Wudu (ablution) is an inseparable part of Salaat (prayer).
The first time I was taught how to perform wudu was in somebody's
bathroom, a sister showed me. I had a book about prayer and it also
talked about how to perform wudu, but there were no pictures and the
best way to learn something (I think) is to see how it is done before
your own eyes.
The first few months I had an irritated skin around my eyes, nose,
ears and between my toes because of the water.
But now, after all these years I'm used to it and so is my skin, I
just have to apply a moisturizing cream afterwards, sometimes water
can be hard on you.
To perform wudu at home only takes a few minutes, but in an unfamiliar
place it always takes me at least double the time, especially when
there is no place to put your clothes or when the place is not clean.
The cleanest place I have ever been to (outside my home ) was in a
small mosque on Victoria Island, BC (Canada). The washroom was unbelievable
clean, there were stacks of bright white soft towels and separate
hampers for "face towels" and "feet towels", there
was an abundance of fragrant soap and a place to hang your clothes,
all in all it was a pleasure to be doing wudu.
The complete opposite was (I'm so sorry to say) the wudu location
behind the Al Azhar Mosque in Cairo (Egypt). I will not go into details,
but insha Allah I hope that they will make changes in the near future
especially because Al Azhar is a beautiful Mosque and is visited by
so many Muslims from all over the world. And as our Prophet (peace
and blessings upon him) said "Cleanliness is half of faith"
Sahih Muslim 2:432.
I know that it is not always easy to perform wudu, especially when
it is early in the morning for fadjr (sometimes around 3 'o clock
in the summer time), or when the water is too cold (it takes forever
in our apartment for the water to get at least luke warm), or when
you just did it and lost your wudu somehow and you have to do it all
over again.
Or when you are in a strange place and don't like the look of the
washroom.
But when I feel that way, I always remember a television documentary
that I saw a long time ago. And I hope that when I tell you this story
you will remember it too and that it will strengthen your resolve
to do wudu properly, enthusiastically and with humility and gratitude.
The documentary was about foot binding in China. You may have heard
about it, it was a custom that was performed by women to make their
feet smaller and thus more attractive for men. It was even a prerequisite
to get married at all.
Foot binding was finally abandoned in the middle of the last century
after 1000 years.
Foot binding started at a young age, between 3 to 5 years because
at that age the feet were still flexible and the bones soft.
It is quite a horrible story but I still want to tell it otherwise
you will not understand what I like to convey.
The toes of each foot (except for the great toe) were curled under
the feet, and pressed downwards with great force into the sole of
the foot until the toes broke. The broken toes were then held tightly
against the sole of the foot while the foot was drawn down straight
with the leg and then the arch was thus broken as well. The binding
that was then applied pulled the ball of the foot and the heel closer
together, causing the broken foot to fold at the (freshly) broken
arch and pressing the (freshly) broken toes underneath.
Because the toe nails continued to grow and because of unsavory infections
the bindings had to be reapplied freshly on a regular basis, for rich
women at least once daily and for poor peasants two or three times
a week. You can imagine how painful that must be, the unbinding at
least as painful as the rebinding.
Here is where my story leads. The documentary showed Muslim women
with foot bindings. The Muslim Hui women bound their feet just like
other Chinese women at that time.
At the time of the documentary there were only a few women left in
China who had actual foot binding done to them at a young age. These
women, who were now in their eighties, talked about their feet and
about the pain they had to go through all their life. How in the time
of Mao the government forbid foot binding and how they were ordered
to wear regular shoes and to work in the fields. But to unbreak those
feet was as painful as the initial breaking in the beginning so they
hid their feet in regular shoes and still worked for hours a day in
the fields and carried heavy loads.
But because they were Muslim they had to do wudu, and the documentary
showed the women unbinding their feet and perform wudu, as they said
five times a day, every day.
Could you ever feel just slightly lax about performing wudu after
this story, I can't.
"O ye who believe! when ye prepare for
prayer, wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows;
Rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles. If
ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body. 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, and ye find no water,
then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your
faces and hands, Allah doth not wish to place you in a difficulty,
but to make you clean, and to complete his favour to you, that ye
may be grateful.
Al-Ma'ida, Sura 5, Ayah 6
September 2012
Wudu in pictures and words:
Islam1.org/how_to_pray/wudu.htm
More info about foot binding (Warning: there are some shocking pictures):
Factsanddetails.com/china.php
Npr.org/templates/story/