Sharia has established a strict procedure for performing ablution, the violation of which makes ablution invalid. According to these norms, the head and neck are washed first, then the right and left parts of the body, etc. With incomplete ablution, i.e. without immersing the body entirely in water, first they wash their hands and face, then moisten their forehead and legs (stroke them with a wet hand). The face is wetted from the forehead down to the end of the chin. At the same time, it is believed that at the moment of performing the washing of the face, everything sinful that the Muslim looked at with his own eyes descends from him along with water. When washing their hands, everything sinful that a Muslim took with them comes off with water. Also, when the “faithful” perform the washing of the feet, everything sinful, to which they were heading, descends from them along with water (Muslim). When washing the feet, first wet the fingers and then the feet. It is claimed that after this, the Muslim comes out free from sins.
Thus, Islamic amartology completely excludes the participation of the mind and heart of a person in committing a sin. Sin is understood as some kind of material incarnation, thanks to which it gets the opportunity, paradoxically, to “settle” on the face, arms, legs and other parts of the human body involved by him (the person) at the time of sin. This is very reminiscent of the act of Pilate, who washed his hands as a visible sign of his non-participation in the murder of the Righteous (Matthew 27:24). But the Church testifies that although he “handle his minds, but defile his heart” (Akathist to the Passion of Christ, 4 ikos). As a result, the meaning of sin, as an abuse by a person of his free will, in which (abuse) both the mind and the heart of a person are involved, remains unknown to Islam. Islam does not know that “we are all in a fall; we are already conceived in iniquity, we are already born in sins… For this reason, the heart of every person produces by itself a large number of tares… One should not neglect the tares that arise from the heart, or the sinful thoughts that appear to the mind. Thoughts should be immediately rejected and driven away, and sinful feelings should be rooted out and destroyed, opposing them to the Gospel Commandments and resorting to prayer [1]. Thus, Islam’s view of sin as road dust is just another confirmation of the empty form of Islamic rites that exclude the moral effort of a person in the matter of salvation. It turns out that there is no need to fight and humble yourself internally, just take a shower – and the sin will be washed away.
Ritual washing depreciates under the following circumstances:
urination
air outlet from the anus
dream
bowel movement
a state of insanity (madness, intoxication (K.4:43), sclerosis)
menstruation
intercourse
There is also an opinion that if during a prayer a man has contact with a woman (skin to skin), then the state of uud is considered violated. This opinion is based on the verse of the Qur’an: “… or you touched women and did not find water, then wash yourself with clean sand and wipe your faces and hands” (K.4:43), and also: “… or you touched women and you will not find water, then wash yourself with good sand – wipe your faces and hands with it … ”(K.5: 6) However, considering that some words in the Qur’an can have, in addition to direct, also figurative meaning, Islamic theologians are divided on this issue. Ash – Shafi’i and most of his students believed that the word “lame” (touch) means touching with the hand or even physical contact. And therefore, after any touch of a man to the body of a woman during prayer, both of them lose the state of uud and need to perform ablution again.
Imam Malik and his students, as well as Imam Ahmad, believed that “lame” means touching with the hand. But at the same time, they specified that the state of uud (ritual purity) would be violated only if this touch gave pleasure. At the same time, they referred to a reliable hadith of Aisha, which said that Muhammad, while bowing to the ground (sujud), touched the sole of her foot, removing her foot so as not to interfere with him. (Collected by Al – Bukhari “Sahih Al – Bukhari” in Arabic and English, vol. .No. 712).
Imam Abu Hanifa believed that the word “lams” in this case should be understood as sexual intercourse, and therefore a simple touch, whether with or without pleasure, does not violate the state of wud. Hanifa relied both on the above hadith of Aisha and on another of her hadith, which tells that Muhammad kissed some of his wives and went to prayer (salat) and did not repeat ablution. (Collected by Abu Dawud “Sunan Abu Dawud” English, translation. T.1.S.43. No. 179, At – Tirmizi, An – Nasai, Ibn Modjay and confirmed for authenticity by Al Albani in “Sahih Sunan Abi Dawud” (Beirut, Lebanon: Al Maktab al Islami, 1989. V.1.S.36. No. 165), also by Ahmad Shakir in “Jami as-Sahih” Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiya. 1987. V.1.S.133 – 134 ).
Islam knows eleven ways to purify “impurity”:
Water.
Water, as the most valuable and scarce phenomenon for dry Arab places, is in the first place. According to Sharia, water is divided into two categories: mutlak water and mudaf water. Mudaf water is a mixture of various “juices”, clay water, etc. Mutlak water does not contain mixtures and is divided into 5 categories: 1) abundant, 2) scarce, 3) flowing, 4) rain, 5) well. For example, according to Sharia, if a “riser” connected with the river has formed near the river, then it is considered that all the water is flowing and clean. If Muslims claim that the water is clean, then they need to take their word for it. And even if something unclean (for example, carrion) got into the reservoir, it is not considered defiled, provided that the volume of the reservoir exceeds two kullats (the Arabic unit for measuring liquid bodies is 2 kullats≈216 liters), and also the water does not changed in properties (color, taste, smell). So it is narrated that “Abu Yusuf, having bathed in the bath, led the Friday prayer. After its completion, when people had already dispersed, he was informed that a dead mouse had been found in the pool of the bath. Abu Yusuf said that “in this case, we will adhere to the opinion of our brothers from Medina: if the volume of water has reached two kullat, then it is not defiled” ”[2]. The water used to cleanse sewage should be free of impurities (mutlak), odorless, tasteless and colorless.Dirty dishes should be rinsed three times in abundant water and once in running water.Dishes from which the dog has eaten or licked should be rubbed with sand, rinsed twice in still water and once in running water. from under the wine, Sharia prescribes rinsing seven times.A thing that has come into contact with the urine of an infant or the milk of a godless woman must be rinsed in water and kept under running water. Still water filtered through sand and gravel is considered clean.
Earth, sand.
Another method of cleansing “sewage” is sand or earth. In the East, to this day, the custom of washing dishes with sand has been preserved. Sun-hardened sand is believed to kill microbes. To clean clothes from stains, the sand must be dry and clean. To clean shoes, according to Sharia, you must take at least 15 steps on sand or earth.
Sun rays.
In order to clean something with the help of the sun, you must first make the thing wet, and then leave it under the sun. According to Sharia, the sun’s rays are not able to make dry “impurity” clean. At the same time, Sharia does not say anything about low temperatures (freezing).
Istikhale (transformation, metamorphosis).
Transformation means a complete change of a substance, after which its new state is considered pure. For example, a dirty thing, when burned, becomes ashes and is considered clean. Wine after adding salt to it becomes vinegar and is also considered pure.
Evaporation
The boiling method is also used as a cleansing method in some cases. As for boiling grapes, until 2/3 of the grape juice has evaporated, everything that comes into contact with it (dishes, skimmers, etc.) is considered unclean.
Nature (tabiat)
This principle is based on a causal relationship between objects undergoing a purification process. For example, a vessel in which wine is stored is also considered unclean, but after the wine is turned into vinegar, the vessel also becomes “clean”.
Source: Chapter 8 (A). Rites in Islam – Unexpected Sharia [Text] / Mikhail Rozhdestvensky. – [Moscow: b. i.], 2011. – 494, [2] p.
Notes:
1.Practical encyclopedia. Fundamentals of the right spiritual life. According to the works of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov). SPb. SATIS POWER .2005 Ss.64,65,69.
2. Is the discrepancy with the four madhhabs and issues of taklid resolved? http://www.amina.com/kamina/ic/.
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