The Arabic word tahaarah (purification) denotes purity and cleanliness.
Allah ﷻ commands Muslims to purify themselves outwardly from forbidden appearances and all types of physical impurities, and inwardly from the unpardonable sin of shirk as well as diseases of the heart such as envy, pride and hatred. Once they do so, they become worthy of His love, as the Qur’an states, “Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean.” (Soorat Al-Baqarah, 2:222)
Allah ﷻ also commands them to purify themselves prior to standing before Him in prayer. If man generally cleans himself and puts on his finest clothes before meeting a person who has a worldly position of authority, such as being a king or a president, then, surely he has to do so before standing before the King of kings.
Allah ﷻ commands Muslims to purify themselves and perform the partial ablution (wudoo’) before engaging in such ritual acts as performing the prayer, touching the Qur’an and circumambulating the Ka‛bah in Makkah. He also recommends them to perform wudoo’ before doing a number of things, such as reciting the Qur’an from memory, supplicating and sleep
- Therefore, before a Muslim offers aprayer, he must remove two things:
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1
Physical impurity (najaasah)
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2
Ritual impurity (hadath)
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Allah ﷻ commands Muslims to purify themselves outwardly from forbidden appearances and all types of physical impurities, and inwardly from the unpardonable sin of shirk as well as diseases of the heart such as envy, pride and hatred. Once they do so, they become worthy of His love, as the Qur’an states, “Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean.” (Soorat Al-Baqarah, 2:222)
