Mini course in fiqh according to the school of Imam Malik - Part 3

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الحمد لله رب العلمين

وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم

In this part we will divide the actions of wudu - الوضوء - into it's obligatory, sunnah and fadila parts, and how to deal with them. The durus are given fridays, and I'll update this blog entry weekly (Saturdays, in sha Allah), according to the progression of our exploration of the amazing world of fiqh – islamic jurisprudence. There may occur revisions and additions, i.e. addition of arabic terms.

Obligatory elements in wudu

The obligatory acts of wudu are 7:

1. Intention – نية. The best way to formulate intension is to intend to remove the state of ritual impurity or make ibadat valid, but it does necessarily mean you has to articulate it. The fact that you raise from your resting place, and start to do the process of wudu – you have the niyyah. There are disagreement on this among the scholars, but this is what my teachers explained to me.
   
   
2. Flowing water and rubbing – دلك
   
   
3. Continuity – الفور
   
   
4. Wash the face from ear to ear and the normal hear line to the end og the chin. If beard is thin, you should rub so the water reaches the skin. If thick, you just run your wet hands over it.
   
   
5. Wash the arms, from fingertips to and including the elbow. Remember also between the fingers.
   
   
6. Wipe the head – the water should reach the whole hair surface. Women with long hair should collect the hair in a tail and just wipe along the tail.
   
   
7. Wash the feet from toes to heel, including the ankle . Be especially aware of the heels, because the skin here is thick and often has cracks that the water has to reach. It also come in the hadith; "Beware of the heels of Hell".

A missing wajib i wudu will invalidate the following salah. Go back, start with the missing limb and perform wudu to the end.

If you remember it in the middle of the prayer: Leave the prayerline (in the section of al-Salah, we will talk about leaving the prayer), make wudu and return to the prayer. Catch op what you lost of the prayer behind the imam.

Sunnan al-wudu

There are 8 sunnan (sing: sunnah) in wudu.

1. Wash the hands before you put then them i the wudu vessel (if you are using a vessel). Each hand is washed separately. Check the nails for potential barriers. ×3

2. Rinse the mouth with; 3 criterions: Take water with the hand. Rinse. Spitt the water out. ×3

3. Rise the nose with water: Inhaler and exhale. When exhaling, support the nose bone. ×3
4. Returne mash over the hair. Long hair – shift the tail to the oposit side.

5. Mash over the ears.

6. Take new water for mash over the ears.
7. Wajib elements should be performed on order.

To wash between the toes is mustahab, according to Ibn Abi Zayd in his Matn al-Risalah that it is recomended to do it, because there may be dirt and even impurities between the toes, especially in plasces where people usually walk around bare footed.

Discontinuity in wudu; Forgetfullnes; just comtiune where you left of. If your break are intention. i.e. the wudu pot empty and you have to fetch more water: Start over.

Mustahabaat (pl. mustahab) – also called fadila (pl. fadail)

1. Saying Bismillah at the beginning of your wudu.
   

2. Making wudu in a clean place.
3. Using a small amonut of water
4. Placing the water vessel (if you use one) on the right side or a pitcher on the left side.
5. Repeating washing once or twice – to a maxiumum og three times.
6. Brushing teeth or use miswak.
7. Wash the limbs on the right part first.
8. Arranging the sunnah acts with the fard acts in proper order.
9. Arranging the sunnah acts in its proper order (if you left sunnan during wudu, because you were in a hurry – we'll talk about at this).
10. Begin wiping the head from the hear line.
11. Wash between the toes.

Makruhaat (sing: makruh) al-wudu

To wash more than the wajib and sunnah elements of wudu.

Use too much water. This is an issue of conservation. With a little bit of training, half a liter of water is plenty for a perfect wudu.

This ends the section of wudu. In anything is unclear, ASK!

Additional resourses

See this video with Shaykh Khatry making wudu: 

http://vimeo.com/16985097

The section of Purification and Prayer from al-Murshid al-mu'in commented and explained by Shaykh AbdAlla bin Hamin Ali is very good and you should download it and study it. 

http://www.lamppostproductions.com/files/articles/Ibn_Ashir_P&P.pdf