their blood, because they will be raised on the Day of Resurrection with their wounds gushing blood: its color will be the color of blood, but its fragrance the fragrance of musk. Thus, this thing that will be present on the Day of Resurrection should not be removed.

A parallel case is the Prophet’s statement concerning one who died at Arafah: “Shroud him in his two garments” (1). Therefore, when a person dies while in a state of ihram, we should not seek a new piece of cloth for him; rather, we should shroud him in the garments of ihram that he is wearing, for, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “He will be raised on the Day of Resurrection reciting the talbiyah” (260).

Second: linking the ruling to the sun’s passing its zenith is invalidated, because this odor may arise before noon, since its cause is the stomach’s being empty of food. If a person does not eat the pre-dawn meal at the end of the night, his stomach will become empty early; yet they do not say that whenever the unpleasant odor is present, use of the tooth-stick is disliked.

Third: some people do not experience this unpleasant odor, either because their stomachs are clear or because their stomachs do not digest quickly. Thus, this effective cause is invalidated; and when the effective cause is invalidated, the ruling dependent upon it is likewise invalidated, because the effective cause is the basis and the ruling is its derivative.

The stronger view is that using the tooth-stick is sunnah even for the fasting person, both before and after the sun has passed its zenith. This is supported by the hadith of Amir ibn Rabi‘ah—which al-Bukhari cited without its full chain—who said: “I saw the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, using the tooth-stick while fasting, more times than I could count or enumerate” (2).