The Description of Tayammum and Its Being a Distinctive Feature of This Ummah

Machine translationRead the Arabic original

Question:
There is something in it. Does tayammum begin with the intention, or does one intend it? And how is tayammum performed? And do we infer from this? For Allah the Exalted said: [garbled text regarding difficult verses and gratitude].

Answer:
Tayammum is a distinctive feature of this Ummah, as evidenced by the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):

the earth has been made for me a place of worship and a means of purification.

جعلت لي الأرض مسجدا وطهورا

Sunan Ibn Majah 567Sahih (Darussalam)

In the narration of

its soil is pure

تربتها طهورا

, it is a distinctive feature of this Ummah. As for those before them, their prayer is not valid except with wudu' using water.
As for the order of tayammum, yes, it is obligatory. One of the conditions for the validity of tayammum is the order: one must wipe his face first, then wipe his hands. This is because Allah the Exalted said:

and wipe over your faces and hands with it

فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ

[Al-Ma'idah 5:6]

And it was mentioned to you earlier the saying of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Begin with what Allah began with" or

We will start with that with which Allah started.

ابدؤوا بما بدأ الله به

Sunan an-Nasa'i 2962Sahih (Darussalam)

. So Allah began with the face, so one begins with the face before the hands. Yes.

Source شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع باب نواقض الوضوء - 4 — islamhouse.com (1:11:47)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

Flag this fatwa