Washing before prayer, Wudu

How to pray, lesson 2 of 8

These lessons are shared with the GABLVM app. Where a lesson mentions the app, this site has the same tools: Prayer Times, Qibla Finder, and the Quran Player.

Before praying, Muslims wash in a set order. This is called Wudu. It takes about two minutes at any sink. Once you have done it, it stays valid until you use the toilet, pass wind, or sleep deeply. Then you do it again before the next prayer.

Set the tap to a gentle, steady stream so you can find it with your hands without splashing. Push your sleeves above the elbows. Say in your heart that you are washing for prayer, and say Bismillah, in the name of God.

  1. Wash your hands up to the wrists, three times. Rub between the fingers.
  2. Take a little water in your right hand, put it in your mouth, swirl it and spit it out. Three times.
  3. Take a little water in your right hand, sniff it well into your nose, then blow it out gently with the help of your left hand. Three times. Not so hard that it stings. If you are fasting, sniff gently.
  4. Wash your face three times. With both hands full of water, cover from the hairline at the top of the forehead down to under the chin, and from ear to ear.
  5. Wash your right arm three times, from the fingertips up to and including the elbow. Then the left arm the same way.
  6. Wet both hands and wipe your head once. Start with the fingertips at the front hairline, draw the hands back over the top of the head to the nape of the neck, then bring them forward to where you started.
  7. Wipe the ears once. Put the tips of your index fingers inside the ears and your thumbs behind the ears, and wipe both at the same time.
  8. Wash your right foot three times, up to and including the ankle bone, and run a finger between the toes. Then the left foot the same way.

That is Wudu. If you forget the order, remember hands, mouth, nose, face, arms, head, ears, feet. Right before left. Three times for the parts you wash, once for the parts you wipe. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, sometimes washed each part once, sometimes twice, and sometimes three times. Three is best. Once still counts. Never more than three.

After intercourse, a wet dream, or the end of a period, Wudu is not enough. Lesson 3 covers the full wash, Ghusl.

Sources

Hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim are authenticated collections. Other hadith show their grading and who graded them.