The Prophet (pbuh) Said : “The hypocrites find the Fajr and Isha prayers in congregation very oppressive. If they could know the virtues of these two prayers, they would certainly join them, even if they had to go crawling.” (Bukhari, Muslim)
The Prophet as a Man — 73: How to Perform Ablution
Adil Salahi, Arab News
When we perform our worship, we should do our best to learn how the Prophet (peace be upon him) performed it so that we could do like him. This is essential, because Prophet Muhammad was God’s Messenger whose task was to deliver God’s message to mankind and show them how to practice it. If people were to decide for themselves how to worship God, even though they all believed in His oneness, there would be as many ways of worship as there are people, and there would be as many groups as there are teachers and leaders. But God wants believers to be one community, united by their faith and their worship, as well as by their sense of belonging to the divine faith. Hence, He sent them a messenger to teach them His revelations and the wisdom imparted to him by God.
The Prophet’s companions realized all this as well as their duty to communicate to other believers what they learned from the Prophet. Thus, we have many reports telling us how the Prophet performed every act of worship. Ablution, or wudhu, is required for prayer, and it counts as an act of worship. The Prophet made sure that he was seen performing ablution by many of his companions so that they would show it to others.
Humran ibn Aban who served Uthman ibn Affan, the third caliph, reports: “I saw Uthman performing his ablution, and he poured water over his hands three times to wash them, before rinsing his mouth, blowing his nose and washing his face three times. He then washed his right hand up to the elbow three times; then he washed his left hand likewise. He wiped his head before washing his right foot three times then his left foot in the same manner. He then said that he saw God’s Messenger performing his ablution in the same way before saying: ‘Whoever performs ablution like I have done and follows that with praying two rak’ahs during which he concentrates fully on his prayer, will be forgiven by God all his past sins.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Al-Nassaie and Abu Dawood).
This is the most perfect form of ablution, washing every part that we are required to wash three times. Hence, the Prophet makes clear that such perfect ablution, followed by a perfect prayer in which the worshipper does not allow anything to distract him from his worship ensures forgiveness of past sins. However, other companions of the Prophet tell us about different forms of ablution.
“A man said to Abdullah ibn Zayd ibn Aasim, a companion of the Prophet: ‘Can you show me how the Prophet performed his ablution?’ Abdullah said that he could and he called for water to be brought to him. He then poured water over his right hand, washing it twice. He followed that with rinsing his mouth and blowing his nose three times. He then washed his face three times, and his hands to the elbows twice. He then wiped his head with both hands, taking them back and forth, starting with his forelock and taking his hands right to the back of his head and bringing them to where he started. He then washed his two feet.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Malik, Al-Nassaie and Abu Dawood). Another version of this Hadith specifies that he wiped his head once only.
Another Hadith describing the Prophet’s ablution is reported by Ibn Abbas who says: “The Prophet performed his ablution, washing each part once only.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Ahmad, Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah). This means that he did not repeat the washing either twice or three times. He washed his face, hands and feet once only.
Al-Mugheerah ibn Shubah reports: “The Prophet performed his ablution wiping the front of his head, his turban and his inner shoes.” (Related by Al-Shafie, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Al-Tirmidhi) .
These Hadiths show that the Prophet did not perform his ablutions in the same way every time. He varied his performance in order to indicate that all these forms are acceptable. The first Hadith mentions that the Prophet washed every part three times. This is the most perfect way of ablution. The other Hadiths indicate that it is also valid to do less than this perfect way. Thus, if one washes each part twice, or even once, the ablution is complete and valid. One can offer his prayers with it, in the same way as if he washed three times.
The fourth Hadith gives us the evidence supporting the concession of wiping over one’s turban, rather than removing it in order to wipe his head. This applies to any head covering which one is wearing, but one needs to offer his prayer wearing the same head cover. It is also perfectly valid to wipe over one’s inner shoes. These were soft shoes that Arabs used to wear for protection against cold and wear their walking shoes over them. The concession thus applies to socks, or any type of footwear.
The validity of wiping over one’s socks or inner shoes depends on certain conditions. The first is that we should wear these after having performed ablution fully, including the washing of our feet. When we have done that, and we need to perform ablution a second or a third time, we can wipe over our socks, i.e. the top of our feet, passing our wet hand or fingers over any portion of the top of our feet. We can repeat this performance any number of times on the same day, except during travel when the time range is extended to three days. Should we take off our socks after having used this concession, we will need to wash our feet the next time we perform ablution.
This concession is very useful these days, with many of us having to stay at work for many hours every day, where proper facilities for ablution are scarce, and washing feet presents a real difficulty.
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