If you’ve ever walked into a public restroom and found a Muslim standing in front of the sink, balancing awkwardly on one foot while washing the other under the tap, you may have wondered what on earth they were doing. Why are they choosing to clean their feet now, in an inconvenient place like the crowded washroom of a mall, airport, office building, or school? Don’t they have bathtubs at home?
From personal experience, I know making wudu (ablution) in a public restroom isn’t particularly easy or fun. I’m sure I’m not the only Muslims who has pulled a muscle trying to stretch my leg high enough to reach the sink! In addition, we often have to endure confused or disapproving stares from strangers who think our behavior is rather odd. But sometimes we have no choice but to wash up in public restrooms –not because we enjoy having an audience as we clean between our toes– but because taharah, or purification, is one of the most important aspects of our faith. In fact, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said that “Purification is half of iman (faith).” (Sahih Muslim 223).
The purity Muslims strive for is both external and internal, and these are interconnected.
External Purity
External purity manifests in the many ways we strive to be physically clean. Our sacred rites like the five daily prayers, the pilgrimage to Mecca, and fasting must all be done in a state of ritual purity. We perform wudu before praying, making sure our hands, arms, faces, mouths, ears, and feet are washed with fresh water. This not only freshens our body, but also purifies us spiritually; the Prophet (peace be upon him) told us that our sins fall away with each drop of water we use for ablution. Since we want our prayers to be accepted, we take our wudu seriously, and we all have to find ways to incorporate it into our daily lives.
We also rinse with water after using the bathroom (istinja), and take a ritual bath (ghusl), after menstruation, childbirth, and intimacy. We try to keep our clothing free of impurities, as well.
Nowadays nearly everyone understands that physical cleanliness is crucial to health and well being, but Muslims have prioritized it for over 1,400 years, at times when most of the world did not. In the Middle Ages, for instance, when the vast majority of Europeans placed very little value on personal hygiene, rarely bathed, and frequently died of preventable diseases, Muslims had an extremely enlightened and advanced approach to cleanliness and medicine.
“Crusading knights would boast to the hygiene-conscious Muslims of only having bathed four times this year. Many tens of thousands of Christians would end their days in the Holy Land, not falling in glorious battle, but through simple lack of basic hygiene, or the victim of primitive Western healthcare,” writes Charles J Lockett.
Lockett continues, “By contrast, Islamic society was highly sophisticated, both in hygiene and medicine. The Hadith states that personal cleanliness is half of faith, and Islamic society put this into effect. Medieval Muslims were to wash before each of their five daily prayers, and, as today, alcohol was officially forbidden. How far these religious laws were observed is debatable – but they were miles ahead of Western Christian hygiene. Scholars like al-Zahrawi (c. 963 – 1013) invented hair-removal techniques, bad breath cures, and even the under-arm deodorant!”
Internal Purity
Internal, or spiritual, purity takes more effort than the external. Self-discipline and God-consciousness are required to stay away from things that are impermissible in Islam. This means guarding our eyes from inappropriate images, for instance, and our tongues from saying crude, harmful, or untrue words. We also strive to control our limbs from partaking in unwholesome activities. Instead, Muslims should direct our efforts towards beneficial activities such as praising and thanking Allah, giving charity, being kind to our families and neighbors, and doing good deeds.
In order to please our Creator, Muslims must constantly strive to control our thoughts, actions, and intentions because all these affect the state of our heart, which is the most important organ. Having pure intentions and sincere love for Allah and His prophet (peace be upon him) are more important than anything else.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) told us, “Verily, in the body is a piece of flesh which, if sound, the entire body is sound, and if corrupt, the entire body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart.” (al-Bukhari 52)
Humans are imperfect by nature and will make mistakes and commit sins. When this happens, we can purify our hearts by repenting to Allah. We can also erase bad deeds by doing good ones. The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
“Be conscious of Allah wherever you are. Follow the bad deed with a good one to erase it, and engage others with beautiful character.” (Tirmidhi)
Allah tells us in the Quran, “Verily, he [truly] prospers who purifies himself.” (87:15). For Muslims, true, lasting prosperity is not to be found in this worldly life, the dunya. Instead, it is found in Paradise. We live our lives hoping to please Allah so that He, though His mercy and generosity, will invite us to prosper eternally in the afterlife. That is why we place such high value on purity, and why you’ll sometimes find us standing with one foot in the restroom sink.
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