Social · Saudi Arabia

Use your right hand for eating, greeting, and giving

Use your right hand to eat, shake hands, or pass and receive objects; the left hand is considered unclean and reserved for personal hygiene.

Saudi Arabia SocialstrictUpdated September 2, 2026

Eat with your right hand, even when using bread to scoop shared food. Offer and accept things (money, business cards, food, a handshake) with your right hand, or both hands for something formal.

If your right hand is occupied or unavailable, it’s fine to briefly explain rather than use your left hand by default.

The same “lowest, cleanest last” logic applies to your feet: don’t point them at anyone, rest them on furniture, or cross your legs in a way that shows the sole of your shoe to someone across from you, especially in a mosque or someone’s home.

Why it matters

This norm is observed broadly across the Arabian Peninsula and traces back to the left hand's traditional role in personal hygiene, kept strictly separate from eating and greeting. Using the left hand to hand someone something, eat, or greet them can be taken as genuinely disrespectful, more so than in many other cultures with a similar preference. The same body-language hierarchy shows up with feet: they're considered the lowest, least clean part of the body, so how you sit matters as much as which hand you use.

Source: Saudi Arabian Culture: Etiquette – Cultural Atlas

Use your right hand for eating, greeting, and giving

Why it matters

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