Can Muslims Offer Prayer (Namaz) Without Performing Wuzu/Ablution

There are five pillars of Islam and one of the important pillar of Islam is Prayer (Namaz). It is said that “Prayer (Namaz) is the pillar of Islam”. This quote defines the importance of prayer (Namaz) in Islam therefore to perform prayer it is compulsory to perform wudu/ablution. Wudu is the procedure of purifying the body before standing in front of Allah. In this article you will be able to identify whether you can perform prayer without wudu/ablution or not.

“O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful”. Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 6:

This verse of Holy Quran describes that wudu is important to perform Islamic rituals like prayer and Quran reading. The Holy Quran has clearly mentioned that it is obligatory to perform wudu before going to offer prayer. Allah’s Apostle said, “The prayer of a person who does, Hadath (passes, urine, stool or wind) is not accepted till he performs (repeats) the ablution.” A person from Hadaramout asked Abu Huraira, “What is ‘Hadath’?” Abu Huraira replied, “ ‘Hadath’ means the passing of wind from the anus.” Volume 1, Book 4, Number 137: Sahih Bukhari English Book Version

This quote of Holy Prophet is a clear message for those who think prayer is accepted without wudu. The Muslim scholars are unanimously agreed on these hadith and have clear stance on performing wudhu if your wudu breaks while performing prayer. There are many questions about offering prayer without wudu like, if someone is travelling on train or plane and he find no access to water then how can he perform wudhu. Allah always finds easy solutions to the problems of human kind so that everyone can benefit from it. Tayammum is one of the form of wudu/ablution in which you can perform wudhu if you don’t have access to the water. If someone is not feeling well or he/she is affected by some disease or he could not find ways to perform wudhu with water then he can perform tayammum to perform ablution/wudu.

To perform the right prayer it is obligatory to purify your body therefore you should learn wudu to perform prayer (Namaz). There are many sources available where you can learn wudu/ablution but we recommend you to use Kids Wudu Series for Android to learn the step by step procedure of Wudu/ablution. This application is helpful for the Muslims to learn the exact order of wudhu with details images and English language description.

Conclusion

Wudu is necessary part of performing Islamic rituals therefore Muslims should purify their body while performing prayers because it is not permissible in Islam to offer prayer without performing wudhu/ablution.