Recommended forms include ablution before sleep, and ablution for each prayer by a woman with irregular bleeding or a person with urinary incontinence. Renewing ablution for every prayer is also recommended and encouraged.

Section: The Derivation of the Word Wudū’

Wudū’ (ablution) derives from wadā’a, meaning cleanliness as well as beauty. Hence someone is described as wadī’ al-wajh, meaning clean-faced. Thus, someone who washes his face or another part of his body may be said to have cleaned and beautified it with water. In ordinary Arabic usage, wudū’ can refer to washing a single body part or more. Evidence for this is the report from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, which specifies that washing before a meal wards off poverty, while washing afterwards wards off madness and keeps the eyesight sound. He thus called washing the hands wudū’. In Islamic law, however, when used without qualification, the term refers only to washing a particular set of body parts in a prescribed manner. It comprises obligatory, sunnah, and recommended elements, as we shall explain in the appropriate place, if Allah Most High wills.

Section: Matters That Require Ablution

There is agreement within the school that nine things require ablution: pre-seminal fluid; wady (a whitish discharge); urine; stool; and wind, provided that all these are discharged in the normal manner, whether the wind passes audibly or silently; kissing when pleasure is experienced or intended; direct bodily contact and touching when pleasure is experienced; and loss of awareness through deep sleep, fainting, intoxication, or a bout of insanity.

We stipulate that sleep must be deep because sleep is not itself a state of ritual impurity, but rather a cause that may lead to it. The degree of sleep that warrants ruling a sleeper’s ablution invalid varies according to his sleeping posture. These postures fall into four levels. The posture in which his ablution is most readily invalidated