Ablution
(ghusl, wuḍūʾ, tayammum)

Zacharia al-Khatib

Ablution, defined as ritual purification, requires washing of the whole body (ghusl), or parts of it (wuḍūʾ) with water or in its absence with dust, sand, or other non-combustibles (tayammum). This article is meant to provide an overview of the topic; for specific acts of ablution, fiqh manuals should be consulted with the help of qualified jurists. All three categories of ablution are covered in the following sections: I. Major Ablution (Ghusl); II. Minor Ablution (Wuḍūʾ); III. Dry Ablution (Tayammum).

I. Major Ablution (Ghusl)

Major ritual ablution, or ghusl, refers to the complete washing of the body, either as a purification necessary to perform certain acts of ritual worship (see Ritual Purity and Impurity) or as a supererogatory means of spiritual preparation and rejuvenation.

This section comprises the following parts: i. Definition and Usage; ii. Actions Comprising Ghusl; iii. Chronology of the Enjoining of Ghusl; iv. Acts Requiring Ghusl; v. Times at which Ghusl is Recommended; vi. Spiritual Dimensions.

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Definition and Usage (Ghusl)

According to Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), the root gh-s-l denotes “cleaning something and purifying it”, its noun form being ghasl (Maqāyīs).

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Actions Comprising Ghusl

Major ablution requires that one wash the entire body, after cleaning it of filth, with the intention of undertaking ritual purification (al-Nawawī, al-Majmūʿ, Ṭahāra, bāb ṣifāt al-ghusl).

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Chronology of the Enjoining of Ghusl

ʿĀlāʾ al-Dīn al-Ḥaṣkafī (1025-1077/1616-1666) states that “there is consensus among the scholars of Prophetic biography (sīra) that wuḍūʾ and ghusl were made obligatory in Makka with the injunction of prayer…

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Acts Requiring Ghusl

The two cases in which washing the entire body becomes legally incumbent occur when one enters a condition of major ritual impurity (janāba) as per Q 5:6: if you are impure, then purify yourselves (by ghusl); and at the cessation of menses as per Q 2:222: and do not approach (your wives) until they are pure—then, if they purify themselves (i.e., by ghusl) then go to them from whence Allah has commanded you.

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Times at which Ghusl is Recommended

While ghusl is mandatory only under the above conditions, it is highly recommended in many other circumstances. 

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Spiritual Dimensions (Ghusl)

Ghusl encompasses both physical and spiritual purification, the one being a condition for the other; this is the import of the final part of Q 2:222: truly, Allah loves those who turn often to Him [in repentance], and who seek to purify themselves.

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II. Minor Ablution (Wuḍūʾ)

Wuḍūʾ, or minor ablution, denotes the ritual washing that Muslims must perform as a means of purification before certain ritual devotions, most importantly prayer, and is considered to be meritorious in its own right. Though the word wuḍūʾ itself is not used anywhere in the Qurʾān, the ritual is described, in very brief form, in Q 5:6.

This section of the article comprises the following parts: i. Definition and Usage; ii. The Verse of Wuḍūʾ and its Occasion of Revelation; iii. Status and Time of Wuḍūʾ; iv. Obligatory Actions of Wuḍūʾ; v. Supererogatory Actions of Wuḍūʾ; vi. Wiping over Footgear as a Substitute for Washing the Feet; vii. Nullifiers of Wuḍūʾ; viii. Acts Requiring Wuḍūʾ; ix. Spiritual Dimensions.

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Definition and Usage (wuḍūʾ)

Stemming from the root w-ḍ-ʾ, which contains the meanings of “beauty” and “cleanliness”, wuḍūʾ thus connotes the ‘beautification’ of the limbs as they are washed (Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs).

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The Verse of Wuḍūʾ and its Occasion of Revelation

The “verse of wuḍūʾ” (āyat al-wuḍūʾ) (Q 5:6), as it is termed by commentators, states: O you who believe, when you rise to prayer then wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe [part] of your heads, and [wash] your feet to the ankles; and if you are ritually unclean (i.e., junub), then take a purifying bath. And if you are sick or on a journey, or one of you comes from having relieved himself or touches (or: has intimate relations with) women, and you do not find water, then take clean earth and rub your faces and hands therewith. Allah does not want to burden you, but rather He wants to purify you and complete His favor upon you, so that you may be grateful.

