Tahaarat in the Salah

A person must have full Tahaarat (purity) for his Salah to be valid. That is, one must have both Ghusl and Wuzu. The essential thing in Ghusl is that one must wet the entire body in a way that no part remains dry. In addition, one must gargle the mouth and put water in the nostrils. For Wuzu, one should essentially wash the face, both arms up to the elbows, make Masah (passing of the wet hand over the head) of the head and wash the feet up to the ankles.

One must be careful and remain vigilant when performing Salah in certain Masjid because the Imams of certain Masjid do not wash their feet in Wuzu when they wear socks. They only make Masah that is they pass wet hand on the socks. We know that one has the right to make Masah on the sock in certain conditions. But the sock on which it is permissible to make Masah is a special sock made of leather. We are not allowed to do it on ordinary socks made of nylon or cotton etc. There are some Imams in some Masjid who do not respect this condition. They do it on ordinary socks. Thus, their Wuzu itself is not valid. That is why we should not perform Salah behind such Imams. A caring and responsible person cannot allow himself to give his child in marriage to someone on whom he has the slightest suspicion. How can a person who truly loves his Aakhirah act carelessly and lightly regarding his Salah? We should not forget that the first thing that we have to give account for is our Salah. Thus, one must be extremely careful about one's Salah.

As a precaution, we should avoid performing it in Masjid behind irresponsible Imams who do not wash their feet in Wuzu and who merely make Masah on their ordinary socks, while this is only allowed on some special socks under certain conditions.

[English version of "Tahaarat dans namaz" – Al Jamiat – Vol.7 No.1]