Be considerate of others’ feelings: eat or politely refrain, but don’t criticise, frown, or belittle

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy.

Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him, never criticised any food, but he would eat it if he liked it; otherwise he would leave it”. [al-Bukhaari 3563]

Meaning, he never criticised food that was permissible to eat, but as for forbidden food, he used to criticise, dispraise and forbid one from eating it.

Imaam An-Nawawi [may Allaah have mercy upon him] said, “One of the etiquettes of dealing with food is that one does not criticize it, such as saying, ‘Salty, sour, insufficient salt, coarse, need more such and such, not well cooked and what is similar to (these descriptions). [1]

Imaam Abdul Azeez Bin Baaz, may Allah have mercy upon him, said:

“This is from his [i.e. the Messenger’s] noble manners. He would neither say that it is salty nor the opposite of it.

Question: What if one says the food is such and such in order to warn (or notify the people)?

Answer: There is no harm in doing so, for warning (or notifying) is something else because it is done to educate (people about food etc). [2]

Ibn Umar, may Allah be pleased with and his father, reported that there were some people with Allah’s Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, from among his Companions, Sa’d, may Allah be pleased with him, being one of them. There was brought to them the flesh of the lizard when a lady amongst the wives of Allah’s Prophet said: “It is the flesh of the lizard”. Thus, Allah’s Messenger said, “Eat, for it is lawful, but it is not my diet”. [3]

Abdullah Bin Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him and his father, reported:

I and Khalid Bin Al-Walid went to the apartment of Maimunah, may Allah be pleased with her, along with Allah’s Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and there was presented to him a roasted lizard. Allah’s Messenger stretched his hand towards it, then some of the women who had been in the house of Maimunah said, “Inform Allah’s Messenger what he intends to eat”. Allah’s Messenger lifted his hand. I said, “Messenger of Allah! Is it forbidden?” He said, “No. It is not found in the land of my people, and I feel that I have no liking for it”. Khalid said, “I then chewed and ate it, while, Allaah’s Messenger was looking (at me)”. [4]

[1] An Excerpt from Fath Al-Bari. Chapter 21: ‘The Prophet Never Criticised Food’. 9/678. Publisher: Dar As-Salam, 1st Edition 1421AH (Year 2000)

[2] Al-Hulal Al-Ibreeziyyah Min at-Taleeqaat Al-Baaziyyah Alaa Saheih Al-Bukhari 3/120’ footnote 2.

[3&4] http://www.sahihmuslim.com/sps/smm/sahihmuslim.cfm?scn=dspchaptersfull&ChapterID=823&BookID=21]