What are the conditions for cleaning? What are some general rules of cleaning? What is the term of cleaning?
In order to perform certain acts of worship, it is farḍ to clean the body, the clothes, and the place of worship from impurities. In the Qur’an, the Prophet was asked to “keep his clothes clean”[1] and Ibrahim and his son Ismail were told to “keep the Ka’ba clean”.[2] It is evident that if the cleanliness of the clothes and the place of worship is a prerequisite, the cleaning of the body must be considered even more of a requisite.
Therefore, both material and spiritual cleansing becomes an obligation for those who are obligated to perform the ritual prayer. For a person, the necessary conditions for such a cleansing to turn into an obligation are as follows:
1) Being a Muslim: Cleanliness is not obligatory for unbelievers. According to the Ḥanafis, because they do not have the basic requirement of the religion i.e. faith, they are not required to fulfill its practical aspects (furū‘āt). In the Hereafter, they will only be punished for not believing. However, according to the majority of the Muslim jurists, the unbelievers are also subject in the Hereafter to the secondary acts of worship in this world. Moreover, just as the prayer that an unbeliever may offer is not valid, for the same reason, it is not mandatory for an apostate to make up the prayers that he did not perform until he returns to Islam and misses the prayers while being a Muslim. Only the Shafiʿis argue that such an apostate person who returned to Islam is still obliged to make up the prayers missed while he was not a Muslim.
2) Being sane: Cleansing is not obligatory for the mentally ill or the unconscious. Liability only begins if such an individual recovers. On the other hand, if someone is drunk, the obligation to be cleansed is not waived.
3) Reaching the age of puberty: Purification is not obligatory upon a minor child. However, purification is ordered along with the ritual prayer for children from the age of seven. If the child abandons purification and the prayer when he turns ten, he is to be reprimanded.
4) The cessation of menstrual and postpartum bleeding.
5) The beginning of the time of worship
6) The absence of the state of sleep.
7) The absence of the state of forgetting. Sleeping and forgetting are considered valid excuses for the delay of purification and the performance of an act of worship. The Prophet said: “Whoever sleeps or forgets and does not pray because of it, let him pray when he remembers it.”[3]
8) Not to be under duress. The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: “Verily, Allah has forgiven for my nation their mistakes and forgetfulness, and what they are forced to do.”[4]
9) The availability of water or clean soil. Purification is essentially done with water. However, in cases where water is not available or cannot be used, it is necessary to remove the impurity in other ways and perform dry ablution (tayammum).
[1] Al-Muddaththir, 74: 4. [2] Al-Baqara, 2: 125. [3] Abū Dawūd, Salat, 11; Ibn Maja, Salat, 10; al-Nasā’ī, Mawāqīṭ, 53. [4] Al-Bukhari, Ṭalaq, 11, ʿIlm, 44, Shurūṭ, 12, Anbiya, 27; Ibn Maja, Ṭalaq, 16-20.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ʿilmi ḥāl) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications