137. Ka’b ibn Mālik narrated: “The Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him) used to lick his fingers thrice after eating.”
Abū ‘Īsa [al-Tirmidhī] said: “The narration transmitted from the other narrators of this hadīth, which Muhammad ibn Bashar narrated, is that he used to lick his three fingers.” [159]
Abdul Razzaq al-Badr said,
The hadīth wherein it says that he (peace be upon him) licked his fingers three times is an odd narration. The preserved narration is that he licked his three fingers.
Al-Bajūrī said,
The wisdom of licking the fingers is explained in another hadīth wherein he said, “When one of you finishes eating, he should lick his fingers. You do not know in which [part] of your food is the barakah (blessing).”[160]
Ibn Hajar al-Haytamī said,
The reconciliation between this hadīth and the other one where it says that he licked his three fingers (rather than each finger thrice) is that he licked each of the three fingers thrice. The three fingers he used for eating were the thumb, index and middle fingers. The middle finger should be licked first after finishing the meal because it is the longest and so it will have more food stuck to it, then the index finger should be licked, followed by the thumb. It is the Sunnah to lick the fingers before washing them or wiping them.
Al-Qadī ‘Iyyād said,
The wisdom of licking the fingers is so that a person does not belittle the food and appreciates it even if it is little.
Alī al-Qārī said,
It is disliked to lick the fingers while eating because the fingers will then touch the food whilst having some traces of saliva upon them.
138. Anas ibn Mālik narrated: “The Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him) used to lick his three fingers after he finished eating.” [161]
139. Abū Juhaifah narrated: “The Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him) said, ‘As for me, I do not eat whilst I am reclining [upon something].’” [162]
140. Alī ibn al-Aqmar reports the same.
141. Ka’b ibn Mālik narrated: “The Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him) used to eat with his three fingers and lick them after finishing the meal.” [163]
Abdul Razzaq al-Badr said,
There are two etiquettes to learn from this hadīth, they are: (i) eating with three fingers and licking them after finishing eating. However, some scholars have said that eating with three fingers is not for soupy types of food i.e. it is for finger foods that can be collected in the three fingers, and (ii) licking the fingers after finishing the meal.
142. Anas ibn Mālik said: “Dates were presented to the Messenger of Allāh (peace be upon him). Due to hunger, I saw him kneeling with his feet upright, resting on his heels whilst eating the dates.” [164]
Ibn al-Uthaymīn said,
The Prophet (peace be upon him) ate like that so that he would not become too comfortable and eat too much. This is because, usually when a person sits in this manner, he does not feel too comfortable and this causes him to become unable to eat excessively. If he is not comfortable he will never eat to excess, but if he is comfortable he will.
Abdul Razzaq al-Badr said,
This hadīth is fully narrated in the Musnad of Imām Ahmad and its wording is: “Dates were presented to the Prophet (peace be upon him) so he divided it equally to be distributed amongst the [the needy] people and I was the one who was sent to give it away. After he finished, I saw him eating whilst sitting in a kneeling position and this made me realise that he was hungry.”[165]
This hadīth shows he gave priority to other persons who had a similar condition (i.e. hunger) despite the fact that he was hungry himself.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalānī said,
The Sunnah when sitting to eat is to kneel down with the top of the feet resting upon the floor, or to sit with the right knee up, resting on the left foot.