Chapter: Tayammum (Dry Ablution)
Linguistically, tayammum means “intention.” The Exalted says, “nor those who set out for the Sacred House” (Qur’an 5:2).
In juristic usage the term was transferred to the act of wiping the face and hands with some clean earth, because the person performing it intentionally turns to the earth. Some scholars have defined it as “an earth-based purification that comprises wiping the face and hands when water is unavailable or one is unable to use it.”
Tayammum is one of the special concessions granted to this Muhammadan community: Allah has made its affairs easy, lightened its law, opened relief amid hardship and a way out of constraint, and purified both its inner and outer states through the blessing of this noble Prophet ﷺ.
If someone lacks water—the first of the two elemental sources of life—he is compensated with the second element, earth, so that he is never deprived of purification altogether, for purification with water cleanses both the outward and the inward. When that complete means is missing, we revert to the semblance of purification by means of earth so that inward purity may still be achieved. There is no doubt about its wisdom nor any uncertainty about its benefit for whoever is granted the felicity of understanding.
The legality of tayammum is established by the Noble Book, the Purified Sunnah, the consensus of the rightly guided Muhammadan ummah, and it is confirmed by sound analogy.
ʿImrān ibn Ḥuṣayn (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saw a man standing apart who had not prayed with the congregation. He said, “O so-and-so, what kept you from praying with the people?” The man replied, “O Messenger of Allah, I was in a state of major impurity and had no water.” He said, “Then use the earth, for it will suffice you.” Related by al-Bukhari (1).
Unfamiliar terms
1- “standing apart” (muʿtazilan): isolated from the people, keeping away from them. He was Khallād ibn Rāfiʿ (may Allah be pleased with him), one of those who fought at Badr.
2- “earth” (ṣaʿīd): the surface of the ground and whatever rises above it.
Overall meaning
The Prophet ﷺ led the Companions in the dawn prayer, and when he finished he noticed a man who had not prayed with them. In the perfection of his gentleness and the excellence of his call to Allah, he did not rebuke him for staying behind,