Keeping
Clean

One of the things that people can easily forget is to keep themselves clean.

Some people think that keeping clean is a waste of time.

Some people think that washing or having a shower or a bath is a nasty feeling.

Some people don't care if they smell bad to other people.

Some people think that being dirty is not their problem.

They don't think that being dirty does them any harm.

There was a time when people thought that washing was bad for you.

They thought that it made you weak.

They didn't know about germs.

Nowadays we know that dirt can make you ill.

That's why people in operating theatres wash so carefully.

We use water to clean the dirt off ourselves.

But of course we have to keep the water clean!

We also have to know the difference between different kinds of dirt.

One kind of dirt is specially dangerous to our health,

the kind of dirt that we get rid of when we go to the toilet.

That kind of dirt is poisonous to us.

That is why our bodies need to get rid of it.

In Makkah, 1400 years ago, there wasn't a lot of water.

It was in the middle of a fiercely hot desert and people thought that washing was a very silly idea.

So when Muhammad and the Muslims that followed him started to pray in the special way that God had told him,

and before they prayed they carefully washed themselves,

the other people made fun of them.

But the Muslims knew that God knows what is best for people.

After all, God made them!

So they knew that if Muhammad told them they should wash before their Sala,

then it must be good for them, whether people laughed or not.

And he told them that a most important part of their washing was that when they went to the toilet they should wash the parts where the dirt came out from inside them.

God knew better than the people making fun of them how important it was for people to keep themselves clean.

But obviously there is more to being clean than just washing away our dirt at the toilet,

and Muhammad taught those who followed him a special way of washing before making Sala,

and that special washing is known by the Arabic word Wudhu.

But for more about that you have to go up a level!