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Status and Time of Wuḍūʾ

Because of the wording of the verse in question, there is disagreement as to how often the ritual ablutions must be performed; this difference stems from the injunction to wash when you rise to prayer

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Obligatory Actions of Wuḍūʾ

The components of minor ablution are broadly divided into obligatory and supererogatory actions.

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Supererogatory Actions of Wuḍūʾ

The Prophet exemplified how the Divine injunction was to be implemented: numerous hadiths detail the Prophetic ablution, such as the one narrated by Ḥumrān (d. 71/691), the slave of ʿUthmān b. ʿAffān (d. 35/656), in which he mentions that he “saw ʿUthmān, may Allah be pleased with him, call for water for purification (waḍūʾ), which he poured from the vessel onto his hands, washing them three times; he then entered his right hand into the vessel (scooping water out); then he rinsed his mouth and nose out three times; then he washed his face three times; then he washed his hands and arms to the elbows, three times; then he wiped his head; then he washed each foot thrice, after which he (ʿUthmān) said: ‘I saw the Prophet, peace be upon him, perform wuḍūʾ just like this wuḍūʾ of mine, and he (the Prophet) said: ‘Whoever performs wuḍūʾ like this wuḍūʾ of mine, then prays two units of prayer (rakʿatayn) in which he does not converse with himself, Allah will forgive him his past sins’” (Bukhārī, Wuḍūʾ, al-maḍmaḍa fī-l-wuḍūʾ).

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Wiping over Footgear as a Substitute for Washing the Feet

The permissibility of wiping over footgear as a substitute for washing the feet is a well-known dispensation, narrated in so many different traditions by so many different Companions—al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110/728) mentioned that he had heard it from seventy of them (al-Zaylaʿī, Naṣb al-rāyah, al-Tahāra, bāb al-masḥ ʿalā al-khuffayn)—that it is considered an unequivocal, “mass-transmitted” report (naṣṣ mutawātir), the highest level of textual authenticity, and one that necessitates certainty (al-Rāzī, al-Maḥṣūl, al-kalām fī-l-akhbār, al-bāb al-awwal fī-l-tawātur, al-masʾala al-thāniyya fī anna al-tawātur yufīd al-ʿilm). 

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Nullifiers of Wuḍūʾ

Though the Qurʾān does not explicitly state everything that invalidates minor ablutions, jurists were unanimous in declaring that urination and defecation, passing wind, ejaculation, and any type of loss of consciousness nullifies wuḍūʾ (Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Ijmāʿ, point 3). 

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Acts Requiring Wuḍūʾ

The Qurʾān mentions wuḍūʾ specifically in the context of prayer (ṣalāt).

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Spiritual Dimensions ( wuḍūʾ)

Like certain other passages of the Qurʾān, the verse of wuḍūʾ begins with specific legal injunctions and ends with a summary of the ultimate purpose of such laws: Allah does not want to burden you, but rather He wants to purify you and complete His favor upon you, so that you may be grateful (Q 5:6).

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III. Dry Ablution (Tayyamum)

Dry ablution (tayammum) refers to the wiping the face and hands with soil or a derivative thereof when water is not available or its use is impracticable. The practice is established in Q 4:43 and Q 5:6.

This section of the article comprises the following parts: i. Definition and Usage; ii. Revelation of the Verse of Tayammum; iii. Preconditions of Tayammum; iv. Actions Comprising Tayammum; v. Spiritual Dimensions.

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Definition and Usage (Tayammum)

Tayammum is derived from the root y-m-m, meaning “to seek out”. 

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Revelation of the Verse of Tayammum

Al-Qurṭubī favors the opinion that the dispensation allowing dry ablution, though universal, was first revealed regarding the Companion ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf during an illness (Tafsīr, sub Q 4:43). 

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Preconditions of Tayammum

Q 4:43 begins in the conditional: If you are ill, or upon a journey, or you come from having relieved yourself, or have had intimate relations, and can find no water, then seek out pure earth, and wipe therewith your face and handsTayammum is thus permissible by necessity, whether because of illness or lack of water.

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Actions Comprising Tayammum

While the Qurʾān mentions the legal basis for tayammum and its integral elements, it is the practice of the Prophet, peace be upon him, that delineates its precise method.

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Spiritual Dimensions (Tayammum)

Tayammum, according to Ibn ʿĀshūr, is a sign of Allah’s infinite power, in that He is capable of taking the basest of substances, normally associated with filth, and making it a means to purification: “All forms of worship contain numerous hidden aspects. (…) So when there is no water available, [purification with water] can be replaced with dry ablutions (tayammum).

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