Fiqh Jaffari for Kids: Taharat, Wudu, Ghusl and Tayammum

What is Fiqh? Growing up, Bulugh and Taqlid

مَا هُوَ الْفِقْه؟ الْبُلُوغُ وَالتَّقْلِيد

فقہ کیا ہے؟ بلوغ اور تقلید

Allah gave us a beautiful way to live. Fiqh is the knowledge of its rules: how to pray, how to keep clean, what to eat, how to treat people. The Shia school of Fiqh is called Fiqh Jaffari, after Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (A.S.), who taught these rules to thousands of students. He did not invent them; he taught the Islam of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.W.) that he received from his fathers.

Bulugh: when the rules become your duty

Children are learning and practising. When a child reaches bulugh (becomes baligh), the rules become their own duty, called taklif. According to Ayatollah al-Sistani, a girl becomes baligh when she completes nine lunar years (about eight years and nine months on our usual calendar). A boy becomes baligh when he completes fifteen lunar years (about fourteen years and seven months), or earlier if one of the other signs of bulugh appears; your parents will explain these when the time comes.

Taqlid: following a Marja

Working out the rules from the Quran and hadith needs many years of study. A scholar who can do it is called a mujtahid. The rest of us follow a living, qualified mujtahid in the practical rules; this is called taqlid, and the mujtahid we follow is our Marja. Many Shia families follow Ayatollah al-Sistani, whose rulings this book uses.

Five kinds of rule

• Wajib: we must do it, like the five daily prayers.
• Haram: we must not do it, like lying or eating pork.
• Mustahab: good to do, with extra reward, like smiling at people or using a miswak.
• Makruh: better to avoid, like wasting water in wudu.
• Mubah: allowed, like playing football.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: taqlid; Question and Answer on bulugh (sistani.org).

Pak and najis: the ten najis things

الطَّاهِرُ وَالنَّجِس: النَّجَاسَاتُ الْعَشَر

پاک اور نجس: دس نجس چیزیں

In Islam, being clean is more than looking tidy. Some things are najis (impure). If they touch our body or clothes while wet, we must wash them before we pray. Everything else is pak (also called tahir), and a very useful rule is this: everything is pak unless you know for sure that it is najis. We do not need to worry about things we only imagine.

The ten najis things

How najasat spreads

Najasat passes from one thing to another only when there is wetness that moves between them. If a dry hand touches a dry najis thing, the hand stays pak. If either one is wet, the hand becomes najis and must be washed.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: impurities (Ruling 80 and the sections that follow).

How things become pak again (Mutahhirat)

الْمُطَهِّرَات

مطہرات: چیزیں دوبارہ کیسے پاک ہوتی ہیں

Allah made it easy to become pure again. The things that purify are called mutahhirat. Ayatollah al-Sistani lists twelve; here are the ones children use most.

1. Water

Pure, ordinary water (not juice or rose water) is the main purifier. First remove the najasat itself, for example wipe away the dirt or blood. Then wash the place with water:

• Under a tap connected to the main supply, washing once is usually enough. Clothes or a body made najis by urine are washed twice.
• With water poured from a jug or bottle, wash once and let the water run off; for urine on clothes or the body, wash twice. Clothes washed this way are wrung out so the water comes out.
• The inside of a cup or pot is washed three times.
• If a dog licks a dish, first scrub it with pure soil, then wash it twice with water.

2. Earth

If the sole of your foot or shoe became najis from najis ground, walking on dry, pure earth (soil, stone or brick, not a carpet or grass) until the najasat is gone makes it pak.

3. The sun

The sun purifies the ground, walls and buildings when they are wet with najasat that has already been removed, and the sunshine itself dries them completely.

4. Change (Istihalah)

When a najis thing completely turns into something else, it becomes pak. For example, najis wood that burns to ash.

5. Islam

When a person who did not believe becomes a Muslim, he or she becomes pak.

6. Removing the najasat from an animal

If an animal's body, for example a cat's mouth, gets najasat on it, it becomes pak once the najasat is gone. No washing is needed.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: purifying agents; water (Rulings 144–171); earth (Ruling 177); the sun (Ruling 185).

Toilet manners: Istinja and keeping clean

آدَابُ التَّخَلِّي وَالِاسْتِنْجَاء

بیت الخلا کے آداب اور استنجا

Using the toilet is something everyone does, and Islam teaches us to do it with good manners and cleanliness. Cleaning yourself afterwards is called istinja.

