Addendum to the benefits of the hadith (The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) liked to prefer the right side . . . ).

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
We will take the benefits until we begin a new lesson, if Allah wills:
He said: : It is derived from this:
That the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) liked to prefer the right side, because "liking" here means love and joy.
And among its benefits: giving precedence to the right over the left, based on her saying: , the scholars said -may Allah have mercy on them-: "except in places of harm and filth, where the left is given precedence" , and they took this exception from the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibition of cleaning oneself with the right hand and wiping with it. Accordingly, the left is given precedence for harm, and the right for everything else; this is the rule. And things are of three categories:
Harm, purity, and neither harm nor purity. The right is given precedence in two places: in purity and in what?
And in what is neither harm nor purity, due to its virtue. As for what involves harm and filth, the left is given precedence for it.
Now, regarding the miswak, does one start with the right side of the mouth or the left?
We say: one starts with the right side of the mouth, as it falls under his saying: or his saying: .
And does one hold the miswak with the right hand or the left?
Some scholars said: hold it with the left hand absolutely. And some said: with the right hand absolutely. And others distinguished:
So the one who said: with the left hand, said: the miswak is a tool for cleaning and purification, so it is like the stone with which a person cleans himself. And the stone with which a person cleans himself is taken with the left hand, so one uses the miswak with the left hand. And this is the school of thought for us, the Hanbalis, that one uses the miswak with the left hand. And some scholars said: rather, with the right hand, because the miswak is an act of worship, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): : so it is an act of worship, and it is not befitting for a person to perform an act of worship except with the right hand; he does not perform it with the tool of filth.
And others distinguished and said: if the miswak is for purifying the mouth, one takes it with the left hand, as if it were after eating, after sleeping, or after the mouth has changed and its smell has changed; in that case, it is with the left hand.
And if it is merely for voluntary practice, it is with the right hand, as if a person performed ablution and used the miswak, then went to prayer immediately; here the mouth does not need purification, but he uses the miswak at prayer as a recommended practice and worship of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), so he takes it with the right hand.
And if it were said: the matter is broad in this, and a person may use the right hand if he wishes or the left hand if he wishes, it would not be far-fetched, because these are causes upon which a person may not be able to be certain in basing the ruling.
So we say: the matter is broad.
And as for starting with the mouth, one starts with the right side, the right side.
Now, and among the benefits of this hadith: the permissibility of wearing sandals, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to.
As for combing the hair, we said it is recommended to take care of the hair, but is it a recommended practice of worship or a recommended practice of custom?
Imam Ahmad -may Allah have mercy on him- said: "It is a recommended practice; if we were strong enough, we would do it, but it has a burden and expense" : burden and expense: burden in work, expense in the price of oil and the like.
So Imam Ahmad -may Allah have mercy on him- left off taking care of the hair for this reason, and otherwise it is a recommended practice in his view.
And it was said: it is a recommended practice of custom, and that if people take it as a custom, it is not befitting for a person to deviate from their custom, and if they do not take it, it is not befitting to go against their custom. And this is closer to the truth in my view, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not command it, but rather he said about the boy whose head was partially shaved: .
And among the benefits of this hadith: it is befitting for a person to take care of himself in cleanliness. His face: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to comb his hair, and this is undoubtedly cleaning for him. So what is befitting for a person is not to be disheveled and dusty, but to fix his hair as much as he can fix it, for the cleanliness and adornment in that, and Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is beautiful and loves beauty.
And as for keeping oneself in a shabby, unpleasant appearance, this is not of Islamic etiquette. Islamic etiquette is that a person be adorned, as the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) said: .
And among the benefits of this hadith: the permissibility of wearing sandals, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to wear sandals.
But is it better to wear sandals or go barefoot, or is there a distinction in that?
We say: as for if a person is going to walk on ground that harms him, there is no doubt that wearing sandals is more appropriate, and it may even be obligatory, because Allah the Exalted said: as if the ground has sharp pebbles; here it is not permissible to walk on it without sandals, like the black volcanic soil in Medina. If a person walked on it for a few meters, his foot would be torn. So here we say: it is not permissible for a person to risk himself and walk on this ground that harms him, because a person is commanded to preserve himself.
And as for if the ground is ordinary, it is better to go barefoot sometimes and wear sandals sometimes, as came in the authentic hadith narrated by Abu Dawud, he said: , and from here we know that what the extravagant people do, who wear socks and leather socks even in the hottest days of summer, has no need for it, except if a person has something on his foot that he likes to cover, or if he has a disease that would be affected by exposure; in that case, he is excused. But if he accustoms himself to this extent, his foot will become thinner than his hand, because in this state it is not exposed to the sun or the air, so it becomes thin and he cannot take it out and walk on it, as some of them told me. He said: when I walk on my foot, it is as if I am walking on my cheek from the intensity of the pain, from the intensity of the pain he cannot walk at all, because he accustoms himself to this luxury, .
And among the benefits of this hadith: the recommendation of starting with the right in purification, meaning in purifying oneself. The hands and feet, there is no doubt that a person starts with the right in them, as the Sunnah has been mass-transmitted.
The ears, does one wipe them all, or do we say: they are part of the head? Yes, does one wipe the right before the left, or do we say they are part of the head and wipe them all?
The second is the truth: that there is no order between the ears, meaning: between the right and the left, except if a person cannot wipe them all; in that case, we say start with the right.
Now, the leather socks? If a person has leather socks, does he wipe them all or wipe the right before the left?
There is a possibility in this. The hadith of al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah mentioned that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when al-Mughirah reached to remove his leather socks, he said: , and this phrase is possible that he wiped over them in order, and possible that he wiped over them all.
And the scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed in this:
Some of them said: they are wiped once, because this is the case of every wiped item, and it is the apparent meaning of the hadith of al-Mughirah.
And some of them said: start with the right, because wiping over them is a substitute for washing, and washing starts with the right before the left.
And what appears is that the matter is broad in this, except if a person cannot wipe except with one hand; in that case, he starts with the right.
Now, in the case of the full ritual bath, the full ritual bath is from purification without doubt. Does one start with the right side before the left, or wash the whole body once?
The first, that one starts with the right side, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to Umm Atiyyah, and she was among those who participated in washing one of his daughters, he said: .
And it was said: in the full ritual bath, there is no order, but the whole body is washed, because the body is one organ, and there is no order in one organ. But the first is more appropriate, that one prefers the right even in the full ritual bath.