Sura-5 [Al Maida Medina 112]
The Quranic Text & Ali’s version:
يَا
أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُواْ إِذَا
قُمْتُمْ إِلَى
الصَّلاةِ...
5:6. O ye who believe!
when ye prepare for prayer,
... فاغْسِلُواْ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُواْ بِرُؤُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَينِ ...
- wash your faces,
- and your hands (and arms) to the elbows;
- rub your heads (with water);
- and (wash) your feet to the ankles.
C702. These are the essentials of Wudu, or ablutions preparatory to prayers, viz.,
1. to bathe the whole face in water, and
2. both hands and arms to the elbows,
3. with a little rubbing of the head with water (as the head is usually protected and comparatively clean), and
4. the bathing of the feet to the ankles.
In addition, following the practice of the Prophet, it is usual first to wash the mouth, and the nose before proceeding with the face, etc.
... وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَاطَّهَّرُواْ ...
If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body.
Ritual impurity arises from sex pollution.
... وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاء أَحَدٌ مَّنكُم مِّنَ الْغَائِطِ أَوْ لاَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاء ...
But if ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women,
... فَلَمْ تَجِدُواْ مَاء فَتَيَمَّمُواْ صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُواْ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ ...
and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands.
C704. This is Tayammum, or wiping with clean sand or earth where water is not available.
I take it that this substitute is permissible both for Wudu and for a full bath, in the circumstances mentioned.
... مَا يُرِيدُ اللّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍ ...
God doth not wish to place you in a difficulty,
... وَلَـكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهَّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿٦﴾
but to make you clean, and to complete His favor to you, that ye may be grateful.
Transliteration Ya_ ayyuhal lazina a_manu_ iza_qumtum ilas salu_ti fagsilu_ wuju_hakum wa aidiyakum ilal mara_fiqi wamsahu_ bi ru'u_sikum wa arjulakum ilal ka'bain(i), wa in kuntum junuban fattahharu_, wa in kuntum marda_ au 'ala_ safarin au ja_'a ahadum minkum minal ga_'iti au la_mastumun nisa_'a fa lam tajidu_ ma_'an fa tayammamu_ sa'idan tayyiban famsahu_ bi wuju_hikum wa aidikum minh(u), ma_ yuridulla_hu liyaj'ala 'alaikum min harajiw wa la_kiy yuridu liyutahhirakum wa liyutimma ni'matahu_ 'alaikum la'allakum tasykuru_n(a).
Other Versions:
5: 6
Asad O you who have attained to faith! when you are about to pray, wash your face, and your hands and arms up to the elbows, and pass your [wet] hands lightly over your head, and [wash] your feet up to the ankles. And if you are in a state requiring total ablution, purify yourselves. 17 But if you are ill, or are traveling, or have just satisfied a want of nature, or have cohabited with a woman, and can find no water - then take resort to pure dust, passing therewith lightly over your face and your hands. God does not want to impose any hardship on you, but wants to make you pure, and to bestow upon you the full measure of His blessings, so that you might have cause to be grateful.
Pickthall O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash your face, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it. Allah would not place a burden on you, but He would purify you and would perfect His grace upon you, that ye may give thanks.
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[[ Asad’s notes :- 17 For an explanation of this and the following passage, see 4:43 and the corresponding notes. Here, the reference to prayer connects with the last sentence of the preceding verse, which speaks of belief in God.
4:43 [Asad’s version] O YOU who have attained to faith! Do not attempt to pray while you are in a state of drunkenness, 54 [but wait] until you know what you are saying; nor yet [while you are] in a state requiring total ablution, 55 until you have bathed - except if you are traveling [and are unable to do so]. But if you are ill, or are traveling, or have just satisfied a want of nature, 54 or have cohabited with a woman, and can find no water - then take resort to pure dust, passing [therewith] lightly over your face and your hands. 57 Behold, God is indeed an absolver of sins, much-forgiving.
The Quranic text and Ali’s version of 4:43
يَا
أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ
آمَنُواْ
لاَ
تَقْرَبُواْ
الصَّلاَةَ
وَأَنتُمْ
سُكَارَى
حَتَّىَ
تَعْلَمُواْ
مَا
تَقُولُونَ...
