How do you make Wudu when traveling?

If you are traveling and the time of prayer is due, you would probably ask yourself the question of how I would make Wudu to perform the prayer.

Wudu is required before every prayer, and if you are traveling and do not have the opportunity to perform wudu or Ablution with water, you can make wudu as followed:

Touching the sand or a tayammum rock, and then applying the hand to the face

Touch the sand again and Sweep your hands to the elbows

This operation is named in arabic Tayammum, and it is a replacement of the Wudu that is performed with water.

Allah says in surah An-Nisa verse 43 “O believers! Do not approach prayer while intoxicated until you are aware of what you say, nor in a state of ˹full˺ impurity—unless you merely pass through ˹the mosque˺—until you have bathed. But if you are ill, on a journey, or have relieved yourselves, or been intimate with your wives and cannot find water, then purify yourselves with clean earth, wiping your faces and hands. And Allah is Ever-Pardoning, All-Forgiving.”

How to make wudu without water?

If for some reason it is not possible for you to perform ablution with water, you can perform Tayammum. Below you will find more information about the performance of Tayammum:

That the Muslim intends to make tayammum with soil by transferring it from his position to the body, even if this transfer is done by the action of another person, provided that this transfer is done with his permission, with the intention.

That the tayammum is performed by two impacts on the ground / Tayammum object; the first is for the face and the other is for the hands, according to the Shafi’is and the Hanafis, while the Maliki and Hanbali hold that the first impact is an obligation and the second impact is Sunnah. The reason for this is the difference in the general meaning of the verse tayammum, and the hadiths on the subject of the two slaps allowed are contradictory, and they agree on the need to remove any obstacle that prevents the dust from reaching the body that needs to be wiped, such as the presence of a seal. Because the dust is dense and does not flow like water, and the time for removal is when wiping, and the Malikis and the Hanafiyya believe that it is necessary to stain the fingers with the inside of the palm when wiping, unlike the Shafi’is and Hanbalis who said staining as a precaution. According to the Shari’ah, if he makes tayammum before removing the impurity, then it is not valid to make tayammum.

The one who performs tayamum should remove impurity from his body, because impurity does not make tayammum valid

What do you say when making wudu?

The Ablution does not have a prescribed prayer of supplication during the Wudu. Rather, it is prescribed to name God at the beginning and then perform the shahada.

Bismillah at the beginning, and is called out by God at the beginning when washing hands for ablution before rinsing the mouth and inhaling, or when rinsing and sniffling.

After that it is to be said, „I testify that there is no God but Allah alone and that He has no partner, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, O Allah, make me one of the repentant and make me one of the purified, glory be to you Allah and with Your praise I testify that there is no God but You„

How to make Wudu or Tayammum on an airplane?

Ablution is obligatory before performing prayer, but if for some reason it is not possible to do wudu with water on the plane, tayammum can be performed. Allah says in surah Al-Hajj 78:

“Strive for ˹the cause of˺ Allah in the way He deserves, for ˹it is˺ He ˹Who˺ has chosen you, and laid upon you no hardship in the religion”

The passenger can use the seat of the airplane to perform tayammum if there is dust on it, and if there is no dust on it, then he prays, even without washing, because he is not able to do so. Allah says in surah Al-Taghabun 16:

“So be mindful of Allah to the best of your ability, hear and obey, and spend in charity—that will be best for you. And whoever is saved from the selfishness of their own souls, it is they who are ˹truly˺ successful.”

But if he can land at the airport and perform wudu, it is better to postpone the prayer until arrival

How to do tayammum in the car?

Whoever was on a journey by car and could not find water for purification, then he should make an effort to look for water, and if he cannot find it, then he should perform tayammum and pray. If you made an effort to seek water and did not find it and prayed with tayammum, then the prayer is valid.

And whoever has the right to perform tayammum, and could not find any possibility to find water, he may perform tayammum with dust stuck in the car and the like, even if the dirt is not too much.

God knows better

How do you do tayammum without soil?

It is not necessary to perform ablution with dirt on the soil, but it is permissible to perform tayammum with dust on clothes, bedding, sponges, the wall, and so on. Taking into account the opinion of the majority of scholars in this regard, it is also permissible to perform ablution with marble or stones that do not have dust on them. Taking into account the saying of the Hanafis and Malikis who were settled with the requirement that the thing that is taken up must be of the family of the earth /soil or its parts that are produced by it, without that dust or dirt must be on these objects.