Cleanliness is half of the faith

 

Cleanliness is half of faith

It is important here to understand what is meant by cleanliness. The Arabic word for cleanliness is Taharah which is generally considered as keeping our body, our dress, and our surroundings clean but what we mostly miss out on is the cleanliness of thoughts which is referred to as inner taharah. The above hadith states that cleanliness is half of faith, making us wonder if cleaning our bodies and clothes is enough to achieve half of faith. The answer is ‘certainly not’, we need to purify our thoughts, actions, and habits to complete our half of faith. Only then can we achieve closeness to Allah which is the ultimate goal of all actions.

[Sahih Muslim]

In Islam, cleanliness is considered half of faith. Muslims are encouraged to maintain cleanliness through regular ablution (wudu) before prayer and cleanliness of their body, clothes, and surroundings. This practice fosters a sense of purity and prepares an individual for spiritual connection and worship.

 It is said in the Holy Quran:

Truly, God Loves Those Who Turn Unto Him In Repentance And Loves Those Who Purify Themselves.

Let us now discuss how we can attain Taharah. Taharah is of two types:

1. Inner Taharah
2. Outer Taharah

Inner taharah is the purifying of our heart and thoughts and it is comparatively difficult to attain. It can be achieved by upholding the five pillars of Islam, having a clean and pure thinking process, avoiding sins, making a lot of dhikr, and especially making sure the heart is pure of spiritual maladies such as anger, hatred, relying on other than Allah, fear of loss of provision, antipathy toward death, wantonness, pride, arrogance, etc. To be close to Allah and to attain half of faith it is necessary to maintain inner taharah.

Outer taharah is easy to attain as it includes cleaning of the body from physical impurities using water. It mainly includes washing of hands and face with clean water or performing Ghusl i.e. washing of the entire body. It is necessary to perform outer Taharah before performing any of the religious obligations therefore Muslims are directed to perform ablution (wudhu) before all acts of worship. It is said in the Holy Quran:

O You Who Believe!  When You Intend To Offer The Prayer, Wash Your face and Your Hands (Forearms) Up To The Elbows, Wipe Your Head, And (Wash) Your Feet Up To The Ankles.  If You Are In A State Of Janaba Purify Yourself.

[QURAN 5:6]

Here purifying oneself is done by performing ghusl.

The Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w.w.) himself practiced cleanliness and compelled His companions to do the same. Jabir bin Abdullah states that:

‘The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.w.) came to visit us and saw a man who was wearing dirty clothes. He (s.a.w.w.)) said, “Could this person not find anything with which to wash his clothes”’

Allah (s.a.w.w.) saying:

He who eats onion and garlic and leek, should not approach our mosque for the angels are harmed by the same things as the children of Adam.

It is important to note here that cleanliness does not mean that one should wear a very expensive dress to look good, but the concept is to keep your body and your clothes free from all impurities. Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w.w.) himself, used to wear clothes that had patches all over them but were neat, clean, and graceful.

Abu Hurairah (r.a.) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.w.) said that a Muslim must take a bath (at least) once every day, and wash his head and body”.

“Have a bath on Fridays and wash your heads, even if you are not Junagad impurity Junagadh (impurity, e.g. following marital relations), and wear perfume.”