Short answer
Yes. The Prophet ﷺ ate with the fingers of his right hand, usually three fingers, and licked them clean before wiping his hand. Doing the same out of love for him is rewarded. Eating with a spoon, fork or chopsticks is still permissible.
Eating with the right hand, with three fingers where the food allows, and licking the fingers before wiping them, are sunnah. Using more fingers for food that needs it, such as rice, is fine, and utensils are permitted.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Ka'b ibn Malik reported that the Prophet ﷺ ate with three fingers and licked his hand before wiping it. Eating with three fingers (the thumb, index and middle finger) keeps mouthfuls small and the hand clean, and avoids greed. Licking the fingers is linked in the hadith to blessing: you do not know which part of your food holds it.
How to follow this today:
- Wash your hands before eating.
- Use your right hand.
- Use three fingers for bread, dates, meat and similar food. For rice, curries and soft food, scholars allow more fingers, since three would make it hard.
- Lick your fingers and clean the plate before wiping or washing your hands.
- Wash your hands after eating, especially after meat.
Eating with your hands is a sunnah of preference, not an obligation. The Prophet ﷺ also cut meat with a knife, so using cutlery is allowed, and at a formal meal where eating by hand would cause embarrassment, using a fork is fine. What stays the same either way is the right hand and bismillah.
The four schools agree on this. See also chopsticks, eating with the left hand and the sunnahs of eating.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Ahzaab 33:21
لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌۭ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلْيَوْمَ ٱلْءَاخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًۭا ﴿٢١﴾
There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often.
Following the Prophet ﷺ in his manners is good and rewarded.
Sahih Muslim 2032
Sahih... كان يأكل بثلاث أصابع ويلعق يده قبل أن يمسحها ...
"He used to eat with three fingers and lick his hand before wiping it."
The sunnah way of eating by hand.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5456
Sahih... فلا يمسح يده حتى يلعقها أو يلعقها ...
"Let him not wipe his hand until he has licked it or had it licked."
The sunnah of licking the fingers after eating.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiyya, chapter on eating. The manners of eating with the hand.
- Sharh Sahih Muslim (Nawawi), Kitab al-Ashriba, chapter on the etiquette of food and drink. Explains eating with three fingers and licking them.
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.