Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?

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Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
OP - December 12, 2009, 08:17 PM

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Muslim (262) narrated that Salmaan (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: He (meaning the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) forbade any one of us to clean himself with his right hand.

And Muslim (2020) narrated from Ibn ?Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ?No one among you should eat with his left hand or drink with it, for the shaytaan eats with his left hand and drinks with it.?

Why did this rule come about from Muhammad? What was the historical significance of it that Mo made it a rule

It seems Muhammad had a pride problem too. If no one followed his rule, he would always wish and pray against him

Quote
In Saheeh Muslim (2021) it is narrated that a man ate with his left hand in the presence of the Messenger of Allaah (S). He said: ?Eat with your right hand.? He said: I cannot. He said: ?May you never be able to,? for nothing was preventing him from doing so but arrogance. And he never raised it to his mouth again.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) prayed against him so that what he claimed of not being able to do it would come true, because he was too arrogant to follow the truth and he did not observe proper etiquette with the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and his excuse was a lie, and lying to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is not like lying to anyone else.

http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/82120
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #1 - December 12, 2009, 08:48 PM

Holy shit I knew left handedness was frowned upon in many muslim cultures, but I never realised even Islam had that superstition. You learn something everyday.

and lol @ satan eating with his left hand. You'd think the prince of darkness wouldn't need food.

Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #2 - December 12, 2009, 08:59 PM

lol this pretty much sums up and all religion in general - primitive superstition. When I was a Muslim at one point I was so superstitious that when I used to masturbate with my left hand becuase I thought my right hand was too 'good' for it and pure for it. If that makes sense.

Now I'm a left hander.

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #3 - December 12, 2009, 09:23 PM

why did Muhammad come with this? what was the logical reasoning behind?
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #4 - December 12, 2009, 09:46 PM

Do you really think a person who talks about satan pissing in your ear is concerned with logical reasoning?

Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #5 - December 12, 2009, 10:07 PM

Quote from: _truth_ on December 12, 2009, 09:23 PM
why did Muhammad come with this? what was the logical reasoning behind?

Just narrow-mindedness - anything that is different from the majority, is veering away from what God intended, thus the work of satan. Whether it be homosexuality, black, left handed, anal sex... there all works of the devil, and religion breeds best where there is group kinship & conformity

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #6 - December 12, 2009, 10:23 PM

This is one of the proofs that Islam is man-made. The stigma of being left-handed was simply a primitive and cultural thing before Islam and Muhammad, and Islam simply incorporated it, and added the bit with Satan eating with the left hand.

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #7 - December 12, 2009, 10:36 PM

yes i always figured that, was wondering if there was any particular reasoning behind it other than Mo's stupidity
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #8 - December 13, 2009, 02:38 AM

You've just reminded me on a video I'll do entitled "re-enforcing already existing arab customs". The whole right/left thing is an arab custom bundled with religion and exported as part of religion.

I guess the logic is that in a desert environment, you whipe your ass with your left hand and eat with your right as to avoid contamination of food due to lack of hygiene.

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #9 - December 13, 2009, 03:09 AM

Kawaii, negative meanings associated left-handedness has been part of practically every culture in Eurasia. Not just Arabs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-handedness#Negative_associations_of_left-handedness_in_language

Regurgitating this existing superstition matches Mo's tendency to repackage already existing ideas as his own.

Quote from: thinkfree on September 28, 2010, 07:58 PM
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #10 - December 13, 2009, 08:28 AM

I was always very suspicious as to why the diety of the cosmos would concern himself with such stupidities and thought long and hard about it. One of the explanations or "reasons" that was given to me was that this was following the example of Muhammad. God had appointed him the best example for mankind to follow, and part of worshipping God, is to emulate Muhammad. So if Muhammad hopped on one leg during one of the prayers, then that would be seen as a recommended sunnah to follow.
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #11 - December 13, 2009, 09:28 AM

I ate once with the left hand at my relatives place, I was told once not to eat with my left hand (i'm right handed now, but i'm pretty sure I have always been), he was disgusted. Never got a reason for it, and any reason given now can't explain this bullshit. People are wired in the brains to be either left handed, right handed, or ambidextrous.
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #12 - December 13, 2009, 10:27 AM

you were once left handed, then became right handed

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #13 - December 13, 2009, 12:40 PM

I can understand the whole left-handed phobia for hygiene purposes but being a leftie myself I was still insulted by the whole Satan-is-left-handed bullshit. I mean, couldn't Mo have just told the lefties to eat with the left hand and wipe their asses with their right? I guess it's because the majority of the human race is right handed so us Southpaws are viewed as The Other... kinda like women in Islam; male is the Norm whilst female is the Other so, righties are the Norm, thus lefties are the Other.

