<b>Guidance from the Hadith:</b><br> 1) The guardian must teach his children the manners of eating and drinking, as well as other prophetic manners and Shariah morals.<br> 2) The Hadith reveals the excellent morals of the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) and his graceful manner of instruction, as he did not rebuke the boy when he acted inappropriately while eating, but instead, he taught him in a gentle manner.<br> 3) Teaching the children such etiquettes is one of the best methods because children do not forget what they learn in their young age.<br> <br> <b>Benefit:</b><br> There are three etiquettes that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) taught to the boy in this Hadith:<br> 1) One should say, ‘In the Name of Allah’ at the beginning of the meal. If he fails to do so, the devil will share the food with him. If he forgets to say it at the beginning, he may say while eating: ‘In the Name of Allah at the beginning and at the end of it.’<br> 2) His saying: ‘eat with your right hand’ is a command denoting obligation. Hence, one must eat and drink with his right hand since the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) forbade one from eating or drinking with his left hand, and he said: “Verily, the devil eats with his left hand and drinks with his left hand.”<br> 3) His saying: ‘and eat from what is near to you’ means that one should not eat from the side of the dish that is closer to others as doing this is considered bad manners.<b>Benefit:</b><br> Is it permissible to eat with the left hand, or to take food from what is not near to the eater?<br> 1) If there is a necessity for eating with the left hand, like an excuse of illness or the like, then there is nothing wrong with that.<br> 2) If there is a diversity of dishes and variety of food, then there is nothing wrong for one to eat from plates that are not nearest to him.<br> <br> <b>Words in the Hadith:</b><br> Step-son: the boy was the son of the Umm Salamah, the wife of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him).