look at the previous hadith ☝, you will find an arrangement of events and actions separated by the particle then and the letter fa for order, like this:
Meaning that the lack of ablution was after arriving at the place of food.
As for what happened before arriving at the place of food, the Prophet had already washed his hand.
It is also clear from the previous hadith that the phrase “did not touch water” means that the Prophet did not perform ablution after reaching the place where the food was.
The reason for this is that eating food does not require ablution, rather it is sufficient to wash the hands only.
There is a difference between ablution and washing the hands.
Ablution is a broad matter that includes washing the hands, arms, head, and feet, while washing the hands is limited to the hands only.
Eating only requires washing the hands, and there is no need for ablution or washing the feet, arms, etc.
In conclusion, the Prophet had washed his hands before he came to the place of food, and that is why Ibn Abbas did not see him.
Moreover, eating food does not require ablution at all, rather washing the hand is sufficient.
Furthermore, the Prophet did not eat with the same hand with which he removed feces.
There is another point I would like to point out, which is that some ignorant Christians do not know the Arabic language, and therefore they read Arabic hadiths and understand them backwards.
For example, one of the foolish Christians read the phrase [I did not want to pray, so I performed ablution] found in the previous hadith, and the foolish Christian thought that the Prophet did not perform ablution before prayer!
But the phrase does not mean what this foolish Christian understood.
Rather, the phrase in its context means that the companions asked the Prophet why he did not perform ablution before eating.
The Prophet told them that he was eating now, not that he was praying.
Ablution is performed before one goes to prayer, not before eating.
Finally
Musannaf Abdul Razzaq 708
The following is mentioned in the book of Abdul Razzaq 708:
Abu Bakr ibn Hafs ibn Umar informed me, who said:
Abu Abd al-Rahman informed me, on the authority of Abu Abd Allah, that he heard Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf ask Bilal how the Messenger of Allah wiped over the socks?
He said:
“He defecated, then he called me for a place of purification with the container, and he washed his face and hands, and wiped over his socks, and said: Over his khimar for the turban.”
Here ☝, the Prophet took a jug of water after defecating and washed his hand.
Ilal Ibn Abi Hatim 173
The following was mentioned in the book Ilal Ibn Abi Hatim - Hadith No. 173:
that Muhammad ibn Ismail informed him, on the authority of Hamzah ibn al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah:
that they heard al-Mughirah ibn Shu’bah:
that he traveled with the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, in the Battle of Tabuk:
that the Messenger of God, may God bless him and grant him peace, defecated, performed ablution, and wiped over his socks…]
Conclusion
The Prophet ﷺ used the left hand for removing filth and the right hand for eating.
The narration about not touching water refers to not performing ablution before eating after returning to the place of food, not to abandoning purification after defecation.
Other narrations explicitly show that water was brought to him after relieving himself and that he washed.