Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Woe to the worshippers who are heedless of their prayer.”

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows:
Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, said: . “Wail” (Wail) occurs frequently in the Qur'an, and its meaning is a threat. It is a threat of wail and destruction for whoever does such and such. It is a word of threat for whoever does what is mentioned here. He says: . They pray, but they are heedless of their prayer, neglectful of it. They do not establish its limits, nor do they fulfill its obligations, nor do they refrain from its corruptions. So among the things that constitute wasting the prayer is:
That a person is negligent in the ablution, so he does not perform the ablution in the manner required of him. Allah the Exalted mentioned the ablution in His Book and said: . These are four limbs that must be purified: the face, the right and left hands, the head, and the right and left feet. It is necessary for their purification to remove anything that prevents water from reaching the skin. It is obligatory for a person to remove, before performing the ablution, anything that prevents water from reaching the skin, such as dough, gum, or the like. This is because if he does not remove this, it is not true that he washed the limb, since the water does not reach what is underneath it. For this reason, the scholars said: “One of the conditions for the validity of the ablution is to remove what prevents water from reaching the skin”. However, it is relaxed regarding the head. For example, if a woman has henna or something similar on her head, this does not harm and does not prevent validity. It is established that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had his head plastered during the Farewell Pilgrimage, meaning he placed something on it to plaster it and reduce its frizzing from gum or the like. And because the purification of the head is a relaxed purification, as evidenced by the fact that Allah only obligated wiping on it, not washing. Even if there is no hair on it, the obligation is to wipe it, not wash it. And wiping over the turban for a man and over the head covering for a woman is permitted. All of this indicates that the purification of the head is relaxed. Therefore, there is no harm if a woman has henna or something similar on her head that prevents water from reaching it, as her purification is valid. As for what is washed, it is not permissible for there to be anything preventing water from reaching the limb, except in a case of dire necessity. For example, a person with a wound on his hand who places a bandage on it, or places a medicine with substance on it, or something similar. This is a dire necessity, and it is wiped instead of being washed. If water passes over it and the person runs his hand over it, that is sufficient, provided the water does not harm him. However, the presence of this barrier is necessary, and there is no harm in that.
The ablution is a great matter and its status is serious. Those who are negligent in the ablution are among those who are heedless of their prayer, because the ablution is a condition for the validity of the prayer. And those who exceed in the ablution are also in error. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed the ablution once, twice, and three times, and he said: . It is not permissible for a person to exceed three washings. It is permissible to wash some limbs once and some limbs twice or three times, as the Sunnah has come. The ablution has a great benefit, which is the purification of the body and the purification of the heart. When a person performs the ablution, his sins exit from his limbs with the last drops of water. Then, when he finishes and purifies himself with this water, it is prescribed for him to say: . So that the purification of his inner self is completed, just as the purification of his outer self was completed. And success is from Allah.