Part III: Ta’leemul-Arkaan or Islamic A’maal
More About Wuduu'
Q. How is it to say salaah
without wuduu’ (ablution)?
A. It is a very sinful thing. Some
‘ulamaa (scholars) have called such a person a kaafir who
knowingly performs prayer without wuduu’.
Q. What is the proof of the
necessity of wuduu’ before saying salaah?
A. An aayah of the Holy
Qur’aan says:
O you who believe! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces and your hands
up to the elbows and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the
ankles.
(5:6)
The Holy Prophet (
) has said:
Cleanliness is the key to prayer.
Faraa’id-ul-Wuduu’ (Remaining Rules)
Q. What is the minimum that may
be called washing?
A. Pouring so much water on a part
that it becomes wet and one or two drops of water do fall. If you use less water
than this, it will not be called washing in the real sense. For example, if one
passes his wet hands on his face or one throws so little water on his face that
it remains on the skin and no drop falls down, it will not be said that he has
washed his face, and his wuduu’ will not be done.
Q. How many times must the parts
be washed whose washing is fard (compulsory)?
A. Washing once is fard
(compulsory), washing three times is sunnah. More than that is not
allowed. It is wastage and that is makrooh.
Q. Washing of what portion of
the face is compulsory?
A. From the hairy part of the
forehead to down under the chin and from one ear-lobe to the other.
Q. If some part, the washing of
which is fard, remains dry, will wuduu’ be all
right?
A. The wuduu’ will
not be complete if a hair-breadth of space is left dry.
Q. If one has six fingers, is it
fard to wash the sixth finger?
A. Yes. It is fard.
If there is an overgrowth on any part whose washing is fard, the
washing of the overgrowth also becomes fard.
Q. What is meant by doing Masah?
A. Passing a wet hand over a part
of the body is called Masah.
Q. Is it necessary to wet
one’s hand afresh for Masah of the head or does the wetness
already existing suffice?
A. It is better to take fresh
water, but if the hand is wet after washing, Masah is allowed with
it. It is not allowed to do Masah with the hand with which Masah
has already been done. Masah will not be allowed with the hand
that was dry, but was moistened by any other part on which Masah
had been done or was washed.
Q. If rain drops fall on the
bare head and one passes his dry hand over the head and the rain water spreads,
will the Masah be considered to be done or not?
A. Then the Masah is
done.
Q. Is it fard to
wash inside the eyes in wuduu’?
A. It is not fard to
wash inside the eyes.
Q. If one, after wuduu’,
shaves his head or cuts his fingernails, will it be necessary to do fresh Masah
of the head or wash the fingernails again?
A. No.
Q. If one’s hand is cut off
from below the elbow, is it necessary to wash that hand?
A. Yes, if the elbow or any part
below of it remains in the arm, the washing of the elbow and the remaining
portion is fard.
The Sunnats in Wuduu’ (Remaining Rules)
Q. What is the ruling if one did
not do niyyah before wuduu’?
A. If one did not do the niyyah
and he fell into the river or stood in the rain and the water passed over all
the parts, the washing of which is compulsory in wuduu’, then
his wuduu’ will be done and he can say his prayer. But the
person will not get the blessings of wuduu’.
Q. How to do niyyah for wuduu’?
A. Niyyah means to intend
to do something. When someone begins to do wuduu’, he should
have the intention of removing najaasat and becoming taahir
in order to say salaah. This “intention” is the niyyah
of wuduu’.
Q. Is it necessary to say the niyyah
aloud or just thinking of it will be enough?
A. It is not necessary to say
aloud. If one says, that too will be correct.
Q. If one has wuduu’
but performs a new wuduu’, what should be his niyyah?
A. The niyyah should be
that he is doing wuduu’ over wuduu’ to enhance
the blessing of Allah and get more benefits. [Note: One should not
repeat one’s wuduu’ if one already has wuduu’ without praying at
least two rak’aat of prayer with the first wuduu’.]
Q. In wuduu’
should one say Bismillaah… in full?
A. Yes, reciting Bismillaah…
in full or reciting the following is correct:
With the name of the High and Mighty One, and with praise to Allah for the
religion of Islam.
Q. How is it to do the miswaak
and what is the method of doing it?
A. Miswaak is sunnat-mu’akkadah.
There are great blessings for it. It is also very beneficial. The miswaak
should be of a bitter taste from a Neem tree or a Piloo tree. It
should not be more than eight inches long. Miswaak should be washed
before and after use. Miswaak should be applied, first to the right side
of the teeth and then to the left. It should be done three times, each time
fresh water should be taken.
