Islam is a religion of beauty, cleanliness, and human nature. It invites people to all sorts of goodness and prohibits all evil. Islam highlights the importance of cleanliness on levels of persons and society. Allah told us that He is beautiful and love all the beauty. Thus, He only accepts what is good. He ordered Muslims to purify the inner and the outer. It can be seen with the Commands of Allah that purify the heart, such as Saddaqh (charity), pure love, selflessness, and generosity. In addition, Allah prohibited the actions that corrupt our the inner and outer, such as the cleanliness of the outer and avoiding filth and dirtiness. Allah said in Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 222 ” Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who purify themselves” (إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ وَيُحِبُّ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ). The repentant are those who repents whenever they sin and ask Allah’s Forgiveness. The other type who are loved by Allah are those who purify themselves, by cleaning themselves after toilet, showering, and changing their clothes whenever it is ritually unclean.
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Purity is half of iman (faith). ‘Al-hamdu lillah (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah)’ fills the scales, and ‘subhan-Allah (how far is Allah from every imperfection) and ‘Al-hamdulillah (all praise and gratitude belong to Allah)’ fill that which is between heaven and earth.” The prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) confirmed the concept that half of the Muslim’s faith is not gained until he obliged to the purity of the inner and outer (the body and clothes). For the body, Allah made the ablution (Wudu) obligatory before each prayer. In Surah Al-Maidah, Ayah 6 Allah said ”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 آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُوا ۚ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَىٰ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاءَ أَحَدٌ مِّنكُم مِّنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لَامَسْتُمُ النِّسَاءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا مَاءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَٰكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ). No prayer is accepted unless the Muslim is clean, and on ablution. This obligation is revolved around meeting Allah on each prayer with Wudu and that missing any obligatory pillar of Wudu corrupts the whole prayer, as the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ”The prayer of none amongst you would be accepted in a state of impurity until he performs ablution.”
In addition, Wudu is a reason for erasing sins and entering Jannah that Allah gifted us with. It was narrated that the messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “When a Muslim or a believer washes his face (in the course of Wudu’), every sin he has committed with his eyes is washed away from his face along with water, or with the last drop of water; when he washes his hands, every sin they wrought is erased from his hands with the water, or with the last drop of water; and when he washes his feet, every sin towards which his feet walked is washed away with water, or with the last drop of water, with the result that he comes out cleansed of all sins”. Also, the prophet Muhammad recommended the Muslims to perform Wudu’ properly, even in difficulty as this obliterates the sins and elevates their ranks. He (ﷺ) said, “Whoever of you performs Wudu’ carefully and then affirms: [I testify that there so no true god except Allah Alone, Who has no partners and that Muhammad (ﷺ) is His slave and Messenger],’ (أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أن محمدًا عبده ورسوله) the eight gates of Jannah are opened for him. He may enter through whichever of these gates he desires (to enter).”
Muslims are the greatest nation, and the most nation that highly considered the cleanliness of heart, body, clothes, and the place where the worship is done, this all because of the perfection of Shariah (legislation), and the purity of the seal of the prophets, our messenger the prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), may Allah hold us keep on his Sunnah.
