How Should I Clean My Clothes and My Body to Be Allowed to Pray?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam alaykum

1. I have put impure clothes in a bucket with pure clothes. Afterwards I wash them with water. Are my clothes now pure?

2. Is it compulsory to use the hand when washing the private parts in the toilet?

3. Is it necessary to wash the rear private part during the ritual bath?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

1. Yes, your clothes are deemed purified. If there are no signs of filth, there is no filth transfer.

2. No, it is not obligatory to wash your private parts because cleaning those areas (istinja’) is a sunna.

3. Yes, it is a sunna to clean your private parts before bathing.

Please see: A Reader on Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings) and: The Ritual Bath (ghusl): Obligatory, Recommended, and Disliked

And Allah Most High alone knows best.

wassalam,
[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.