# The Art of Wudu | Episode 1 | Secrets of Salah | The Hidden Gems of Prayer

**Author:** Dr. Omar Suleiman
**Series:** Secrets of Salah | Dhul Hijjah 2025
**Published:** 2025-05-27
**YouTube:** https://youtu.be/akS6IccgfKI
**URL:** https://yaqeeninstitute.org/watch/series/secrets-of-salah-dhul-hijjah-2025/the-art-of-wudu-episode-1-secrets-of-salah-the-hidden-gems-of-prayer
**Topics:** Acts of Worship, Faith

## Description
You bow. You rise. You whisper words you’ve said a thousand times. But what if every motion of salah held its own key to khushoo’? In this series, go deeper into the language, the postures, and the presence of salah. Join Dr. Omar Suleiman to spend the 10 days of Dhul Hijjah exploring the most...

## Transcript
**[0:00]** Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest

**[0:17]** Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi narrates in Sifat As-Safwa about a man that we already mentioned, Zayn Al-Abideen, Ali Ibn Al-Husayn (رضي الله عنه). Who was the great-great grandson of the Prophet (ﷺ). That he was once making wudu, or rather when he would be making wudu, his face would start to change colors.

**[0:39]** So it would become very pale, would become very yellow, as if he was very nervous about something. And so his family asked him, what's wrong? Why is it that the color of your face is changing when you're making wudu? And he responded and he said,

**[0:54]** Do you not realize in front of whom I intend to stand? Do you not realize in front of whom I intend to stand? Meaning his salah. Now I want you to think about the idea of bringing your khushu' to the point of your wudu.

**[1:12]** To actually start that anticipation of the meeting with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala from the time of your actual wudu. Not just the time of your salah. And this is exactly what we find in the habits of the righteous ones, the habits of the salihin.

**[1:27]** So as you wash yourself, you are preparing yourself for effectively what is your ihram. And the images of Hajj and Umrah are so vivid to us. And so they give us a visualization of what every single salah we go into actually looks like.

**[1:43]** Just like when you take your bath before you wear your ihram, and you prepare yourself for going to meet Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. You are bathing yourself, washing yourself in that process of wudu. Anticipating your meeting with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

**[2:00]** The same thing is true for death. When we prepare the body for death, we wash the body. And part of the ghusl of the dead is to basically perform what is its last wudu. But this time it will not pray for itself, but instead others will pray upon it.

**[2:19]** And so if you think about what that represents, it's disconnect from this world. That you're entering into a deep connection with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So whether you're going for Hajj and Umrah and having this new deep connection with Allah, or whether you are dying and entering into this entirely new connection with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

**[2:38]** It is a transformation of a state to a state, of a mindset to a mindset. And the physical washing of the body represents that transition. So you start with Bismillah. And you focus in your wudu on getting everything right.

**[2:55]** On making sure that you touch every single part of the body. That is due with what Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has commanded you with. And that again is a mindset. That I will not leave out the commands of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

**[3:10]** That everything that Allah Azza wa Jal tells me to do, Sami'na wa ata'na, we hear and we obey and I will not cut corners. And I want you to imagine as you enter into your wudu, if the Prophet (ﷺ) entered next to you and started to do wudu next to you.

**[3:25]** You know, if you're doing wudu and a great scholar was to walk in and to start doing wudu next to you, someone very righteous was to sit next to you while you were doing wudu in the wudu station. Imagine if it's the Prophet (ﷺ). And Abdullah ibn Amr (رضي الله عنهما) says that the Prophet (ﷺ),

**[3:41]** he passed by some people and as they were doing their wudu, they weren't getting their heels. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said, Waylul al-a'qab, woe to the heels. Waylul al-a'qab min al-nar, woe to the heels from the fire. Asbighu, asbighu, asbighu al-wudu.

**[3:59]** Which means to perform wudu in full. Asbighu al-wudu, asbighu al-wudu. Make sure that you're performing wudu in full. Do not neglect your wudu. What would the Prophet (ﷺ) tell you to be careful with? Would he say, you know, you didn't get your face fully.

**[4:14]** You didn't do your hair right. You didn't get your elbows. You didn't get your heels. What would the Prophet (ﷺ) say to you in this regard? And that famous hadith of Allah Azza wa Jal speaking to the Prophet (ﷺ) in a dream of his, when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala

**[4:30]** asked the Prophet (ﷺ), hal tadri fee ma yakhtasimul mal'u al-a'la? Do you know what the highest company, meaning the angels are arguing amongst themselves about? Qultu na'am, I said, yes.

**[4:46]** And it is fil kafarat, the things that expiate the deeds, the things that serve as atonements. And I was told by my Lord to say what they are. So al-kafarat al-mukthu fil masajid ba'da salawat,

**[5:02]** to stay in the masjid after a prayer, remembering Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And the second one that he mentioned (ﷺ), wal mashyu ala al-aqdami ila al-jama'at, to walk on your feet to the places of congregation.

