It has also been narrated from Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, concerning the description of ablution, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “inserted some of his fingers into his mouth …” (1). This indicates that using one’s finger as a tooth-stick is sufficient, though it is not like using a twig, since the twig cleans more thoroughly.

However, a person may not have any twigs with which to clean his teeth while performing ablution, so we say to him: using a finger suffices.

“Or a cloth …”

His statement, “or a cloth,” means that using a cloth as a tooth-stick is not recommended, nor is the sunnah attained by it. This refers to wrapping the cloth around one’s finger and using it to clean the teeth. Cleaning with a cloth is more effective than cleaning with the finger alone.

For this reason, some scholars said: if the finger is rough, using it as a tooth-stick suffices; but if it is not rough, it does not suffice (2).

It has already been mentioned that a cloth is more effective in cleaning. Thus, whoever holds that the sunnah is attained by using a finger must hold that using a cloth is even more deserving of attaining it.

Benefit: There are ten forms of the word for “finger.” Hence it is said that no one is to be deemed mistaken regarding its inflection, because the letter ṣād is unvowelled, while the hamzah and the bāʾ may each take any of the three vowels. That is, the hamzah may be pronounced with fatḥah, kasrah, or ḍammah, together with the bāʾ pronounced with fatḥah, kasrah, or ḍammah.

One poetically listed these forms and added to them the word for “fingertip”: