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Ritual purity

الطهارة

Ritual purity in the jurists' terminology is lifting the state of ritual impurity and removing filth with water or tayammum; the hadith of Abu Malik al-Ash'ari sets it in a sweeping faith-scale — 'purity is half of faith', transmitted by Muslim (223), worded 'the ablution is half of faith' in al-Tirmidhi's route and 'perfecting the ablution is half of faith' in Mu'awiya ibn Salam's route in Ibn Majah; within the same hadith it stands alongside the scale-filling praise, prayer as light, almsgiving as proof, patience as radiance and the Qur'an as argument, so that purity is one of the measures by which a servant's works are weighed on the Day of Resurrection, as Ibn Rajab's commentary presents it.

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At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
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Worship and the pillars

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Based on
Arba'un 23 — purity is half of faith

People and things also explored

Sabr (patience and steadfast endurance)Abu Malik al-Ash'ariArba'un 23 — purity is half of faithCommand, prohibition and capacityThe five pillars of IslamThe lawful, the unlawful and the doubtfulIslam (the religion and the term)Niyya (intention in deeds)

Sources

  • Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ritual purity”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/tahara/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.

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Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Sabr (patience and steadfast endurance)

Holding the soul to God's obedience, away from disobedience, and through His painful decrees; in the commentary on Ibn Abbas's counsel Ibn Rajab records that contentment is a recommended excellence while patience is binding upon the believer, God having commanded it and promised a vast reward, that in patience over what one dislikes lies much good since the affliction written upon the servant, borne patiently, yields much good — Amr mawla Ghafra's route adding 'if you can work for God with contentment in certainty then do, and if not, then in patience over what you dislike lies much good'; the servant needs God's aid for performing the commands, abandoning the forbidden and bearing all decreed things in the world, at death and through the terrors of the barzakh and resurrection — none can aid that but God, and whoever truly seeks His aid is aided, as in 'strive for what benefits you, seek God's help and do not flag'; 'victory is with patience' covers both jihads, the outward enemy and the inward — the patient triumphs and the fretter is captured or slain — and Ibn al-Mubarak's saying 'whoever is patient, how little he needs to endure, and whoever frets, how little he enjoys', followed by 'relief is with affliction' and 'with hardship is ease'.