**[5:19]** And the third thing the Prophet (ﷺ) said, wa isbaaghu al-wudu'i fil makarih, that it is to perform the wudu' fully in times of difficulty. Now you can imagine when it's very cold and all you have is hot water, or it's very hot and all you have is very cold water.

**[5:36]** Or if it's very cold and all you have is very cold water and it will only make you colder, but you still do your wudu'. The point is, is that you perform the wudu' to its fullest, even in the most difficult of conditions. And the Prophet (ﷺ) said,

**[5:52]** wa man fa'ala thalika 'aasha bikhayr, wa mata bikhayr, wa kana min khati'atihi kiyawmi waladathu ummuhu. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that whoever does these things will live in goodness and will die upon goodness and will be on that day

**[6:08]** forgiven for their sins, like the day that their mother gave birth to them. As you're doing wudu', you are washing away your sins in the full physical and literal sense. Your limbs will shine on the day of judgment. And SubhanAllah,

**[6:23]** when Allah tells us about our limbs testifying against us on the day of judgment, as the arm comes forward, as the leg comes forward, as the ear comes forward, as all of these limbs start to proceed, imagine if those limbs are shining with your wudu'

**[6:39]** as they come forward. And that is a sign of a deeper internal cleanse as well that you had with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So the actual act of wudu', the khushu' in wudu' is actually perfecting it. And that's why you'll notice as Imam An-Nawawi (رحمه الله)

**[6:56]** says, there's no narrated dhikr during the wudu' itself. You start with Bismillah and then you focus on the motions. And that is actually the khushu' of the wudu' to touch every part that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has commanded you to touch with the water that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has provided you with.

**[7:13]** And the intention is to wash the outward as well as the inward. And that's why Allah Azza wa Jal says, Inna Allah yuhibbu tawwabina wa yuhibbu al-mutatahireen. That verily Allah loves those who repent, meaning they internally wash themselves of sin. And Allah loves those who purify themselves.

**[7:30]** And of the narrated du'as from the Prophet (ﷺ) is that he would say after his wudu', Allahumma ja'alni minat tawwabina wa ja'alni minal mutatahireen. Allahumma ja'alni minat tawwabina wa ja'alni minal mutatahireen.

**[7:45]** Oh Allah make me from those who purify themselves internally through repentance and who purify themselves externally from filth. So you're asking Allah to remove from you the visible and the invisible filth.

**[8:00]** And so it's an expiation of sins, the internal and the external. Omar ibn al-Khattab (رضي الله عنه), he also narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said that there is no one of you who does wudu' and does it well. You see, you'll notice by the way,

**[8:15]** it's like when you take people to hajj, hajj means jannah and it's like the day that your mother gave birth to you. No, the Prophet (ﷺ) said that hajj al-mabroor, completed hajj, you're doing it right. So the Prophet (ﷺ) said there's no one who does wudu' and does it well. And then says afterwards, ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wahdahu la sharika lah

**[8:32]** wa ashhadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh Your shahada, just like you'll say it in your tashahhud. ashhadu anna muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluh Except that the eight gates of jannah will be opened for him

**[8:48]** and he will enter from whichever gate he wants. So SubhanAllah, you purify yourself of the sins and the scholars mentioned of the depth of that is that our sins are the barrier between us and Allah and his reward. And so if you purify yourself from those sins, then you no longer have a barrier.

**[9:04]** And so the gates will not shut for you bi-idhnillahi ta'ala but instead you will be called from all eight of them. Some of the scholars also mentioned that a person who is this careful with their wudu' certainly is also careful with their salah and careful with their fasting and careful with their zakah.

**[9:19]** That there is a sign in your attentiveness to wudu' of how you are attentive to everything else and a sign of a person's recklessness with wudu' and how they are reckless with everything else. And that's why the majority of the punishment of the grave

**[9:34]** are people that were reckless with their taharah, people that were reckless with their purification because that means that they certainly did not pay attention to anything that is beyond that. So forgiven for your sins, like the day your mother gave birth to you,

**[9:49]** purified internally and externally, called from all eight gates of Jannah. We haven't even gotten to the salah yet. So you are coming into a relationship with Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in which just like everything else, Allah precedes you with his ihsan,

**[10:04]** with his excellence before you even get to the moment. So the forgiveness has already been given to you. The Jannah has already been written for you before you even entered into the salah and you can ask Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala for those things. The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned,

**[10:19]** innahu layu ghanu ala qalbi that verily sometimes the heart becomes clouded with fog and that is the fog of heedlessness. And so you have the fog of heedlessness on the heart and you have the stain of sin on the limbs.

**[10:36]** You remove the stain of sin with your wudu' and then what wakes you out of that heedlessness, the Adhan. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

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