Siwak, the tongue and the heart, and the six obligations of wuḍūʾ
We opened this lesson the way we open most of them: by going back over what we have already covered before taking a step forward. The book we are studying is Matn al-Ghāyah wa-l-Taqrīb, often simply called Matn Abī Shujāʿ. Its author is al-Qāḍī Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad al-Iṣfahānī, known as Abū Shujāʿ. Abū means father, and shujāʿ means courage: the father of courage.
We are in the first book, Kitāb al-Ṭahārah, the Book of Purification. I encourage the students to hold on to these Arabic terms rather than translating everything. They are the vocabulary of the subject, and as you move on to more advanced books you will meet them again and again.
Recap: Water
Why does Imam Abū Shujāʿ begin with water? Because it is the basic ingredient of purification. Before we can purify anything, we need to know what we are purifying with.
The matn lists seven waters with which purification is permitted: rain, sea, river, well, spring, snow and hail. Seven can be summarised into two, water from the sky and water from the earth, and two can be summarised into one: naturally occurring water.
Then come the four categories: muṭlaq (pure and purifying), mushammas (sun-heated: pure and purifying, but disliked), water that is pure but not purifying (mustaʿmal, and water changed by something pure mixed into it), and mutanajjis (water into which najāsah has fallen).
The key word for muṭlaq is natural. Take sea water. It is salty and it smells of the sea. Is it still muṭlaq? Yes, because that is how sea water naturally tastes and smells. You can make wuḍūʾ with it.
Now imagine someone scoops sea water into a cup, adds red colouring, sweetens it, freezes it and shakes it up into some fancy bubble tea. Is it still muṭlaq? No. Its colour and taste are no longer natural. The example is ridiculous, but hopefully that is why you will remember it.
Or imagine someone has run out of fresh water and really wants coffee to start the morning, so they boil sea water and stir in instant coffee. The water has been changed by something pure mixed into it, so it moves into the third category alongside mustaʿmal. It is still pure, and you can drink it, but you can no longer purify with it.
Finally, water that najāsah falls into becomes mutanajjis, unless it is truly vast: two qullahs or more. In that case it only becomes mutanajjis if its taste, colour or smell changes. How much is two qullahs? Around 200 litres. You will find books saying 180, others 190 or more. The exact figure varies, so think of it as roughly 200 litres, give or take.
Recap: Carrying the Water
Once we know which water we can use, the matn turns to how we carry it. That is why the next sections deal with the skins of the maytah, which become pure through tanning, and with vessels: gold and silver vessels may not be used, while vessels of anything else may.
Recap: Siwak
Now you have your water and you are ready for wuḍūʾ. But before wuḍūʾ comes something very important: the siwak.
وَالسِّوَاكُ مُسْتَحَبٌّ فِي كُلِّ حَالٍ إِلَّا بَعْدَ الزَّوَالِ لِلصَّائِمِ، وَهُوَ فِي ثَلَاثَةِ مَوَاضِعَ أَشَدُّ اسْتِحْبَابًا: عِنْدَ تَغَيُّرِ الْفَمِ مِنْ أَزْمٍ وَغَيْرِهِ، وَعِنْدَ الْقِيَامِ مِنَ النَّوْمِ، وَعِنْدَ الْقِيَامِ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ.
The siwak is recommended at all times, except after midday for one who is fasting. In three situations it is more strongly recommended: when the mouth has changed from abstaining from food or otherwise, on rising from sleep, and on rising to pray.
Any time is a good time for siwak, with one exception: for a fasting person, once the sun has passed its zenith, it is no longer sunnah.
Then there are the three cases where it counts for more. The first is when the taste of the mouth has changed, after a long time without eating or drinking, or a long silence. Think of the end of a fasting day. That is why, after you break your fast, it is sunnah to use the siwak before you pray Maghrib.
The second is when you wake up from sleep. Must siwak be done with the stick itself? No, a toothbrush counts too. So we all do siwak when we wake up in the morning, don’t we? I asked the class how many had not brushed their teeth that morning, and told them not to raise their hands. A few looked genuinely unsure. Good. Now you are paying attention.