I got told off once at a wedding for using a serving spoon to ladle some food onto my plate with my left hand. My response was that if you aren't actually eating with that utensil/hand then what's the point?

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #14 - December 13, 2009, 01:13 PM

Superstitious nonsense from old wives tales made into something even more ridiculous. Cheers, Ibn Abdullah

Right Hand: Dexter
Let Hand: Sinister

go figure

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #15 - December 13, 2009, 02:02 PM

Quote from: Nour on December 13, 2009, 12:40 PM
I can understand the whole left-handed phobia for hygiene purposes but being a leftie myself I was still insulted by the whole Satan-is-left-handed bullshit. I mean, couldn't Mo have just told the lefties to eat with the left hand and wipe their asses with their right? I guess it's because the majority of the human race is right handed so us Southpaws are viewed as The Other... kinda like women in Islam; male is the Norm whilst female is the Other so, righties are the Norm, thus lefties are the Other.

I got told off once at a wedding for using a serving spoon to ladle some food onto my plate with my left hand. My response was that if you aren't actually eating with that utensil/hand then what's the point?

True, I heard of left-handed people being told to use their right hand as children. Fortunately they became ambidextrous in later life. In fact is left-handed Nadal won wimbedon, after being retrained to play tennis with his right hand later in his tennis career. They say that gave him the competitive edge because is double-backhand was steered by his more powerful left hand.

Talking of tennis, any tennis players round here?

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #16 - December 13, 2009, 02:12 PM

Quote from: IsLame on December 13, 2009, 10:27 AM
you were once left handed, then became right handed

No I was probably right handed but for some reason I had chosen to eat with left hand that particular dinner. I was very young when it happened, so memory is a bit hazy.
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #17 - December 13, 2009, 04:51 PM

This used to be impractical when I had a sandwich on one hand and a drink on the other.

Quote from: Omaar Khayaam on December 13, 2009, 08:28 AM
I was always very suspicious as to why the diety of the cosmos would concern himself with such stupidities and thought long and hard about it. One of the explanations or "reasons" that was given to me was that this was following the example of Muhammad. God had appointed him the best example for mankind to follow, and part of worshipping God, is to emulate Muhammad. So if Muhammad hopped on one leg during one of the prayers, then that would be seen as a recommended sunnah to follow.

I actually thought it was lame without making up excuses, but never thought deeply about its implications.

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #18 - December 13, 2009, 06:51 PM

Quote from: IsLame on December 13, 2009, 02:02 PM
True, I heard of left-handed people being told to use their right hand as children. Fortunately they became ambidextrous in later life. In fact is left-handed Nadal won wimbedon, after being retrained to play tennis with his right hand later in his tennis career. They say that gave him the competitive edge because is double-backhand was steered by his more powerful left hand.

Talking of tennis, any tennis players round here?

I used to play in my late teens and early twenties, switched over to squash.
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #19 - December 13, 2009, 06:57 PM

I was actually had a left handed tendencies at an early age. And because of this bull crap hadith, my parents forced me to become right handed. Its so sad because I always thought writing left handed was sweet and later years tried hard to learn how to write in left hand but never could accomplish it
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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #20 - December 14, 2009, 12:00 AM

Quote from: Omaar Khayaam on December 13, 2009, 06:51 PM
I used to play in my late teens and early twenties, switched over to squash.

You fancy a game sometime?

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Re: Why is Islam so paranoid about being right handed?
Reply #21 - December 14, 2009, 12:36 AM

How did squash become a yuppie game?

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