Faida fi al-Siwak - dimn Athar al-Muallimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dar Alam al-Fawa'id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzi'
Faida fi al-Siwak (فائدة في السواك, lit. 'A Benefit Regarding the Tooth-Stick') is a short legal and Hadith treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Muallimi al-Yamani (d. 1386 AH / 1966 CE), published as part of his collected works (Athar al-Muallimi) .
Content and Method
The tract begins by citing prophetic traditions regarding the merits and legal emphasis on using the tooth-stick (siwak) . Among these are:
- The hadith: لولا أن أشق على أمتي لأمرتهم بتأخير العشاء وبالسواك عند كل صلاة ("Were it not that I would cause hardship for my community, I would have commanded them to delay the night prayer and to use the tooth-stick at every prayer") .
- The hadith: السواك مطهرة للفم مرضاة للرب ("The tooth-stick is a purification for the mouth and pleasing to the Lord") .
- Narrations regarding Gabriel's frequent injunctions to use it, the multiplied reward of prayers performed with siwak, and the description of mouths as the pathways of the Quran ( إن أفواهكم طرق القرآن، فطيبوها بالسواك ) .
Al-Muallimi evaluates the chains of transmission (asānīd) of these narrations, citing assessments from al-Sayyid al-Murtada in his commentary on Ihya Ulum al-Din, Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi, al-Bazzar, and Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani, and noting the status of individual transmitters such as Mandal and Fudayl ibn Sulayman al-Numayri .
Legal Reasoning
Building upon the transmitted texts, al-Muallimi expounds on the rationale behind the tooth-stick, arguing that the mouth serves as the vehicle for articulating the Quran, remembrance (dhikr), and the names of God and His prophets . Drawing an analogy (qiyās) to the legal prohibition of touching a copy of the Quran (mushaf) in a state of ritual impurity or bringing sacred names into unclean places, he reasons that reciting the Quran with an unclean or foul mouth would strictly merit prohibition, as verbal articulation is equivalent to—or more emphatic than—writing . He notes that natural saliva and unavoidable oral odors are nevertheless excused on grounds of necessity (darūrah) .
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