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Using siwak is recommended, not obligatory
“Siwak is a means of purification for the mouth and is pleasing to the Lord.”[1]
“Were it not for the fact that I did not wish to cause hardship to the believers I would have commanded them to delay the ‘isha’ prayer and to use the siwak for every prayer.”[2]
“I have indeed urged you with regard to the siwak.”[3]
To use siwak before prayer
“Whenever the Messenger of Allah [saws] got up for prayer at night to pray the optional night prayer, he would clean his mouth with the tooth stick.”[4]
To use siwak after entering house
“I asked, ‘Aishah [ra], ‘With what did the Prophet [saws] start when he entered his house?’ She said, ‘With the siwak.’”[5]
To use siwak on the tongue
“I entered upon the Prophet [saws] while he was using the siwak upon the tip of his tongue and he was saying, ‘Eh, Eh’, making a gagging sound.”[6]
To clean the siwak after use
“The Prophet of Allah [saws] would clean his teeth with the siwak then he would give me the siwak in order to wash it. So I would first use it myself then wash it and return it to him.”[7]
To share the siwak, with the elder before the younger
“I dreamt that I was cleaning my teeth with a siwak and two persons came to me. One of them was older than the other, and I gave the siwak to the younger. I was told that I should give it to the older and so I did.”[8]
[1] Sunan An-Nasa’i Sahih 5
[2] Sunan Abu Dawud Sahih 46; Sunan Ibn Majah Sahih 287; Sunan An-Nasa’i Sahih 7; Sahih Muslim 589, 42/252
[3] Sunan An-Nasa’i Sahih 6
[4] Sunan Ibn Majah Sahih 286; Sunan An-Nasa’i Sahih 2; Sunan Abu Dawud Sahih 55; Sahih Muslim 593, 46/255; Sahih Al-Bukhari 245
[5] Sahih Muslim 590, 43/253; Sunan Ibn Majah Sahih 290; Sunan An-Nasa’i Sahih 8
[6] Sunan Abu Dawud Sahih 49; Sunan An-Nasa’i Sahih 3; Sahih Al-Bukhari 244
[7] Sunan Abu Dawud Hasan 52
[8] Sahih Al-Bukhari 246
Very informative. Thx for sharing