Question:
He (the questioner) says that in a mosque there, during iqamah, some people use a miswak stick, lightly brush their teeth, then place the stick in a cover and keep it in their pocket. He says this looks unpleasant, but when he asks them, they claim it is supported by hadith. Some even show videos of the Imam of Masjid al-Haram doing it.
Answer:
The Messenger of Allahﷻ said to brush the teeth during prayer. How did he say it? He said, “If it were not difficult for my community, I would have commanded them to brush their teeth for every prayer.” Based on this hadith, the Shafi‘i Imam and followers of the Shafi‘i madhhab, and those who call themselves Salafis, say that miswak must be done for every prayer.
Because of that, before saying takbeer, they stand and keep the tooth stick with them. They brush like this and keep it in their pocket. In earlier times, they did not keep it in a cover. In coastal towns and such places, in earlier days, they used to do it like that. I don’t know how it is done now. But since the madhhab says miswak must be done for prayer, once they stand for prayer and before saying takbeer, they take the stick, rub their teeth, and keep it back. When asked why, they say the Messengerﷺ of Allahﷻ said to brush teeth for every prayer, and that is what Imam Shafi‘i said. So, followers of the Shafi‘i madhhab and these Salafis do this practice. This practice of brushing teeth for every prayer is mentioned in Bukhari, hadith number 887.
Similarly, Nawawi mentions another hadith. He says there are three times when miswak is recommended. One of them is when standing for prayer. Brushing teeth when standing for prayer is Sunnah. The reason is that Aisha (Mother of Believers) narrated that praying after brushing the teeth is seventy times superior to praying without brushing the teeth. Because of this hadith, it is written that miswak must be done when standing for prayer.
Now, the first thing is to understand what brushing the teeth actually means. People understand it foolishly without using their intellect. What does brushing the teeth mean? Brushing means: cleaning the teeth, removing the dirt inside, rinsing the mouth, spitting it out, and then cleaning properly. Only after completing all this, it’s called brushing teeth. If someone just rubs a miswak lightly, would you call those brushing teeth? Brushing means completing all actions required to clean the teeth.
When someone stands for prayer and rubs a stick on the teeth, is that brushing teeth? After brushing, where did he rinse his mouth? Is rubbing alone called brushing? They take a stick, rub their teeth, and keep it in their pocket. Will anyone call that brushing? Give brushing its correct meaning. If it is said to brush teeth for every prayer, it means brushing while preparing for prayer. If you perform ablution before prayer, you brush then, and that is brushing for prayer.
It is correct to brush teeth for prayer. It is correct to brush during ablution. What does it mean? It means removing all dirt from the teeth, rinsing the mouth, and then standing for prayer in a clean condition. Will anyone understand it properly like this? Instead, they change the meaning of brushing and think rubbing with a stick is brushing. They think brushing means simply holding a tooth stick and rubbing it on two teeth like this and thinking that is brushing.
When they stand for prayer before takbeer, they do it in front of everyone in a way that people find unpleasant. If the dirt stays inside the mouth, it is not an issue, but if it comes outside, it becomes disgusting. All bodily waste is inside the body. As long as it is inside, it is not an issue. Once it comes out, it becomes unpleasant. Saliva is like that. If you rub inside your mouth and then keep that stick in your pocket, is that not disgusting? First understand what brushing means. Does brushing mean rubbing and keeping the dirt inside, or spitting it out? What is the meaning of cleaning teeth?
In earlier times, they used a stick called siwak. Later it became a tooth stick. A brush is also the same. Whatever you use; brushing means cleaning. If you brush with a brush and just leave after rubbing, will you say that is better than not brushing? If you rub and leave, the dirt will spread everywhere inside the mouth. The tongue will feel unpleasant. Food particles will start sticking on the tongue. Is this brushing?
Hadith says to brush teeth. If it says to brush teeth for prayer, what does that mean? Just like how the Qur’an explains ablution. The Qur’an says when you stand for prayer, wash your face. Does it mean washing while standing in prayer? Does anyone wash after standing in prayer? It means washing before coming to prayer. When Allahﷻ says to wash when standing for prayer, it means to prepare beforehand.
Similarly, brushing when standing for prayer means preparing it beforehand. In the Qur’an, when it says perform ablution when standing for prayer, does anyone perform ablution after standing in prayer? If they did that, the entire mosque would become messy. As soon as iqamah is called, if everyone starts performing ablution there, the mosque would become dirty. Does anyone do that? When water is involved, people understand correctly. They understand that ablution must be done before prayer. But when it comes to brushing teeth, they wrongly think it must be done while standing in prayer.
Because water is not involved, they simply rub and keep the stick in their mouth or pocket. Only a foolish person would do this. If you insist on doing brushing while standing for prayer, then you should also perform ablution while standing for prayer, because the same wording is used. If you say Allahﷻ commanded ablution when standing for prayer, then bring water in a vessel and perform ablution inside the mosque while standing for prayer and then pray. If someone says that, would you do it?
So, they misunderstand the meaning of standing for prayer. They also misunderstand brushing teeth. Brushing means rubbing, washing, rinsing, and cleaning completely. Simply rubbing is not brushing. If someone does this and makes others feel disgusted, even if the Imam in Makkah does it, it appears he might also be following such an understanding.
If you see this, does it not look unpleasant? You rub and keep it in your pocket. What will people think seeing this? Even if they intend to brush, they are spreading the dirt inside the mouth and keeping the stick back inside. What meaning does that give? This is ignorance, foolishness, and something that creates a bad impression of Islam.
Even if something was said in earlier times, should we not use our intellect and understand it properly? Therefore, this is not a correct practice.