—men as well as women—will all be adorned. The men and women of Paradise will wear ornaments of gold, silver, and pearls; they will be given bracelets of silver, in keeping with the verse, “they will be adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearls” (35:33). Thus the people of Paradise are beautified by these three kinds of jewelry. Every man and woman there will wear adornments fashioned from gold, silver, and pearls, and they will surely be set in such a way—gem beside gem, perfectly arranged—that the beauty becomes ever more striking. For each of these materials on its own unquestionably lends a person splendor, so when they are inlaid together and harmoniously ordered, the radiance is far greater.

Accordingly, on the Day of Resurrection a believer’s adornment will extend only as far as his ablution extended; his entire forearm, therefore, will be sheathed in ornament—filled with jewelry of gold, silver, and pearls. This underscores the merit of wuduʾ: the very limbs washed in this world will be the ones Allah adorns in Paradise. May Allah make me and you among its people.

The third narration, the hadith of ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him), states that whoever performs wuduʾ and perfects it, his sins depart—his sins are washed away by that wuduʾ, even from beneath his fingernails. Wuduʾ therefore becomes a means of expiating sins, even from the most concealed places under the nails.

These and similar hadiths show that wuduʾ is one of the noblest acts of worship. It is an act by which a person should intend to draw near to Allah; while washing he should be conscious that he is seeking closeness to Allah, just as when he prays he senses that nearness. Likewise, during wuduʾ he should be mindful that he is obeying Allah’s command, “When you rise for prayer, wash your faces…” (5:6), and that he is following the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—in his manner of ablution. He should also