A Muslim woman sharing cutlery with a non-Muslim woman

29/04/2012| IslamWeb

Question

Assalamu alaykum, is it acceptable in islam to share the same cutlery with a non muslim sister in a same container.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.
A Muslim is allowed to share cooking utensils and food utensils and the like with non-Muslims, whether they are relatives or not. It is proven that the Prophet performed ablution from a water skin that belonged to a polytheist woman. An exception to this is applicable if a Muslim knows or predominantly thinks that the non-Muslim uses these utensils in serving an impure food such as pork, or drink such as alcohol and the like, since in that case he should not use them.
In any case, a Muslim is advised to diligently invite his non-Muslim relative to Islam; perhaps Allah will make him a reason behind his relative embracing Islam. The Prophet was reported to have said, “If Allah guides one single man through you, that would be better for you than possessing the red camels [i.e. better than massive wealth].” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb