Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Water in Islam
As a universal religion born initially in the harsh deserts of Arabia to complete the message of former prophets and convey the divine revelation in its last testament (Qur?an), Islam ascribes the most sacred qualities to water as a life-giving, sustaining, and purifying resource. It is the origin of all life on earth, the substance from which God created man (Al-Furqan 25:54). The Qur?an emphasizes its centrality:
(We made from water every living thing) (Al-Anbiyaa? 21:30).
Water is the primary element that existed even before the heavens and the earth did: (And it is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and his Throne was upon the waters) (Hud 11:7).
The water of rain, rivers, and fountains runs through the pages of the Qur?an to symbolize God?s benevolence (He sends down saving rain for them when they have lost all hope and spreads abroad His mercy) (Al-Furqan 25:48). At the same time, the believers are constantly reminded that it is Allah Who gives sweet water to the people, and that He can just as easily withhold it: Consider the water which you drink. Was it you that brought it down from the rain cloud or We? If We had pleased, We could make it bitter) (Al-Waqi`ah 56:68-70).
In this verse the believers are warned that they are only the guardians of Allah?s creation on earth; they must not take His law into their own hands.
Saving Water
?Cleanliness is half of Faith,? the Prophet tells his Companions in one of the hadiths. These well-known and oft-repeated words reveal not only the central importance of purity and cleanliness, but also the essential role water plays in Islam. Purification through ablution is an obligatory component of the Islamic Prayer ritual; Prayers carried out in an impure state are not valid. This means Muslims are obliged to carry out ritual ablution before each of the five daily Prayers. In addition, a more thorough ritual is required on specific occasions.
The Prophet Muhammad urged moderation and thriftiness in the use of water during ablution. He warned that each step of wudu? (ablution) should not be performed more than three times before each Prayer; the Prophet himself washed each part only two or three times without ever going beyond three, even if water supplies were abundant. Commentators add, ?The men of science disapprove of exaggeration and also of exceeding the number of ablutions of the Prophet.?
Islam also offers advice for times of scarcity, using the Prophet?s actions as a guideline. One day when the Prophet Muhammad was traveling through the desert with his Companions, his wife `A?ishah lost her necklace. They spent time searching for it and when Prayer time came, the company was nowhere near a water source. It was then that Allah revealed the ritual of tayammum (dry ablution) to the Prophet:
(O you who believe, ? if you are sick or on a journey ? and if you can find no water, then have recourse to clean dust and wipe your faces and your hands with it) (An-Nisaa? 4:43). Clean earth can thus be used as a substitute for water in exceptional circumstances. Indeed, the Prophet acknowledged the pure nature of earth when he said, ?The earth has been created for me as a Mosque and as a Means of Purification.?
(We made from water every living thing) (Al-Anbiyaa? 21:30).
Water is the primary element that existed even before the heavens and the earth did: (And it is He who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and his Throne was upon the waters) (Hud 11:7).
The water of rain, rivers, and fountains runs through the pages of the Qur?an to symbolize God?s benevolence (He sends down saving rain for them when they have lost all hope and spreads abroad His mercy) (Al-Furqan 25:48). At the same time, the believers are constantly reminded that it is Allah Who gives sweet water to the people, and that He can just as easily withhold it: Consider the water which you drink. Was it you that brought it down from the rain cloud or We? If We had pleased, We could make it bitter) (Al-Waqi`ah 56:68-70).
In this verse the believers are warned that they are only the guardians of Allah?s creation on earth; they must not take His law into their own hands.
Saving Water
?Cleanliness is half of Faith,? the Prophet tells his Companions in one of the hadiths. These well-known and oft-repeated words reveal not only the central importance of purity and cleanliness, but also the essential role water plays in Islam. Purification through ablution is an obligatory component of the Islamic Prayer ritual; Prayers carried out in an impure state are not valid. This means Muslims are obliged to carry out ritual ablution before each of the five daily Prayers. In addition, a more thorough ritual is required on specific occasions.
The Prophet Muhammad urged moderation and thriftiness in the use of water during ablution. He warned that each step of wudu? (ablution) should not be performed more than three times before each Prayer; the Prophet himself washed each part only two or three times without ever going beyond three, even if water supplies were abundant. Commentators add, ?The men of science disapprove of exaggeration and also of exceeding the number of ablutions of the Prophet.?
Islam also offers advice for times of scarcity, using the Prophet?s actions as a guideline. One day when the Prophet Muhammad was traveling through the desert with his Companions, his wife `A?ishah lost her necklace. They spent time searching for it and when Prayer time came, the company was nowhere near a water source. It was then that Allah revealed the ritual of tayammum (dry ablution) to the Prophet:
(O you who believe, ? if you are sick or on a journey ? and if you can find no water, then have recourse to clean dust and wipe your faces and your hands with it) (An-Nisaa? 4:43). Clean earth can thus be used as a substitute for water in exceptional circumstances. Indeed, the Prophet acknowledged the pure nature of earth when he said, ?The earth has been created for me as a Mosque and as a Means of Purification.?