4:43. O ye who believe! approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say,
C562. The reference is either to a state of intoxication or to a dazed state of mind on account of drowsiness or some other cause. Or perhaps both are implied.
Before the prohibition of intoxicants altogether was promulgated, it was at least unbecoming that people should come to prayers in such a state. For prayers it is only right that we should collect our whole minds and approach Allah in a spirit of reverence.
“Prayers” (Salah) here may mean “a place of prayer,” a Mosque:
the resulting meaning would be the same
... وَلاَ جُنُبًا إِلاَّ عَابِرِي سَبِيلٍ حَتَّىَ تَغْتَسِلُواْ...
nor in a state of ceremonial impurity (except when traveling on the road), until after washing your whole body
... وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَى أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَاء أَحَدٌ مِّنكُم مِّن الْغَآئِطِ أَوْ لاَمَسْتُمُ النِّسَاء...
- if ye are ill, or
- on a journey, or
- one of you cometh from offices of nature, or
- ye have been in contact with women,
... فَلَمْ تَجِدُواْ مَاء فَتَيَمَّمُواْ صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُواْ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ ...
and ye find no water,
then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands.
C563. The strictest cleanliness and purity of mind and body are required, especially at the time of prayer.
But there are circumstances when water for ablutions is not easily obtainable, especially in the dry conditions of Arabia, and then washing with dry sand or clean earth is recommended. Four such circumstances are mentioned: the
- two last when washing is specially required;
- the two first when washing may be necessary, but it may not be easy to get water.
For a man, when he is ill, cannot walk out far to get water, and a man on a journey has no full control over his supplies.
In all four cases, where water cannot be got, cleaning with dry sand or dry earth is recommended. This is called Tayammum.
... إِنَّ اللّهَ كَانَ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا ﴿٤٣﴾
For Allah doth blot out sins and forgive again and again.
[ Asad’s notes to verse 4:43
54 The reference to prayer at this place arises from the mention, in the preceding verses, of the Day of Judgment, when man will have to answer before God for what he did during his life in this world: for it is in prayer that man faces God, spiritually, during his earthly life, and reminds himself of his responsibility towards the Creator. As regards the prohibition of attempting to pray "while in a state of drunkenness", some of the commentators assume that this ordinance represented the first stage of the total prohibition of intoxicants, and has been, consequently, "abrogated" by the promulgation of the law of total abstinence from all intoxicants (5:90). However, quite apart from the fact that the doctrine of "abrogation" is entirely untenable (see surah 2, verse 106), there is no warrant whatever for regarding the above verse as a "first step" which has become redundant, as it were, after total prohibition was ordained. It is, of course, true that the Qur'an forbids the use of intoxicants at all times, and not merely at the time of prayer; but since "man has been created weak" (4:28), his lapse from the way of virtue is always a possibility: and it is to prevent him from adding the sin of praying while in a state of drunkenness to the sin of using intoxicants as such that the above verse was promulgated. Moreover, the expression "while you are in a state of drunkenness (sukara)" does not apply exclusively to alcoholic intoxication, since the term sukr, in its wider connotation, signifies any state of mental disequilibrium which prevents man from making full use of his intellectual faculties: that is to say, it can apply also to a temporary clouding of the intellect by drugs or giddiness or passion, as well as to the state metaphorically described as "drunk with sleep"- in brief, to any condition in which normal judgment is confused or suspended. And because the Qur'an insists throughout on consciousness as an indispensable element in every act of worship, prayer is permitted only when man is in full possession of his mental faculties and "knows what he is saying".
55 I.e., after sexual intercourse. The term junub (rendered by me as "in a state requiring total ablution") is derived from the verb janaba, "he made (a thing) remote", and signifies one's remoteness from prayer because of immersion in sexual passion.
56 Lit., "if one of you comes from the place in which one satisfies...", etc.
57 This symbolic ablution, called tayammum, consists in touching the earth, or anything supposed to contain dust, with the palms of one's hands and then passing them lightly over face and hands. Whenever water is not within reach - or cannot be used because of illness - the tayammum takes the place of both the total ablution after sexual intercourse (ghusl) and the partial ablution before prayers (wudu). ]]