The third is when you are about to pray. There are two moments here: at wuḍūʾ, and again right before you pray. The matn says wa ʿinda al-qiyāmi ilā al-ṣalāh, when you rise to pray. So while the iqāmah is being called, take out your siwak, use it, put it back in your pocket, and pray.
Why the Prophet ﷺ loved it
Rasūlullāh ﷺ loved the siwak. He said:
السِّوَاكُ مَطْهَرَةٌ لِلْفَمِ، مَرْضَاةٌ لِلرَّبِّ
“The siwak purifies the mouth and pleases the Lord.”
There is also a narration that a prayer with siwak is seventy times more rewarding than a prayer without it. And on his final day, one of the last things he did was to use the siwak.
Why does oral health matter so much? First, the angels dislike bad smells. It is makrūh for us to eat things that make the mouth smell bad, such as raw garlic or raw onion. Cooked garlic is fine. The Prophet ﷺ told us not to come to the masjid straight after eating garlic. If you have eaten it, brush your teeth before you go.
Second, medical research has found that oral health is closely connected to the health of the heart. The germs in a neglected mouth can cause trouble deep inside the body, and gum disease has been linked to heart disease.
The Tongue and the Heart
That link between the mouth and the heart is not only physical. There is a well-known story, usually told of Luqmān al-Ḥakīm. His master slaughtered a sheep and told him to bring the best cut. Luqmān brought the tongue and the heart. Another time, his master told him to bring the worst cut. Again he brought the tongue and the heart.
“I asked for the best and you brought me the tongue and the heart. I asked for the worst and you brought me the tongue and the heart.” Luqmān replied that there is nothing better than these two when they are good, and nothing worse than these two when they are bad.
Your tongue can hurt people badly: through bad language, gossip and slander. And a bad tongue comes from a bad heart. A good heart shows itself through a good tongue and beautiful words. This is why one of my favourite ayāt in Surah al-Baqarah, which you will meet later, tells us that the covenant taken from Banī Isrāʾīl was this:
لَا تَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا ٱللَّهَ وَبِٱلْوَٰلِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْيَتَـٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَـٰكِينِ وَقُولُوا۟ لِلنَّاسِ حُسْنًا
“Worship none but Allah, and be excellent to parents, to relatives, to orphans and to the poor, and speak to people beautifully.” (al-Baqarah 2:83)
First, no shirk. Then, excellence to parents, family, orphans and the poor. And then, speak beautifully. Your tongue is that important.
How do you keep your physical heart healthy? Eat well and exercise. Of the two, food matters more: roughly 80 per cent food, 20 per cent exercise. You can never out-exercise a bad diet. The spiritual heart works the same way. Good speech reflects a good heart, and a good heart reflects itself in good speech.
So when we use the siwak, it is not only physical cleaning. As we clean our teeth and our tongue, it reminds us to keep our speech clean as well: no swearing, no cursing, no lying, no gossiping, no slander, no drama at school. (Slander means accusing someone of something they did not do. Not to be confused with slaughter. You can slaughter a sheep. You cannot slander a sheep.)
A toothbrush twice a day keeps the mouth clean. But the siwak you carry with you is a constant reminder: I want my mouth to be like the mouth of the Prophet ﷺ. He said:
مَنْ كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْرًا أَوْ لِيَصْمُتْ
“Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him say what is good or remain silent.”
And if you stay quiet for a long time, your mouth turns stale. What do you do then? Siwak. In this way we follow the sunnah in keeping the mouth clean physically and spiritually.
New: Wuḍūʾ
The next chapter in Kitāb al-Ṭahārah is wuḍūʾ. How would you translate it? Many people say “ablution”. But the word wuḍūʾ comes from waḍāʾah, meaning brightness and radiance. Wuḍūʾ is not really about cleaning the face. It is about giving light to the face, the arms and every part that the water touches.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
إِنَّ أُمَّتِي يُدْعَوْنَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ غُرًّا مُحَجَّلِينَ مِنْ آثَارِ الْوُضُوءِ
“My ummah will be called on the Day of Resurrection with shining faces, hands and feet, from the traces of wuḍūʾ.”
Among billions and billions of people, this is how he ﷺ will recognise his ummah: by the light on their faces, arms, heads, ears and feet.