The rules

• Cover your private parts from everyone who can see, except your own husband or wife when you are grown up. Even a hand is enough to cover.
• Do not face the Qibla, and do not turn your back to it, while using the toilet (an obligatory precaution). When choosing where a toilet goes in a new house, families keep this in mind.
• After urinating, only water makes the place pak. Washing once is enough; washing twice or three times is even better.
• After stool, wash with water until no trace is left. If the stool has not spread beyond the outlet, you may instead use pure, dry tissue, stone or cloth until clean (three pieces are better). Water is better.
• Never use paper that has the name of Allah, the Prophets or the Imams on it.

Istibra for boys

After urinating, boys are taught a short way of making sure no drops are left, called istibra. It is recommended, and it helps: any drop that comes out later is then pak and does not break wudu. Your father or teacher will show you the steps.

Recommended manners

• Enter with the left foot and come out with the right foot.
• Do not talk without need, and do not take a mushaf or anything with Allah's name inside.
• Wash your hands well afterwards.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: laws relating to emptying the bowels and bladder (Rulings 53–66); istibra; recommended and disapproved acts.

Wudu step by step

الْوُضُوء

وضو کا طریقہ

Wudu is the special washing we do before Namaz, before touching the writing of the Quran, and at other times. The Quran itself tells us its steps: wash the face and arms, and wipe (masah) the head and feet.

Before you start

Make sure the parts of wudu are pak and that nothing such as nail polish, paint or thick cream stops water reaching the skin. It is mustahab to wash your hands and rinse your mouth and nose first.

The steps

• Niyyah: intend in your heart, “I am doing wudu to come close to Allah.” You do not have to say it aloud.
• Wash the face from where the hair grows on the forehead down to the bottom of the chin, and as wide as your thumb and middle finger can stretch. Wash from top to bottom.
• Wash the right arm from the elbow down to the fingertips. Start a little above the elbow to be sure. Washing upwards makes the wudu invalid.
• Wash the left arm the same way.
• Wipe the head: with the wetness left on your right hand, wipe the front quarter of the head, above the forehead, moving the hand (not the head). Do not take new water.
• Wipe the feet: with the wetness left on your hands, wipe the top of the right foot from the tips of the toes up to the ankle joint, then the left foot. It is recommended to use the right hand for the right foot and the left hand for the left. Wiping over socks or shoes is not allowed.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: wudu and its method (Rulings 235–258).

What breaks wudu, and the conditions of wudu

مُبْطِلَاتُ الْوُضُوءِ وَشُرُوطُه

مبطلاتِ وضو اور وضو کی شرائط

The seven things that break wudu

• Urinating.
• Passing stool.
• Passing wind.
• Sleeping so deeply that the eyes see nothing and the ears hear nothing.
• Anything that takes away the mind, such as fainting.
• Istihadah, a kind of bleeding for women, which girls learn about when they are older.
• Janabah, which makes ghusl wajib (chapter 7).

Things that do not break wudu include a nosebleed, a cut, vomiting, laughing and eating. (Some of them make your body najis, so wash the place, but your wudu stays.)

Conditions for a valid wudu

• The water is pak and ordinary water (mutlaq), not juice or rose water.
• The water is not stolen; you have permission to use it.
• The parts of wudu are pak, and nothing blocks the water from the skin.
• You keep the order: face, right arm, left arm, head, feet.
• You keep it continuous: do not wait so long that the earlier parts dry before you finish.
• You do it yourself, unless you are unable.
• Using water will not harm you, and there is enough time to do wudu and pray in time. Otherwise, tayammum is done instead (chapter 8).

Doubts about wudu

If you are sure you made wudu, and only doubt whether something broke it, your wudu is still valid. If you are sure something broke your wudu, and doubt whether you made a new one, make wudu again.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: conditions for the validity of wudu; things that invalidate wudu (Ruling 322).

Ghusl: the full bath of worship

الْغُسْل

غسل کا طریقہ

Ghusl means washing the whole body with the intention of coming close to Allah. Some ghusls are wajib in certain situations, mostly after bulugh. Many others are mustahab, such as the ghusl of Friday, which children can practise.

The seven wajib ghusls

Ghusl Tartibi: washing in order

• Niyyah: intend the ghusl to come close to Allah.
• Head and neck first, making sure water reaches the skin and the roots of the hair (an obligatory precaution to do these first).
• Then the rest of the body. It is better to wash the right side first, then the left.

