Ask our children:
1. Does Islam teach us to be clean or dirty?
2. How much of junk food should we eat?
3. When should we use the miswaak?
Now tell them the story:
Mahmood was a little boy who loved to eat sweets, chocolates, biscuits and ice cream, and loved to drink milkshake, juice and cold drink. Doritos and Astros, Pepsis and popsicles, Romany Creams and Cadbury Dreams – these were some of Mahmood’s favourites, and he would eat as much as he could, every single day.
Every single day, Mahmood’s mother would remind him, “Mahmood! Clean your teeth! If you don’t clean your teeth, they will all get rotten!” Even the dentist told Mahmood that because he ate so much junk food, his teeth would become rotten if he did not clean them. But as much as his mother reminded him, begged him, scolded him, threatened him and even punished him, Mahmood refused to clean his teeth.
Slowly, one of Mahmood’s teeth began to turn yellow, and then it turned brown, and then it turned black! Finally, the tooth was completely rotten and Mahmood was crying with a toothache! The pain was so bad that he couldn’t sleep, he couldn’t play and worst of all – he couldn’t even eat! He looked at all the junk food that he loved to eat, but the pain was so bad that he didn’t even feel like taking a bite.
Mahmood’s father took him to the dentist and made him sit on the chair. The dentist pulled on his gloves, wore his mask, switched on the light and then looked into Mahmood’s mouth. “Mahmood!” he exclaimed. “Why haven’t you been cleaning your mouth? Don’t you have a miswaak? This tooth is rotten and I have to pull it out!” A short while later, the tooth was out and Mahmood returned home with his father.
When Mahmood got home, he ran to the cupboard and found a brand new miswaak. He opened it and immediately began to clean his teeth. His mother watched him and smiled, happy that he was now looking after his teeth.
From that day on, Mahmood ate less junk food and carried his miswaak with him everywhere. He would clean his mouth with his miswaak when he woke up in the morning, when he entered his house, before he went to sleep at night, after eating and also when making wudhu.
Mahmood learnt that if you keep your mouth clean with the miswaak, your teeth won’t get rotten and you won’t get a toothache. The most important thing though, is that it makes Allah Ta‘ala happy because it is the sunnah of our beloved Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam).
Lessons:
1. A Muslim must always keep himself clean. That is why we must clean our teeth and bath regularly.
2. If we do not clean our teeth, our teeth will become rotten. Then, we will have toothaches and our teeth will fall out.
3. Our teeth are a gift from Allah Ta‘ala. We must look after this gift. Otherwise, we will lose our teeth, and then it will be difficult for us to eat.
4. We must all have a miswaak, take it with us wherever we go and use it to clean our teeth regularly.
Click here for the audio version of this story.