Close your mouth while eating to avoid unnecessary noises

There were times when others would just convert to Islam only by spending an evening that may or may not involve hardcore preaching.

When i was young PTV was the only television channel available in pakistan. I remember one scene (from a drama about british rule in India,) where british army officer is having dinner and his servant is standing next to him observing the way that british officer is eating , the servant gets so impressed by the manners that when he gets home he tries to teach his children all the manners. Conclusion: the servant is so impressed by the manners that now he wants his children to be like him. That is the power of table manners

There are few experiences that just got printed on my mind. I will share one that i feel is appropriate for my blog. Once we went to an Ameen function, Ameen is an event held when a kid completes his/her first complete reading of the quran or learns it by heart. And usually the chief guest in such events is the Quran teacher of that kid and if the kid goes to a religious school than all the teachers or selected few are also invited.
The one i am talking about had a buffet dinner at the end. I remember seeing one of the teachers from the religious school eating. He was a fat man with thick untrimed or even combed beard, he was wearing traditional saudi dress "thub". He first filled his plate with too much food, there was rice and then three different kind of gravy, with some cooked vegetables and on top of that he added a quarter barbecued chicken and than some more gravy and enough bread in his hand. Than he remove gutra from his head(you can google saudi traditional attire) put it on the table. Folded his sleeves up to elbow, He recited "Bismillah"(a dua to begin any thing) than started to eat his food with his hand, at times he was using both of his hands. He was chewing with his mouth open and the thing that just got printed on my mind how annoying his loud chewing sound was. When he was done eating , it was mess. there was some rice on his beard and on the table around his plate. He threw bones just like that on the table and believe me there were a lot of bones. He ate with an enormous speed and loud noise. Than after that he went for desert and mixed all the three different kinds of available in deserts in one plate and that he ate with a spoon. After that he cleaned his hand with his "Gutra". And then he closed his eating ceremony with a loud Burp and Saying "AlhamduLilah". and than he said small prayer and he was done.

This is definitely not a way a Muslim eats, the guy i mentioned ate like an animal only difference was he knew all the prayers a Muslim should know. For me if i want to impress a person i will invite him for dinner and show my best table manners and believe me good manners always leave an impact, i personally believe a person with good manners is always praised and respected more.

I am not gonna go in details regarding the table manners in Islam but if wish to read more about table manners in Islam read here: http://aabab01.multiply.com/reviews/item/124

I have realized after seeing him eat that in his mind he has three categories of table manners because i am sure he must be aware of all manners but chose to follow only few.

1. First set of manners were prayer and duas one has to recite before after or during eating.
2. Second set of manners were the things that distinguish him from non Muslims eating habits or in today world western standards, like using a spoon and eating with left hand when using knife, as he ate with fingers of his right hand.
3. Third set of manners which neither involve prayers nor any contradiction with the western standards , like eating with mouth closed, eating slowly, eating in small proportions many times rather than big proportion in one go

That guy only followed the first 2 set of manners because those two in a way serve a purpose but completely ignored the 3rd set which is equally important , with equally important purpose.
The purpose is to portray that we are not animals but a civilized nation. In order to attract people toward Islam, we need to show the right picture of a muslim, and these minor details add a lot to the image. There is no wonder in early times Islam spread with the speed of light through out the world and now a days with all of our special communication technology and easy access to people around the world we are unable to do so.For sure i dont want any kid to learn any thing for him or even stay in his company, If i am being a Muslim thinks so than others may too.