O ye who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until ye can understand all that ye say,- nor in a state of ceremonial impurity (Except when travelling on the road), until after washing your whole body. 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, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands. For Allah doth blot out sins and forgive again and again. (43)
Tafsir
This verse appears here to underline the initial prohibition of intoxicants or wine, but it also reveals an important reality about prayer. Prayer does not mean the mere repetition of certain words and motions with accuracy; it must also reflect the concentration of the mind. The individual must say his prayers sincerely. When he is submitting himself to God with his utterances and his body, his mind and intention should also be in submission to Him. Along with his physical obeisance, his consciousness should inhere in his prayer. Islamic law has granted exceptional relaxations under exceptional conditions. Sickness, travelling and non-availability of waterthese are three exceptional conditions for man. It has, therefore, been permitted that, if there is any risk to health, one may perform dry ablution tayammum. The purpose of ablution is to create the spirit of purity: Tayammum is a way of maintaining that spirit when the usual ablution is not possible.
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