Tayammum (wiping) is the Islamic act of dry ablution using clean earth or dust, permitted when water is unavailable or harmful to use.
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What is Tayammum?
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Tayammum (wiping) is an alternative to wudu or ghusl when water is not available or cannot be used.
When Can You Perform Tayammum?
🕐 Less Time for Salah
Not enough time to perform ghusl (if in state of impurity)
Not enough time to do Wudu
You will need to repeat in above cases
Funeral Salah - less time to do wudu and you are not wali
💊 Illness/Death
Hyperthermia
Fear of death or pain, organ amputation
When you are ill and water would harm your health
When using water would worsen an existing illness or wound
💧 No Water
Within a 1 mile radius - water is not available
Not enough water to complete fardh wudu
Water is insufficient and needed for drinking
When there is extreme cold and no means to heat the water
Once water is found, wudu will become necessary and tayammum will break
💡Note: If there is so little time for Fard Salah that if one does ghusl or wudu he will miss his salah then one should do Tayyamum and pray. But it is fard to repeat his salah after this, having performed wudu/ghusl. And to intentionally delay salah this long is a sin.
📖Quranic Basis: "And if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and find no water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and your hands [with it]. Indeed, Allah is ever Pardoning and Forgiving." (Nisa: 43)
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What Can Be Used for Tayammum?
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Tayammum can be performed using anything that is earthen and cannot burn, that has no residue of najasat (impurity), nor najasat was there in the known past (no suspicion only certainty).
📖Key Principle: The material must be pure object that is earthen in nature (e.g. stones, limestone, bricks, walls, soil etc.)
✅ Acceptable Materials:
Stone or rock - natural stones are ideal
Clean earth or soil - pure and dry
Sand - desert or beach sand
Tiles/Marble - ceramic tiles or marble surfaces
Clay pottery - earthenware made from clay
Bricks - made from baked clay or earth
❌NOT Acceptable: Wood/timber (can burn), metal, glass, plastic, or anything that burns and leaves residue. Clay pottery with shiny coating on it. Also unacceptable: anything with impurity (Najasat).
1
Make the Intention (Niyyah)
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Make the intention (fardh for tayammum) in your heart to perform tayammum.
💡Tip: Simply think: "I am performing Tayammum to purify myself from impurity and to make myself eligible for offering Salah)"
📖Important: Intention is Fardh (obligatory) for Tayammum. Niyyah is the name of the intention of heart and pronouncing it verbally is better.
2
Say Bismillah
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بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Begin by saying "Bismillah" (In the name of Allah). This is Sunnah and brings blessing to your act of purification.
💡Tip: Starting with Allah's name is recommended for all acts of worship and brings barakah (blessings).
3
Strike the Earth - First Time
With fingers spread wide open, hit hands on some pure object that is earthen in nature (e.g. stones, limestone, bricks, walls, soil etc.) and drag the hands back and forth on that object.
💡Tip: The strike should be gentle, not forceful.
📖Note: If hands become over-dusty, reduce excessive dust by jerking hands (as seen in video).
4
Wipe Your Face
Wipe entire face with hands such that no part of the face is left un-wiped; Tayammum will not be valid if even a part equivalent to a hair is left unwiped.
💡Tip: Move your hands from the top of your forehead downward to your chin, then from one earlobe to the other earlobe ensuring complete coverage of your face.
⚠️Important: Make sure no part of the face is left untouched. The face must be completely wiped. Including lips, eyelids etc.
5
Strike the Earth - Second Time
Again with fingers spread wide open, hit both hands on the earth a second time for wiping your arms. Again, strike lightly with open palms.
💡Tip: If hands become over-dusty, reduce excessive dust by jerking hands (as seen in video).
6
Wipe Your Right Hand
Using your left palm, wipe your right hand from the fingertips up to (and including) the elbows. Make sure to wipe the entire hand and forearm thoroughly.
📖Tip Method: A better way to do this is to first wipe right hand with inner side of four fingers of the left hand, leaving the left thumb, starting from exterior side of fingertips of the right hand and dragging on exterior side up to the right elbow. Then, wipe with palm of left hand from interior side of right elbow up to the right wrist dragging left palm on interior side. Finally, use the inside of the left thumb to wipe the back of the right thumb.
7
Wipe Your Left Hand
The left arm should be wiped in the same manner using right hand.
Transliteration: Ash-hadu an la ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh.
Translation: "I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah Almighty. He is alone and He has no partner and I testify that Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) is his (Distinguished) Bondman and His Prophet."
Important Points to Remember:
Tayammum replaces wudu or ghusl only until water becomes available
Access to water will also nullify Tayammum
The acts that nullify Wudu or Ghusl will also nullify Tayammum
If Ghusl is due on somebody, he does not need to make Tayammum twice for Wudu and Ghusl; instead he may make intention for both in the same Tayammum and if intention was made for only Ghusl or only Wudu, it is also sufficient
🎉Alhamdulillah! You have completed tayammum. You are now purified and ready to pray. Remember, Islam provides ease and alternatives in times of difficulty.