Tafsir Al-Jalalayn: Al-Maaida, Ayah 6
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Other Scholars on This Ayah
Tafsir
(O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer) and you are not in a state of minor ritual purity, He has taught you what to do, saying: (wash your face, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads) as you please (and (wash) your feet) above the sole of the feet (up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean) if you are in a state of major ritual impurity, (purify yourselves) with water. (And if ye are sick) of smallpox or are wounded. This was revealed about 'Abdullah Ibn 'Awf (or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet) or one of you has urinated or defecated, (or ye have had (sexual) contact with women) or had sex with women, (and ye find not water) you are unable to use water, (then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces) with the first blow (and your hands) with the second blow (with some of it) i.e. some of the dust. (Allah would not place a burden) constraint (on you, but He would purify you) by means of dry ablution from minor and major ritual impurities (and would perfect His grace) His favour (upon you, that ye may give thanks) for His blessing and legal dispensation.
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Al-Jalalayn Commentary
O you who believe when you stand up that is when you intend to go to pray and you are in a state of ritual impurity wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows that is including them the elbows as is clarified in the Sunna; and wipe your heads the bā’ in bi-ru’ūsikum is for ‘adherence’ that is to say wipe over the head adhering the hand closely without excessive water pouring over; the noun ra’s ‘head’ is generic and so the minimum required to fulfil the stipulation is acceptable which is the wiping of some of the hair as al-Shāfi‘ī asserts; and your feet read wa-arjulakum in the accusative as a supplement to aydīyakum; or wa-arjulikum in the genitive because of its adjacency to the genitive bi-ru’ūsikum up to the ankles that is including them the ankles as is clarified in the Sunna and they are the two protruding bones at the juncture of the legs and the feet. The interposing of the wiping of the head between the mention of the hands and the feet which are washed is intended to show the requirement of a specific order during the purification of these limbs as al-Shāfi‘ī asserts. In addition the requirement of making intention niyya in this ablution as in the other rituals of worship is taken from the Sunna. If you are defiled purify wash yourselves; but if you are sick with an illness made worse by water or on a journey travelling or if any of you comes from the privy that is if he has defecated or you have touched women as mentioned already in the verse in sūrat al-Nisā’ Q. 443 and you cannot find water having made the effort to look for it then head for seek wholesome dust that is clean earth and wipe your faces and your hands including the elbows with it using two strikes the bā’ of bi-wujūhikum ‘your faces’ denotes ‘adherence’; it is explained in the Sunna that the requirement here is for the wiping to encompass the whole of these two parts. God does not desire to make any hardship for you any constraint in the obligations He has imposed on you with regard to ablution washing and purification with dust; but He desires to purify you of filth and sins and that He may perfect His grace upon you through Islam by explaining the laws of the religion; so that you might give thanks for His graces.