Details of Tayammum
Question:
Assalam o alaikum,
Can I please get some detailed understanding about the procedure, conditions and means of tayamum. Also, could you please explain the word صعد / صعيدا generally used in Quran in comparison to it s use in surah nisa in the ayat of tayamum.
jazakallah
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
The verse of tayammum is as follows:
… ِ وَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ جُنُباً فَاطَّهَّرُوا وَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مَرْضى أَوْ عَلى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغائِطِ أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّساءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا ماءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعيداً طَيِّباً فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَ أَيْديكُمْ مِنْهُ ما يُريدُ اللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ حَرَجٍ وَ لكِنْ يُريدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَ لِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُون
If you are sick or if you are on a trip or if you have relieved yourself or if you have touched (have intercourse) with women and you did not find water then do tayammum with the use of a clean surface and touch your faces and hands, God does not intend to put you in any difficulty but wants to cleansed you and complete His blessing upon you so that you may be grateful to Him.
(5:6, similar directive is given in 4:43)
Tayammum literally means ‘to aim for or to intend something’ (Qasd). Here we aim for a clean surface (Sa’idan Tayyiban) when ablution is not possible. Tayammum is a symbolic way of cleaning ourselves and a reminder of the real duty, that is ablution.
There are three things with relation to Tayammum that we can learn from the verse:
I. Based on the above, we can do tayammum in three conditions:
II. Tayammum needs to be on a clean surface on the face of Earth (mud, dust, soil, stone, etc.). Sa’id comes from Sa’adah, meaning something that is elevated (is in a higher level). When it refers to surface of Earth it often means a flat surface (apparently originated from the concept that the elevated surface beside a valley is normally flat). Based on this, Tayammum on any clean surface of earth is permissible and of course the cleanest surface has the priority (for instance dry soil rather than mud). In the situation where even a clean surface of earth is not available, then we can do Tayammum on any surface that has clean dust on it. If even this was not available then in my understanding, given the symbolic nature of the directive, Tayammuym on any clean surface suffices.
III. The method of Tayammum:
First two grammatical points that Zamakhshari refers to in Kashshaf:
Accordingly, the procedure of tayammum will be as follows:
--------
September 2015
Assalam o alaikum,
Can I please get some detailed understanding about the procedure, conditions and means of tayamum. Also, could you please explain the word صعد / صعيدا generally used in Quran in comparison to it s use in surah nisa in the ayat of tayamum.
jazakallah
Answer:
Assalamu Alaykum,
The verse of tayammum is as follows:
… ِ وَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ جُنُباً فَاطَّهَّرُوا وَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مَرْضى أَوْ عَلى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جاءَ أَحَدٌ مِنْكُمْ مِنَ الْغائِطِ أَوْ لامَسْتُمُ النِّساءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا ماءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعيداً طَيِّباً فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَ أَيْديكُمْ مِنْهُ ما يُريدُ اللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ حَرَجٍ وَ لكِنْ يُريدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَ لِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُون
If you are sick or if you are on a trip or if you have relieved yourself or if you have touched (have intercourse) with women and you did not find water then do tayammum with the use of a clean surface and touch your faces and hands, God does not intend to put you in any difficulty but wants to cleansed you and complete His blessing upon you so that you may be grateful to Him.
(5:6, similar directive is given in 4:43)
Tayammum literally means ‘to aim for or to intend something’ (Qasd). Here we aim for a clean surface (Sa’idan Tayyiban) when ablution is not possible. Tayammum is a symbolic way of cleaning ourselves and a reminder of the real duty, that is ablution.
There are three things with relation to Tayammum that we can learn from the verse:
I. Based on the above, we can do tayammum in three conditions:
- When we are sick
- When we are traveling
- When there is no water
II. Tayammum needs to be on a clean surface on the face of Earth (mud, dust, soil, stone, etc.). Sa’id comes from Sa’adah, meaning something that is elevated (is in a higher level). When it refers to surface of Earth it often means a flat surface (apparently originated from the concept that the elevated surface beside a valley is normally flat). Based on this, Tayammum on any clean surface of earth is permissible and of course the cleanest surface has the priority (for instance dry soil rather than mud). In the situation where even a clean surface of earth is not available, then we can do Tayammum on any surface that has clean dust on it. If even this was not available then in my understanding, given the symbolic nature of the directive, Tayammuym on any clean surface suffices.
III. The method of Tayammum:
First two grammatical points that Zamakhshari refers to in Kashshaf:
- ‘min’ after the word Aydikum is not the ‘min’ of ‘tab’iz’ but is ‘min’ of ‘ibtida’. If it was ‘min’ of ‘tab’iz’ then the meaning of the verse would have been to keep some of the dust or soil on the palm before touching the face and hands. This does not make sense. In the meaning of ‘ibtida’ the directive simply means to start the process with the clean surface.
- ‘ba’ at the start of ‘wujuh’ is ‘ba’ of ‘tab’iz’, which then means touching part of the face and hands will be enough.
Accordingly, the procedure of tayammum will be as follows:
- Touch a clean surface of earth (or dust, and if even dust was not available then any clean surface)
- Shake or rub hands to remove any observable dust or soil from hands (we learn this from Sunnah, and it is obvious, because in a symbolic act that replaces ablution which is for cleansing, we should not end up becoming less clean by having dust or soil on our face).
- Rub part or all of the face
- Rub part of the hands or up to the elbow (we learn from hadith to rub back of the hands, again this too is obvious and on the basis of common sense)
--------
September 2015
