Wudu, or ablution, is an act in Islam in which specific parts of the body are cleansed before doing prayers and other acts of worship. This ritual cleansing brings with it purification of the body and mind alike and a feeling of spirituality. The beginning is to learn how to make wudu for Muslims’ daily prayers, starting with steps in making wudu:
Step 1: Make Your Intention (Niyyah)
Before you start doing it literally, let there be a real intention in your mind that you are doing wudu to purify your body for Allah. This is a thought and not a spoken word because it’s an attentive realization that you are preparing yourself to worship Allah.
Step 2: Start with ‘Bismillah
Begin by saying “Bismillah,” that is, “In the name of Allah.” This is the initialization for the purification since you will now fix your mind on God, reminding yourself that this wudu is destined for a purpose.
Step 3: Rub Wudu Water Over Your Hands Three Times
Start with three washes of both hands up to the wrists from right to left. Make sure to clean up all gaps between the fingers and nail holes. All impurities that may affect further wudu are removed from the hands first.
Step 4: Wudu of Mouth, Three Times
Take a small quantity of water with your right hand and gargle three times. Every time, swish the water around to cleanse the mouth from impurities or particles of food.
Step 5: Nasal Irrigation (Three Times)
In the next step, you suck small droplets of water into your right hand by sucking, and then you blow out using your left hand. It is done thrice to clean impurities from the nose.
Step 6: Face wash (Three Times)
Scrub your entire face, front-to-back from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the chin and side-to-side from one ear to the other. Repeat three times, washing all parts of the face. Don’t forget any of them since total cleansing signifies purifying for purity of intention in praying.
Step 7: Washing the Arms to the Elbows (Three Times)
Beginning from the right arm, begin rubbing it from the fingertips up to and covering the elbows. Do this thrice on both arms, rubbing every part of it, including between the fingers. That’s where strength and determination come in for worship.
Step 8: Wipe over the head (once)
Wash your hands, then draw both hands back and wipe over your face. Then draw your hands from the top of your forehead to the nape of the neck, then return, four times. This is done once and represents purification of the mind in preparation for prayer.
Step 9 Clean the Ears Once
Using the index fingers, you clean inside both ears and the thumbs behind them with the wetness on your hands. This is done once and means awareness and readiness to listen to guidance.
Step 10: Wash the Feet Up to the Ankles three times
Finally, wash your right foot up to the ankle three times then the left, making sure that you wash between the toes. Clean feet signify being prepared to walk in righteousness.
Conclusion
Uttered after wudu is preferred, saying, “Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lahu, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh” (I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and He has no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger). It is the answer to how to make wudu.