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His words,

“Then seek clean earth and wipe your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to place you in hardship, but He intends to purify you and complete His favour upon you, so that you may be grateful,”

are evidence that tayammum is a means of purification just as water is.

It is likewise authentically established in the Sunnah that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Clean earth is a means of purification for a Muslim, even if he finds no water for ten years. When you find water, let it touch your skin, for that is better.”

Al-Tirmidhī narrated this and graded it authentic. Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasā’ī also narrated it.

In the Sahīh, he is reported to have said:

“The earth has been made for me a place of prayer and a means of purification.”

He—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—thus made earth a means of purification from minor and major ritual impurity. Similarly, he said in the hadith of Abū Saʿīd:

“When one of you comes to the mosque, let him turn his sandals over and inspect them. If there is dirt—or filth—on them, let him rub them on the earth, for earth is a means of purification for them.”

He also said in the hadith of Umm Salamah: