(Purification - Salah) Ramadan Reflection 4

5:6 O YOU who have attained to faith! When you are about to pray, wash your face, and your hands and arms up to the elbows, and pass your [wet] hands lightly over your head, and [wash] your feet up to the ankles. And if you are in a state. requiring total ablution, purify yourselves.
But if you are ill, or are travelling, or have just satisfied a want of nature, or have cohabited with a woman, and can find no water-then take resort to pure dust, passing therewith lightly over your face and your hands. God does not want to impose any hardship on you, but wants to make you pure, and to bestow upon you the full measure of His blessings, so that you might have cause to be grateful.



يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلاةِ فاغْسِلُواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُواْ بِرُؤُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَينِ وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُواْ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاء أَحَدٌ مَّنكُم مِّنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لاَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاء فَلَمْ تَجِدُواْ مَاء فَتَيَمَّمُواْ صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُواْ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ مَا يُرِيدُ اللّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَـكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهَّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

I came across this verse 2-3 days ago, and a thought struck me. The ENTIRE procedure of purification - both wudu and tayammum is explained in the Quran. Salah isn't described step by step in the Quran. The first thought that comes to one's mind might be purification is very important. This rather emphasis the importance of other rituals - as for salah to be valid, one has to be pure. The verses stresses the importance of salah. It's a reminder to us that we should take purification seriously. It's a pre requisite for our worship to be valid. Salah is a pillar of Islam. The first question we'd be asked, we'd be accountable for is our salah.

Fortunately Humairah made my job easy by discussing the importance of salah further. Jazak Allah, Humairah. (Amazing how we didn't discuss our post ideas, and ended up with same thoughts. This is what I call ESP)

2 comments:

Humairah Irfan said...

Jazakallah Hafsa!
I wanted to talk about this ayah as well and I'm glad you did! :D
(btw, I edited my post a bit with some info on wudhu water @ the end)

That's a great reflection- that Salah isn't mentioned procedurally (sp) the way wudhu is.

Allahu Akbar.

Hafsa said...

wa iyyas H-rah!

Go ahead, blog about this verse. You reflections might be different than mine...and umm.. on a different level too!