Overview

Istiyak — using the siwak — is lexically the act of cleaning the mouth and teeth with the tooth-stick (from saka, "to rub"); the word siwak denotes both the act and the stick itself, also called miswak, and the juristic usage adds nothing beyond this ¹ ². A sunna in the Prophet's practice, it remains an everyday hygiene tool kept in many homes today {³}.

Its wisdom and ruling

The siwak purifies the mouth and pleases the Lord, on Aisha's report that the Prophet said "the siwak is a purification for the mouth and a means of the Lord's pleasure" ². Its baseline ruling across the four schools is recommendation — al-Nawawi even reported a consensus of the accredited scholars on this — on the hadith of Abu Hurayra (may God be pleased with him) "were it not that I would burden my community, I would have ordered them to use the siwak at every prayer", and on the Prophet's constant use of it, even in his final illness, and its listing among the traits of fitra ². Ishaq ibn Rahwayh held it obligatory, taking the command in the hadith at face value; the Shafi'is — with a Hanbali report and the positions of Abu Thawr and Ata' — dislike it for a fasting person after noon, while the Hanafis, Malikis and the other Hanbali report treat its ruling as the same whether fasting or not ⁴.

Its place in purification

The four schools agree the siwak is a sunna at wudu, then differ on whether it belongs to wudu's own sunnas: the Hanafis, Malikis and one Shafi'i view count it among them, while the Hanbalis and the weightier Shafi'i view make it a sunna outside and prior to wudu; it is also recommended at tayammum and ghusl ⁴.

For young visitors

The miswak is a small twig from the arak tree used to clean the mouth and teeth; the Prophet kept using it, so it stayed among his enduring practices.

Research notes

Text from the Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia, headword «استياك» (paragraphs 1-6), Noor-Book scan; see also «فطرة» for the siwak among the fitra traits at p.12423.

Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation

In the lexicon, adhm is the bone that has flesh on it, plural 'idham and 'izam. Most jurists hold that a human bone is pure, whether living or dead, of a Muslim or not; that a fish bone stays pure after death; and that the bone of a lawfully slaughtered edible animal is pure and may be used. The bone of carrion, or of a non-edible animal, is impure according to the Malikis, Shafi'is, Hanbalis and Ishaq, and cannot be purified; the Hanafis hold it pure, and 'Umar disliked oiling in ivory. On cleansing after excretion with a bone, the Shafi'is and Hanbalis forbid it; the Hanafis dislike it as forbidden but accept that it suffices; the Malikis forbid a carrion bone and allow a pure bone with disapproval. Most jurists allow retaliation for a bone only at a joint, since equality cannot be achieved elsewhere.

The miswak (tooth-stick)

At a glance

Overview

Its wisdom and ruling

Its place in purification

Research notes

People and things also explored

Sources

Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation