Short answer
Yes. Eating with chopsticks, a fork or a spoon is permissible in all four schools. Eating with the fingers of the right hand is the sunnah, but the Prophet ﷺ also used a knife to cut meat, and utensils are not tied to any religion. Hold them in your right hand.
Using chopsticks or other utensils is mubah. The sunnah of eating with the right hand applies to whatever you eat with, so hold the chopsticks in the right hand where you can.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Some people wonder whether chopsticks count as imitating non-Muslims. The rule against imitation applies to things that are religious symbols of another faith, or that mark out a group as distinct from Muslims. Chopsticks are an ordinary eating tool used by hundreds of millions of people, including Muslims in China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia. They carry no religious meaning, so there is no imitation in using them.
The sunnah is to eat with the fingers of the right hand, and those who do so for that reason are rewarded. But the Sunnah also shows that tools are allowed: the Prophet ﷺ cut slices from a shoulder of lamb with a knife and ate. Spoons, forks and chopsticks fall under the same permission.
A few points of adab:
- Right hand: hold the chopsticks in your right hand. Left-handed people who find this very hard have some leeway, but should try.
- Bismillah and the other sunnahs of eating still apply (see the sunnahs of eating).
- The food is what needs checking in East Asian restaurants: mirin, sake, pork, oyster sauce and non-halal meat are common (see sushi and soy sauce).
For eating with your hands, see is it sunnah to eat with your hands.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-A'raaf 7:31
۞ يَٰبَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ خُذُوا۟ زِينَتَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍۢ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ ﴿٣١﴾
O children of Adam, take your adornment at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.
Eating is open to people, with no tool specified.
Sahih al-Bukhari 208
Sahih... يحتز من كتف شاة ...
"He was cutting slices from the shoulder of a sheep."
The Prophet ﷺ used a knife to eat, showing utensils are allowed.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5376
Sahih... يا غلام سم الله وكل بيمينك وكل مما يليك ...
"Young man, say Allah's name, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is in front of you."
The right hand is used whatever the tool.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiyya, chapter on eating. The manners of eating and what is disliked.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Hazr wal-Ibaha, discussion of imitation. Imitation is forbidden in what is particular to another religion, not in ordinary customs.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.