Tayammum

Tayammum (Arabic:التیمم) is a ritual act which becomes obligatory instead of Wudu or Ghusl. Its steps are: hitting the palms of both hands on soil and rubbing them on the forehead and the back of the hands. Fruits of Tayammum are like Wudu and Ghusl and has no difference with them regarding the purity it brings. Tayammum is also called Taharat Turabiyya (الطهارة الترابية).

Two verses of the Qur'an have mentioned the way of Tayammum and more than 220 hadiths are about Tayammum.

Meaning

The word "Tayammum" is derived from the root "y-m-m" (ي-م-م) or "A-m-m" (أ-م-م) which means "to intend" and in fiqh, it refers to the act of touching the forehead and the back of the hands. If Wudu or Ghusl is not possible, Tayammum replaces them. Tayammum is also called "Taharat Turabiyya" while Wudu and Ghusl are called "Taharat Ma'iyya" (الطهارة المائية).

Tayammum in the Qur'an and Hadiths

In two verses, the Qur'an refers to Tayammum and its rulings: verse 43 of sura al-Nisa' and verse 6 of sura al-Ma'ida.

In Wasa'il al-Shi'a and Mustadrak al-wasa'il, there are more than 220 hadiths about the manner and conditions of Tayammum.

Tayammum Instead of Wudu or Ghusl

One who cannot perform Wudu, needs to perform Tayammum instead of Wudu for doing things which require Wudu and one who cannot perform Ghusl, needs to perform Tayammum instead of Ghusl for doing things which require Ghusl. If Tayammum is done instead of Ghusl of Janabat and then one of the things which cancels Wudu (such as urinating or sleeping) happens, (if the person is still in a condition which requires Ghusl), for doing things like prayer, he needs to perform Wudu if he can, otherwise he has to perform Tayammum instead of Wudu. There are different opinions regarding sufficiency of Tayammum instead of Ghusl of Janabat instead of Wudu or Tayammum instead of Wudu.

These two Tayammum are different and some fiqh scholars believe that in Tayammum instead of Ghusl, one needs to hit the palms of his hands on soil twice, once at the beginning and once before rubbing the back of his hands.

Cases of the Obligation of Tayammum

• When there is not enough water available for Wudu or Ghusl.
• When there is enough water available for Wudu or Ghusl, but using it may consume the water the person or his companions needs for drinking.
• If consuming the available water causes death of his or others' animals.
• If the available water is not enough for removing Najasa (impurity) and Wudu or Ghusl is not enough. (different fatwas)
• If using Wudu or Ghusl is harmful for the body (a rational probability of harm is also enough.)
• When there is not enough time for Wudu or Ghusl.

Manner of Doing Tayammum

1. First the person needs to put the palms of hands on something which is alright for Tayammum having the intention of doing God's order (some authorities of emulation also require a small hit of hands, not just slowly putting the hands on the soil).
2. To rub the palms of both hands on the forehead from the line of growing hairs down to eyebrows (and on the eyebrows according to some fatwas). (Hairs of the head must not block the performance.)
3. The whole palm of left hand needs to be rubbed on the whole back of the right hand from the wrist to the tips of fingers.
4. The same as in step 3 needs to be done for the left hand as well.

Some authorities believe that before rubbing the hands (steps 3 and 4) one needs to hit his palms on the soil once again; and some believe that in addition to the four steps above, one needs to hit his palms on the soil once again and rub the back of his hands once more (i.e. repeats steps 1, 3 and 4).

Points

• In Tayammum, Muwalat is a condition; i.e. there should not be a long break between the steps.
• In Tayammum, the place to be touched should be still and the hands move on it.
• The limbs involved in Tayammum should be pure and there should be no obstacle on them. If it is not possible to remove an obstacle from the skins, Tayammum should be done in Jabira form.
• In normal conditions, one should not get help from another in performing Tayammum.
• Rubbing of hands on the nose is not necessary.
• After hitting the palms on the soil, they can be hit together so that the extra soil on them pours.
• It is necessary to remove the ring from the finger before Tayammum.

Things which are Alright to Make Tayammum On

According to the verse 6 of sura al-Ma'ida, Tayammum need to be done on "Sa'id" (سعيد), but there are different opinions among linguistics and thus among authorities whether "Sa'id" only refers to the soil or whatever which grows out of the earth.

According to some fatwas, Tayammum must be performed on soil as the first choice; if it was not available, it can be done on sand, gravel, clod, clay or stone (which has some dust on it).

There are different opinions about the permission of performing Tayammum on plaster, cement, brick, tile, etc.

What is going to perform Tayammum on needs to be pure and not illegally obtained.

Other Rulings

• Anything that nullifies Wudu can nullify Tayammum too and everything that nullifies Ghusl, can nullify Tayammum instead of Ghusl too.
• If for the lack of time, one does Tayammum instead of Ghusl (such as the moments before the call for prayer in the month of Ramadan), for doing other practices such prayer, the person needs to perform Ghusl.
• In case of absence of the issue because of which one has performed Tayammum, there are different fatwas about repeating the practices he has made if he still has purity if the time for performing that practice is not over; for example, if in the afternoon, one thinks that he will not find water and performs his prayer by doing Tayammum, but later he finds water, there are different fatwas about whether or not he has to repeat his prayer after performing Wudu or Ghusl.

References

• The material for this article is mainly taken from تیمم in Farsi WikiShia.