In a shower, step out of the water, make the niyyah, then begin with the head, so the washing is done with the intention of ghusl.

Ghusl Irtimasi: all at once

With the niyyah, the whole body goes under the water, for example in a deep pool of pure water, so that the water covers it all.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: obligatory ghusls; the ghusl for janabah (Rulings 356–359); sequential ghusl (Ruling 360); ghusl for touching a corpse (Ruling 518).

Tayammum: when water cannot be used

التَّيَمُّم

تیمم کب اور کیسے

When do we do tayammum?

The risalah lists seven situations. The main ones are:

• There is no water, or not enough for wudu or ghusl.
• Using water would harm you, for example make an illness worse.
• The water is needed for drinking, for you or others.
• Getting the water would be very hard or dangerous.
• There is not enough time: by doing wudu or ghusl the prayer would go past its time.

What we do tayammum on

Tayammum is done on things counted as earth: soil, sand, a clod of earth, pebbles or stone. It must be pak and not stolen. Smooth stone with no dust on it is not used, as an obligatory precaution.

How to do tayammum

• Niyyah: intend tayammum instead of wudu (or ghusl) to come close to Allah.
• Strike both palms on the earth together.
• Wipe the forehead with both palms, from where the hair grows down to the eyebrows and the top of the nose.
• Wipe the back of the right hand with the left palm, from the wrist to the fingertips.
• Wipe the back of the left hand with the right palm the same way.

It is recommended to strike the earth a second time and wipe the backs of both hands again.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: cases of tayammum; things with which tayammum is valid (Ruling 673 onwards); method of tayammum (Rulings 689–690).

Our duties: parents, halal food and modesty

بِرُّ الْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالطَّعَامُ الْحَلَالُ وَالْحِجَاب

والدین، حلال کھانا اور حیا

Kindness to parents

Allah mentions kindness to parents straight after worshipping Him. The same verse tells us not even to say “uff” to them. We speak gently, help at home, obey them in everything that is not a sin, and pray for them.

Halal and haram food

• Pork and anything from a pig is haram, and so are wine and every drink that makes people drunk, even a little.
• Meat from animals like sheep, cows, goats and chickens is halal only when the animal was slaughtered the Islamic way (zabiha) by a Muslim. That is why we ask whether meat is zabiha.
• Fish is halal only if it is a kind that has scales. Prawns (shrimp) are halal. Crab, lobster and shellfish such as mussels are not.
• Food that has become najis must not be eaten until it is made pak.
• We say “Bismillah” before eating and thank Allah after.

Hijab and modesty

Modesty (haya) is for everyone. Boys and men dress modestly and lower their gaze. From bulugh, a girl covers her body and hair in front of men who are not her mahram (close relatives such as her father, brothers and uncles). The face, and the hands up to the wrists, may stay uncovered. Many girls start practising earlier so it feels natural.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: eating and drinking; slaughtering animals; looking and covering.

Khums and Zakat: why we give

الْخُمُسُ وَالزَّكَاة

خمس اور زکوٰۃ: ہم کیوں دیتے ہیں

Everything we have is a gift from Allah. Giving part of it back helps people in need, keeps our hearts generous and purifies our wealth. Two kinds of giving are wajib for adults who have the money: khums and zakat.

Khums

Once a year, a grown-up who earns money looks at what is left over after the year's expenses, and gives one fifth of it. Half, called Sahm al-Sadat, helps poor Sayyids, the family of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.W.). The other half, Sahm al-Imam, is given to the Marja or his representative, who spends it on what Imam al-Mahdi (A.T.F.S.) would be pleased with, such as schools and mosques.

Zakat

Zakat is wajib on nine things when they reach a certain amount: wheat, barley, dates and raisins; gold and silver coins; and camels, cows and sheep or goats. The Quran (9:60) names who receives it, including the poor and needy.

Fitrah and sadaqah

At the end of Ramadan, the head of the family gives Zakat al-Fitrah for everyone in the home, about 3 kg of food each, or its value. You can read more in our guide to fasting and Fitrah. Any extra charity, even a smile, is sadaqah, and children can give it every day.

Rulings: Islamic Laws, Ayatollah al-Sistani: khums; zakat; Zakat al-Fitrah.