The body and the Soul: Physical Purity in Religious Contexts
There are two types of ablution. Wudu’, the minor purification carried out before prayer, consists of washing the hands, the face, the forearms, the head and the feet. The Hadiths explain that by performing wudu’ the believer washes away sin, and drives the devil away.
The process of wudu’ is described in a very physical way, as though the sin were a visible stain, an insidious little demon that clings to the believer and can only be chased away with water.
Thus when a believer washes his face during wudu’, the Hadiths say that every sin that he contemplated with his eyes is washed away from his face with the last drop of water; when he washes his hands, every sin they wrought is effaced; and when he washes his feet, every sin toward which his feet have walked is washed away, until he comes out pure of all sins.
Ghusl is the major purification, which cleanses the whole body from impurities and is required after intercourse, menstruation, childbirth, when adopting Islam, and after death. It is also recommended before important celebrations and before the Hajj.
Cleansing the Mind: Spiritual Purity
Wudu’ and ghusl are both part of the act of worship, rituals that are mandatory before starting prayers, or touching the Qur’an.
As such, these rituals include a spiritual component, which means that even if one is physically clean, but has not carried out the purification in ritual fashion, it is not permitted to even touch the Qur’an.
This prohibition has nothing to do with physical purity – whether one has clean hands or whether one might stain the pages of the Holy Book, for example. It is purely a question of reverence towards the Word of Allah. Thus physical purity alone does not suffice to arrive at a state of tahara, ritual purity.
Ablution should not be carried out mechanically, but only after niyyat (intention), the silent expression of sincerity and obedience to Allah. This is the spiritual component of the purification ritual: while the body is purified with water, the mind must be completely focused on Allah. Carrying out wudu’ or ghusl simply for refreshment in hot weather, for example, makes it invalid.
The physical and spiritual components of the purification ritual reflect the Islamic principle of tawhid(unity): body and mind should be united in the performance of religious duties. Islam means “surrendering to Allah”, and Muslims, “those who have surrendered to Allah”, do so with body and soul. An inscription in the baths of Granada’s old Moorish Quarter expresses this link between physical and spiritual purity. It says that the body is the mirror of the soul, and therefore “outer stains suggest inner ones as well.”
Saving Water
The Hadiths urge moderation and thriftiness in the use of water during ablution. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) warned that wudu’ should not be performed more than three times in a row before each prayer; the Prophet himself (peace and blessings be upon him) washed each part only two or three times without ever going beyond three, even if water supplies were abundant. Commentators add:
“The men of science disapprove of exaggeration and also of exceeding the number of ablutions of the Prophet.”
The Hadiths also offer advice for times of scarcity, using the Prophet’s actions as a guideline. One day when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was travelling through the desert with his companions, his wife `A’ishah lost her necklace. They spent time searching for it and when prayer time came, the company was nowhere near a water source. It was then that Allah revealed the ritual of tayammum to the Prophet:
{O you who believe, (…) if you are sick or on a journey, (…) and if you can find no water, then have recourse to clean dust and wipe your faces and your hands with it. } (An-Nisaa’ 4:43).
Clean earth can thus be used as a substitute for water in exceptional circumstances. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) acknowledged the pure nature of earth when he said: “The earth has been created for me as a mosque and as a means of purification.”
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