Istinjāʾ and Istibrāʾ

Two technical terms describe what follows: istinjāʾ and istibrāʾ. Istinjāʾ is the Muslim habit — a compulsory habit — of washing oneself after relieving oneself in the toilet. Cleansing must be thorough and absolute, until the heart itself is content that the area concerned has been properly cleansed. Where water is abundant, as it is in this day and age, wiping with paper alone does not make a thing clean; it must be washed. Where none is available — somewhere in the mountains, say, or stuck out in the bush — different rules apply, and stones, or some other material, may be used instead, excepting bones and certain other materials the Sharīʿah prohibits, for reasons of its own that are valid. But istinjāʾ, in one form or another, must be made.

Every Muslim house ought to keep a ṭahārah bottle; it is a shock, the shock of a lifetime, to walk into the house of an otherwise practising Muslim and find that there is not a single thing there with which to wash. On going to the bathroom a ṭahārah bottle is needed, and washing after the toilet — whether for the lesser need or the greater — is done with the left hand, never the right.

Islam is such a beautiful religion, a complete religion: it caters for every single need and covers every single aspect of human life. Going to the toilet is part of the religion — yes — and cleansing oneself afterwards is equally part of the religion — yes — because this dīn is a dīn of cleanliness. Al-ṭuhūru shaṭru al-īmān, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says: cleanliness is part of the religion, half of the religion. Al-naẓāfatu mina al-īmān: cleanliness and hygiene are likewise part of faith.