Mishkat al-Masabih
Mishkat al-Masabih 390
وَعَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ عَنْ زَيْدِ بْنِ خَالِدٍ الْجُهَنِيّ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ: «لَوْلَا أَنْ أَشُقَّ عَلَى أُمَّتِي لَأَمَرْتُهُمْ بِالسِّوَاكِ عِنْدَ كُلِّ صَلَاةٍ وَلَأَخَّرْتُ صَلَاةَ الْعِشَاءِ إِلَى ثُلُثِ اللَّيْلِ» قَالَ فَكَانَ زَيْدُ بْنُ خَالِدٍ يَشْهَدُ الصَّلَوَاتِ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ وَسِوَاكُهُ عَلَى أُذُنِهِ مَوْضِعَ الْقَلَمِ مِنْ أُذُنِ الْكَاتِبِ لَا يَقُومُ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ إِلَّا اسْتَنَّ ثُمَّ رَدَّهُ إِلَى مَوْضِعِهِ. رَوَاهُ التِّرْمِذِيُّ وَأَبُو دَاوُدَ إِلَّا أَنَّهُ لَمْ يَذْكُرْ: «وَلَأَخَّرْتُ صَلَاةَ الْعِشَاءِ إِلَى ثُلُثِ اللَّيْلِ» . وَقَالَ التِّرْمِذِيُّ: هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حسن صَحِيح
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abū Salama reported that Zayd ibn Khālid al-Juhanī said: ‘I heard the Messenger of God say: “Were it not that I would burden my community, I would command them to use the tooth-stick before every prayer, and I would delay the night prayer until a third of the night had passed.”’ He said that Zayd ibn Khālid used to attend the prayers at the mosque with his tooth-stick tucked behind his ear where a scribe places his pen. He never stood for prayer without first using it, then returned it to its place. Al-Tirmidhī and Abū Dāwūd transmitted it, though Abū Dāwūd omitted the clause about delaying the night prayer. Al-Tirmidhī said: ‘This is a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ report.’
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The accompanying grading labels this report ṣaḥīḥ (sound); al-Tirmidhī also calls it ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ. The Arabic explicitly notes that Abū Dāwūd’s version omits the night-prayer clause.