(a.), lit. “cleansing”, the minor ablution, purification from a minor source of impurity ( ḥadat̲h̲ ), obligatorily required for the performing of certain acts of the Islamic religion, including worship [see Ṣalāt ]. For the major ablution, see g̲h̲usl .

Together with worship, almsgiving, fasting and pilgrimage, purification ( ṭahāra ), or the fact of putting oneself in a state of purity ( ṭuhr ), is one of the five cultic acts ( ʿibādāt ) that make up, according to the religious lawyers, the bases ( uṣūl ) of Islam (see Abū Muḥammad al-D̲j̲uwaynī, Tabṣira , Beirut 1994, 20). The enormou…