The honorable Shaykh, I am a person who works in camel herding, and my problem is that we pray in congregation, praise be to Allah, but we perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) all year round, in summer and winter.

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The questioner : I am a person who works in camel herding, and my problem is that we pray in congregation, praise be to Allah, but we perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) all year round, in summer and winter. It is worth noting that the water in the summer stays with us for three days, and in the winter for more than a week, and sometimes the water is twenty or forty kilometers away from us. What is the ruling of the Shari'ah in your view regarding our work?

The Shaykh : Your work is valid if you do not find water, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted:

O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءامَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُوا وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ مَرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ مِنْهُ مَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَكِنْ يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ

[Al-Ma'idah 5:6]

If you do not find water, or if it is far from you such that going to it is difficult for you, then perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth), even for the whole year. However, if the water is near you or in your tents, it is not permissible for you to perform tayammum. Even if you do perform tayammum in this situation, your tayammum is invalid, and the prayers you performed with it are also invalid. It is obligatory for you to fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and not to perform tayammum except when there is a valid legal excuse, which is the absence of water or harm from using it. Yes.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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