Section on Purification with Water and with Tayammum

1 – Allah, the Exalted, says: “O you who believe, when you rise to perform the prayer, wash your faces … so that you may be grateful.” (6) [al-Māʾidah: 6]

• In these verses Allah has combined the rulings for purification with water and for tayammum (dry ablution), pointed out their conditions, clarified how each is to be performed, and listed the benefits and wholesome fruits that arise from them. Thus He explained the regulations together with their wisdom and subtleties; many legal conclusions may be drawn from this passage.

• Among them: Purification from both major and minor ritual impurity is a prerequisite for the validity of prayer, for He says, “When you rise to perform the prayer, wash …,” and so on.

• Among them: The requirement applies to obligatory prayers and supererogatory prayers alike; everything that is called “prayer” must be preceded by this purification.

• Among them: Intention is a condition for purification, for His words “when you rise to perform the prayer, wash your faces” indicate that the washing is for the sake of the prayer. The person performing ablution must therefore intend either to lift the state of impurity from himself, or to perform the prayer and similar acts that require purification, or to intend both aims together.

• Among them: Washing the following limbs is indispensable in the case of minor ritual impurity:
– As for the face: everything that linguistically falls under its name and with which a person is directly confronted—namely, from ear to ear across, and from the hairline down to the point where the jawbones and the chin descend lengthwise, together with the hanging portion of the beard—because this is what constitutes full facial presentation.