just as the purification obtained through water endures after its use. This, then, is the correct view, as affirmed by the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

Scholarly disagreement
The scholars have differed: Does tayammum actually lift ritual impurity, or does it merely permit worship in its presence?

The Hanbalis and others hold that it only grants permission, without removing the impurity itself. They cite the Prophet’s ﷺ words: “When he finds water, let him fear Allah and let it touch his skin.” They argue that this proves the person who has performed tayammum must let water reach his skin once it is available, because the state of major impurity still remains; tayammum did not eliminate it, but merely allowed him to perform what purification was required for, while the hadath itself persisted.

Others—including the Hanafis—maintain that tayammum stands in the place of water in every respect: it is a full substitute, and the substitute shares the ruling of what it replaces. Accordingly, it does remove the state of impurity from major defilement; a person may pray with it through as many prayer times as he wishes. Once water is found, his tayammum is nullified for future acts of worship, because Allah has made it a substitute for water, and therefore it carries the same ruling.

For this reason Shaykh al-Islām said: The disagreement between the two sides is merely verbal. Those who say that tayammum does not lift impurity do not obligate the person to repeat his prayer once he is able to use water, while those who say that it does lift impurity only mean that it does so temporarily, until the ability to use water returns. It is established by explicit text and unanimous agreement that tayammum is void once one is able to use water.