Think about it this way. If you only wanted a clean face, what would work better: water alone, or a facial cleanser followed by moisturiser? The class agreed that the cleanser wins. So wuḍūʾ is not about the face. It is about the soul. The Prophet ﷺ taught that each time you make wuḍūʾ, the water that drips from you carries your minor sins away with it.
This also gives us a way to picture something from our water lesson. What is mustaʿmal? Water already used for wuḍūʾ or ghusl. You can no longer purify with it, because it has already done its work: it has carried away minor sins. You can use it for other things, like watering the plants, but not for wuḍūʾ and not for ghusl.
Once you understand this, you realise that wuḍūʾ does not need much water. What it needs is the right order, the right mindset, and a heart that is present.
The Six Obligations of Wuḍūʾ
وَفُرُوضُ الْوُضُوءِ سِتَّةُ أَشْيَاءَ: النِّيَّةُ عِنْدَ غَسْلِ الْوَجْهِ، وَغَسْلُ الْوَجْهِ، وَغَسْلُ الْيَدَيْنِ إِلَى الْمِرْفَقَيْنِ، وَمَسْحُ بَعْضِ الرَّأْسِ، وَغَسْلُ الرِّجْلَيْنِ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ، وَالتَّرْتِيبُ عَلَى مَا ذَكَرْنَاهُ.
The obligations of wuḍūʾ are six things: the intention when washing the face; washing the face; washing the two hands up to the elbows; wiping part of the head; washing the two feet up to the ankles; and doing them in the order we have mentioned.
Six things are farḍ. Leave one aside,
And nothing has been purified.
The first is niyyah, and its place
Is when you start to wash the face.
The face comes second; third, the pair
Of hands, with elbows covered there.
Fourth wipe the head: a part will do.
Fifth wash the feet, and ankles too.
And sixth, tartīb: they must be done
In order, running one by one.
These six are called the farḍ of wuḍūʾ, and you will also hear them called arkān. The terms are interchangeable here.
Niyyah: what turns a habit into worship
The first obligation is niyyah, the intention, and its place is the moment the water first touches your face. That is when your heart should intend wuḍūʾ.
Intention is what separates an act of worship from an ordinary act. The Prophet ﷺ said:
إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّاتِ، وَإِنَّمَا لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى
“Actions are only by intentions, and each person will have only what they intended.”
The same act can lead to completely different outcomes depending on the intention behind it. You wash your face every day. Does that count as worship, like wuḍūʾ? No. Does it carry your minor sins away? No, because there was no intention. With the intention, everything changes.
Tartīb: in order, but not necessarily in one go
Intending and washing the face is not the end of it. Tartīb means order: face, then arms, then head, then feet. So here is a question.
Meet a hypothetical student called Sleepy. He wakes up in the morning and washes his face at home with the intention of wuḍūʾ. On his way into Qaswa, he stops at the bathroom downstairs and washes his right arm. He goes to class. At the break, he goes next door and washes his left arm. Before the second class, he stops by the bathroom again and wipes his head. Then he goes home and washes both feet.
Is his wuḍūʾ valid?
Go back to the six obligations. Did he make the intention at the face? Yes. Did he wash the face, the arms up to the elbows, wipe part of the head, and wash the feet up to the ankles? Yes. Was it in order? Yes. So his wuḍūʾ is valid, as long as nothing broke his wuḍūʾ in between. If he had fallen asleep in class, for example, he would have to start again from the face. We will look at what breaks wuḍūʾ in detail when we reach that chapter.
Doing the parts one straight after another is called muwālāt, continuity. It is one of the sunnahs of wuḍūʾ, not one of its obligations. Sleepy missed a sunnah, but he did not miss a farḍ.
This is not only hypothetical. When I was at boarding school, the facilities were stretched: too many students, too little infrastructure. One day a group of us, including me, were taking wuḍūʾ. We had washed our faces and right arms when the water suddenly stopped. The tank was empty. We were told to walk to the nearest masjid, about 700 metres away, and pray Maghrib there.
When we got there, did we need to restart our wuḍūʾ? No. We could carry on from where we stopped. So I sat down and started with my left arm. The uncle next to me gave me a look, as if to say, “Why is this boy starting with his left arm?” But it was valid.
Until next week: remember your six arkān of wuḍūʾ.
Azizi Khalid, Qaswa House
