for them and out of fear for them, and that compassion is among his noble qualities, about which Allah Almighty said: “There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves; grievous to him is what you suffer; he is concerned for you and, toward the believers, he is kind and merciful” (9:128).

6 – The breadth and gentleness of this Sharīʿah, and how it takes the frailty of human nature into account. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Allah intends to lighten your burden,” and He says: “He has laid no hardship upon you in religion.”

7 – This remarkable ḥadith is proof for the juristic maxim “Preventing harm takes precedence over procuring benefit.” The potential harm of people falling into sin by neglecting an obligation outweighed the benefit that would have resulted from making the siwāk compulsory at every ablution.

8 – Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd said: “The secret is that in every state in which we seek closeness to Allah we are commanded to be in complete cleanliness, so that the nobility of worship is manifest.” Others have said that the matter relates to the angel, for he is offended by foul odours. Al-Ṣanʿānī remarked: “It is not unlikely that the underlying reason combines both considerations,” citing what al-Bukhārī 854 and Muslim 564 narrated from Jābir, traced back to the Prophet ﷺ: “Whoever has eaten garlic, onion, or leeks, let him not come near our mosque, for the angels are offended by what offends the children of Adam.”

9 – The purport of the ḥadith indicates that the siwāk is to be used during ablution, specifically at the time of rinsing the mouth.

10 – The well-known position in the school of Imām Aḥmad is that siwāk is not fulfilled except with a twig. The stronger view is that it may be fulfilled with anything that removes the odour, be it a finger, a cloth, or the like; hence al-Muwaffaq and al-Nawawī said that any means which removes the change is sufficient.

11 – The ḥadith establishes an uṣūl principle: an unqualified command denotes obligation. The reasoning is that, had a command merely signified recommendation, the Prophet ﷺ would not have refrained from ordering his community to use the siwāk. What a bare command conveys—and what the Companions and scholars understood from a command unaccompanied by a diverting indicator—is obligation, and this is what restrained him from making the siwāk compulsory.