915 – Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Do not eat with the left hand, for Satan eats with the left hand.” Related by Muslim. (1)

Vocabulary of the ḥadīth:
– Satan (ash-shayṭān): Two opinions exist regarding the root of the word.

1. It is derived from shaṭana, “to be distant,” because he is far from the truth or from Allah’s mercy; in this case the nūn is root-letter, the yāʾ is additional, and the morphological pattern is fiʿāl.
2. The yāʾ is root-letter and the nūn is additional, the opposite of the first view, and it comes from shāṭa yashīṭu, “to perish or burn”; its pattern would then be faʿlān.
   – Left hand (ash-shimāl): the opposite of the right; it is grammatically feminine, and its plural is shumul.