Ritual ablution

Before conducting prayers, a Muslim has to perform a ritual ablution.

The minor ablution is performed using water (wudu), or sand (tayammum) when water is unavailable or not advisable to use for reasons such as sickness.

Wudhu in Shi'ism is done according to the instructions of Allah given in the Qu'ran^{[Qur'an 5:6]}:

"O you who believe! when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles; and if you are under an obligation to perform a total ablution, then wash (yourselves) and if you are sick or on a journey, or one of you come from the privy, or you have touched the women, and you cannot find water, betake yourselves to pure earth and wipe your faces and your hands therewith, Allah does not desire to put on you any difficulty, but He wishes to purify you and that He may complete His favor on you, so that you may be grateful."

In Sunni Islam, wudu consists of washing the hands, mouth, nose, arms, face, ears, forehead, hair (often washing the hair is merely drawing the already wet hands from the fringe to the nape of the neck) and feet three times each in that order. (It is not obligatory to wash the hair three times, once is sufficient, and men must also wash their beards and mustaches when washing the face) though there are several differences in way wudhu is performed between the four accepted Sunni madhabs.