Q. How is it to gargle?
A. Gargling is sunnat in wuduu’
and ghusul, but it should not be done when one is fasting. Water
should be put into the mouth by the right hand.
Q. What is the method of putting
water into the nose?
A. The water should be taken into
the right hand, placed below the nostrils and be taken in by inhaling. One
should not inhale so much that the water goes into the head. When one is
fasting, he should pass water into the nostrils only by hand and not by
inhaling. Passing water into the nose and gargling are also sunnat-mu’akkadah.
Q. To do khilaal
of what part of the beard is Sunnat?
A. It is sunnah to do khilaal
in the inner and lower parts of the beard. Washing of hair which grows on the
face is fard.
Q. How to do khilaal
of the fingers?
A. Khilaal of
fingers means that the fingers of one hand should be put into the fingers of the
other hand and then be pulled out together. Khilaal of the toes is
done by the little finger of the left hand, beginning from the little toe of the
right foot and ending with the little toe of the left foot.
Q. How to do masah
of the whole head?
A. Wet both hands and put them on
each side of the forehead, below the hair. Then push your hands (palm along with
fingers) up to the nape. Then bring them back to the forehead. Remember that
they should have passed over the whole of the head.
Q. Should one take fresh water
for masah of the ears?
A. No. The water for masah
of the head will suffice. Masah inside the ears should be done by
the first index fingers of both the hands and on the outside by the thumbs.
The Mustahibbaat in Wuduu’ (Remaining Rules)
Q. Is it sunnah or mustahab
to begin wuduu’ from the right?
A. Some ‘ulamaa
(scholars) say it is sunnat and some mustahab.
Q. How to do masah
on the back of the neck?
A. Masah on the back
of the neck should be done by the back of the fingers of both the hands. Masah
on the front of the neck is a bid’at (innovation) and is not allowed.
Q. What are the other rules to
be observed during wuduu’?
A. There are many other rules to
be observed in wuduu’:
Nawaaqid-e-Wuduu’ – Breakers of Ablution (Remaining
Rules)
Q. How much of blood, pus, etc.
must flow out of the body to break the wuduu’?
A. Wuduu’ breaks
if a little quantity of any nijs (dirty) thing comes out of the body and
flows over the part, the washing of which is fard in wuduu’
or ghusal.
Q. Will wuduu’
break if blood comes out inside the eye but does not flow out?
A. Wuduu’ will not
break in this case, for it is not fard to wash the inner part of
the eye.
Q. If blood comes out of a wound
and one rubs it off by cloth or finger, and it comes out again, and again is
rubbed, and this is done many times, will the wuduu’ break?
A. Look at the quantity of blood.
If the blood came out in such a quantity that it would have flowed had it not
been rubbed off, then the wuduu’ breaks, otherwise not.
Q. Does vomiting break the wuduu’?
A. Yes, if blood, food, water or
bile comes out in a mouthful of vomit, the wuduu’ breaks. If
only phlegm comes out, wuduu’ will not break.
Q. If one vomits again and again
but a little quantity each time, what is the order for that?
A. If vomiting happens due to a
single nausea and then, if collected, it makes a mouthful, the wuduu’
will break. If there is only a small amount of vomit from two different nauseas,
then do not add up the two vomits. If the individual vomits are not as much as a
mouthful then wuduu’ will not break.
Q. If there is a boil on the
body and some of its blood or pus soils the cloth, will such a cloth be taahir
or not?
A. If the quantity of blood or pus
is such that it cannot flow but only soils the cloth, and leaves a mark, such a
cloth will remain clean. But it is better to wash the cloth.
Q. If one does not vomit a
mouthful, does one remain taahir?
A. Yes.
Q. If a leech sticks to the body
and sucks the blood or a mosquito or flea bites, will wuduu’
break?
A. If the leech sucks the blood
and after its removal the wound gives out no blood, the wuduu’
breaks because the leech has already sucked so much blood that it would have
flowed had that not been sucked into the stomach of the creature. Wuduu’
will not break if a mosquito or flea bites because they suck the blood in a very
small quantity which cannot flow.
Q. What kind of sleep does not
break the wuduu’?
A. If one sleeps standing or
sitting without taking support of anything. If one sleeps in a posture of namaaz
like sajdah or qa’dah, wuduu’ will also not
break.
Q. Is there any person whose wuduu’
does not break by sleeping?
A. Yes, the wuduu’
of anbiyaa (the prophets) (peace be upon them) did not break in their
sleep. It was their special quality and superiority.
Q. What is meant by laughter?
Does laughter break the wuduu’ of everybody?
A. Laughter means laughing so
loudly that a person near you can hear it. If the following conditions are all
satisfied, then laughter will break the wuduu’ during the
prayer:
