Bismillahi Al-Rahmani Al-Rahim
The Basics Of Ritual Purification
Since prayer is the first thing we will be asked about on Judgment Day,
it seems appropriate to begin with the basics of prayer. And since ritual
purification (wudhu) is an essential condition for the validity of
prayer, it seems the logical place to start.
Sunan actions of
ablution
The sunan of ablution include:
1. using a toothstick
(miswak)
2. washing the hands
three times
3. beginning by rinsing
the mouth and then rinsing the nose
4. exaggerating in the
two, except for someone fasting
5. penetrating a thick
beard (with the fingers)
6. penetrating the
fingers
7. beginning with the
right
8. taking new water for
the ears
9. and the second and
third washings
Note: It is obligatory to wash the hands three times, with intention, and
saying “Bismillah”, after rising from nocturnal sleep which invalidates
ablution.
THE ESSENTIALS AND DESCRIPTION
OF ABLUTION
It has six essentials:
a. Washing the
face
b. washing the
hands
c. wiping the entire
head, ears included
d. washing the
feet
e. the order
f. and consecutiveness,
which is not delaying the washing of one limb until the one before it
dries
Intention
Intention is a condition for all forms of purification.
One intends raising ritual impurity or a purification that it would be
unlawful (to do something) without.
If one intends something for which ritual purity is recommended (such as:
reciting the Qur'an, dhikr, the call to prayer, sleeping, or because of
anger) or the sunna of renewing ablution while being forgetful of having
invalidated it, then it raises his ritual impurity.
If someone in a state of major ritual impurity intends a sunna
purifacatory bath (ghusl) it suffices for the essential, and likewise the
opposite.
If a number of ritual impurities combine which require ablution or
purifacatory bath (ghusl) and he intends one of them with his
purification, then it raises the rest.
It is required to bring the intention at the first of the essential
actions, which is saying “Bismillah”, and it is recommended with the
first of its sunna actions if one exists before the essential, and its
remembrance accompanying it during its entirety; and it is essential that
its ruling accompany it (b: by not intending breaking it until completing
the purification).
Performing Wudhu
The description of ablution is:
1. intention;
2. then saying
“Bismillah”;
3. then washing the
hands three times;
4. then rinsing the
mouth and nose three times each, and washing his face, three times, from
the hairline to what falls down from the beard and the chin lengthwise,
and from ear to ear widthwise: washing its thin hair and the outward side
of thick hair and what descends from it;
5. then washing the
hands up to and including the elbow, three times;
6. then wiping the
entire head including the ears one time;
7. then washing the
feet including the ankles, three times;
8. the remaining
essential portion of a severed is washed, and if cut from a joint then
the head of the upper arm;
9. then raising the
gaze to the sky and saying what was related.
It is lawful to assist him, and he may dry his limbs.
--Musa