Home > Islamic Fiqh > Purification (Tahara)
Purification is the key to prayer: waters, impurities, ablution, major ablution, tayammum, wiping over the khuff, menstruation and bleeding. The complete rulings of the 4 schools, verse by verse and hadith by hadith, from the encyclopedia of the 4 schools.
Updated on 06 October 2026 at 10:50 PM
Purification legislated in the Book rests first on the words of the Most High:
"O you who believe! When you rise for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows; wipe your heads with wet hands; and wash your feet up to the ankles."
Surah al-Ma'ida, 6
And in the same verse: "Allah does not intend to impose any hardship on you, but He intends to purify you."
Pure water removes material filth: this is the role of waters, defined by categories.
Ablution removes minor impurity. The major ablution removes major impurity.
When water is missing or harmful, tayammum with pure dust takes over.
Wiping over the khuff and the bandage lightens ablution in the cases fixed by the schools.
Ablution (wudu) removes minor impurity; the major ablution (ghusl) removes major impurity (intercourse, menstruation, lochia).
When water is missing, insufficient, or harmful (illness, cold): see tayammum.
A day and a night for the resident, 3 days and nights for the traveler, by the majority. Details in wiping over the khuff.
No, until the bleeding ends followed by the major ablution; istihada (irregular bleeding) has its own rules.