Re: Hands or cutleries?
I argue this case myself, but you also need to understand that these things do NOT amount to less important aspects of life! You must see that Islam brings the entirety of life under the authority of Allah: civil AND domestic practices. Every culture has (and had) its own laws, but in Islam we believe these come from Allah. Remember that Muhammad :saw: worked as a tradesman. Obviousy people like him believed it right to use correct measurements, not to rip people off, and suchlike. But we believe that Allah decreed these matters (e.g. Allah relating the story of Huzrat Shu‘ayb (as) in surah Hud (11):84 and 84 — “Do not give short measure nor short weight” and “In fairness, give full measure and weight”).
Having said that, you need to take cultural context into account too. In the words of philosopher and critical thinker, the late Jacques Derrida, “Pay the sharpest and broadest attention possible to context” and that “No meaning can be determined out of context”.
Instead of going into complex histories and extrapolating meanings from a variety of sources, let me sum things up simply by saying that the early Arabs didn’t sit at tables to eat, they sat on the floor. Try it yourself: you can hardly use cutlery very effectively while sitting on the floor…