Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Doing vazoo is cleaning / preparing oneself before namaz. So does a bath with praying the vazoo dua constitute clean? Or are there more reasons for reciting vazoo dua before praying?

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Dua while performing Wudu

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 6:O believers, when you rise to offer the salaat, you must wash your faces and hands and arms up to the elbows, and wipe your heads with wet hands, and wash your feet up to the ankles. And if you have become unclean (because of sexual intercourse), then cleanse yourselves with a full bath. If, however, you are sick or are on a journey, or if any of you have relieved yourself, or if you have ‘touched’ women and you cannot find water, then cleanse yourself with pure dust; strike your palms on it and wipe your hands and faces with it. Allah does not will to make life hard for you, but He wills to purify you and complete His blessings upon you so that you may show gratitude.

The full bath (ghusl) is a bigger form of purification than the ‘wudu’ itself; thus one need not to do ‘wudu’ again after one has taken a full bath to purify himself. The Messenger of Allah (saws) used to purify himself after ‘janaba’ (sexual intercourse) by washing his private parts first, then doing the wudu, and then taking a full bath. That is the Sunnah way of purification.

There is no particular dua the Prophet of Allah (saws) used to pray while doing ‘wudu’, except to make intention of purification and starting his ‘wudu’ by uttering ‘Bismillah’. Other than that he (saws) did not pray any particular dua while washing his face, hands, arms, or feet, etc. Thus the believers who wish to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws) should also do likewise and do the ‘wudu’ as taught by the Prophet (saws). There is no special dua taught by the Prophet (saws) while doing ‘wudu’, or while washing any of the parts of the body while doing the ‘wudu’, except to make an intention (in the heart) and starting the ‘wudu’ by saying ‘Bismillah’.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan