purification,

God has chosen certain acts for all of His Prophets and their followers to perform. These acts, are known as sunan al-fitra (acts required by human nature), are as follows:

Circumcision

This prevents dirt from getting on one's penis and also makes it easy to keep clean. The Shafi'i scholars maintain that it should be done on the seventh day, although it is permissible to do it later.

Impure Hair

Shaving pubic hairs and pulling out underarm hairs. Doing so is sunna. However, it is enough to trim or pull it out.

Personal Grooming

Clipping fingernails, trimming and shaving the moustache , and keeping the beard tidy. Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of God, upon whom be God's blessings and peace, said, "Five things are part of one's fitra: Shaving the pubic hair, circumcision, trimming the moustache, removing any underarm hair, and trimming the nails." (Muslim, "Tahara," 49) A moustache should not be so long that food particles, drink, and dirt accumulate in it. If one grows a beard, it should not be untidy.

Honoring and combing one's hair.Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, upon whom be peace, said: "Whoever has hair should honor it" (Abu Dawud, "Tarajjul," 3:4163). Cutting one's hair off is permissible, and so is letting it grow if one honors it.

Leaving gray hairs

Leaving gray hairs in place.This applies to both men and women. 'Amr ibn Shu'ayb related, on the authority of his father from his grandfather, that the Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, said: "Do not pluck the gray hairs, as they are a Muslim's light. A Muslim never grows gray in Islam except that God writes for him, due to that, a good deed, raises him a degree, and erases for him, due to that, one of his sins" (Ibn Hanbal, 2:179; Tirmidhi, "Adab," 56).

Dyeing one's gray hair.According to the accepted opini on, dyeing one's gray hair by using henna, red dye, yellow dye, and so on is permissible, provided that the dyes are religiously allowable.

Using perfume

Using musk and other perfumes that are free of alcohol and similar forbidden things is highly advisable, for they are pleasing to the soul and beautify the atmosphere.

Menstruation is a natural type of blood that flows at regular intervals from a woman's uterus after puberty. God has laid down certain rules in connection with this, as a concession to the woman, in consideration of her condition.

Menstruation usually lasts 3 to 10 days and nights, varying from woman to woman. Most women have a regular number of days for their monthly menstrual period. The number of days may fluctuate and the period might come a little early or a little late. So when a woman sees menstrual blood, she should consider herself to be menstruating. When it stops, she should consider herself clean. If more blood appears after her menstrual period has ended, but does not have the same color as menstrual blood, it should not be considered as menstruation

Post-childbirth bleeding is the blood that comes during and after childbirth. It may begin to come 2 or 3 days before delivery and be accompanied by labor pains. There is no minimum limit as to how long a woman will bleed, but generally the upper limit is within 40 days.

Women are prohibited from performing certain acts while they are in this condition, such as follows:

• She cannot pray (salat) after she begins to bleed and does not have to make up any missed prayers.
• She cannot observe any obligatory (Ramadan) or supererogatory fasts. She must make up the obligatory fasting days after regaining her ritual cleanliness. If bleeding begins during a supererogatory fasting day upon which she had intended to fast, she must make it up.
• She can do all pilgrimage rites except circumambulating the Ka'ba (tawaf).
• She should avoid mosques or places of worship, and cannot touch the Qur'an, whether the original or in translation. She cannot recite it from memory, but can read the verses of prayer and supplication with the intention of praying. (She cannot perform salat but can supplicate and recite the prayers mentioned in the Qur'an with the intention of saying prayers or making supplications.)
• A man cannot have sexual intercourse with his wife while she has post-childbirth bleeding, for she is not allowed to make herself available to him. However , he can kiss, hug, or touch her anywhere besides the pubic region. It is better and highly advisable to avoid the area between the navel and the knees.
• When a menstruating woma n stops bleeding, she must perform a complete ghusl (major ablution). After this, she must resume praying and fasting, can enter the mosque, make tawaf, recite the Qur'an, and engage in allowable sexual intercourse. She must make up the fasting days that she missed during Ramadan, but not the prayers. The same rules apply to women in post-childbirth bleeding.

Purifying the body and clothes. If these are contaminated, they must be washed with water until no impurity remains. This is especially so if the impurity is visible, such as blood. If some stains remain after washing, such as those that would be extremely difficult to remove, they can be overlooked. If the impurity is not visible, such as urine, wash and wring whatever it has contaminated three times. Purifying the ground. Purify the ground by pouring water over it. If the impurity is solid, the ground will become pure only by its removal or decay.

Purifying contaminated butter and similar substances. If a dead animal has fallen into a solid matter but has not swollen or disintegrated, whatever the corpse touches and what is around it must be thrown away, provided that one can make sure that it did not touch the rest of the matter. If it fell into a liquid substance, the majority say that the entire liquid becomes impure.

Purifying a dead animal's skin. Tanning purifies a dead animal's skin and fur. The Prophet said: "If the animal's skin is tanned, it is purified" (Muslim, "Hayz," 105).

Purifying mirrors and similar objects. Mirrors, knives, swords, nails, bones, glass, painted pots , and other smooth surfaces that have no pores are purified by removing the impurity.

1. If an unknown liquid falls on a person, there is no need to ask about it or to wash one's clothes.
2. If a person finds something moist on his or her body or clothes at night and does not know what it is, he or she does not need to smell it in order to identify it.
3. Clothes that have street mud on them do not have to be washed.
4. If a person finishes praying and sees some previously unseen impurity on his or her clothes or body, or was aware of but forgot about them, his or her prayer does not have to be repeated.
5. If a person cannot determine what part of his or her clothes contains the impurity, the whole garment should be washed, for "if an obligation can be fulfilled only by performing another related act, that act also becomes obligatory."
6. If a person mixes pure clothes with impure clothes (and cannot tell them apart), he or she should investigate the matter and pray once in one of the clothes.
7. It is not proper to carry something that has God's Name upon it while going to the bathroom, unless he or she is afraid of losing it or having it stolen.
8. One should not talk in the bathroom, respond to a greeting, or repeat what the muezzin is saying. One may speak if there is some necessity. In the event of sneezing, one should praise God silently by moving his or her lips.
9. One should neither face nor turn his or her back on the qibla while answering a call of nature, especially if in an open area.
10. One should seek a soft and low piece of ground to protect against any impurity. The Prophet said: "When one of you urinates, he should choose the proper place to do so."
11. One should avoid shaded places and places where people walk and gather.
12. One should not answer a call of nature in bathing places or in still or running water.
13. One should not urinate while standing, though some allow it.
14. One must remove any impurities from one's clothes and body after relieving oneself.
15. One should not clean himself or herself with the right hand.
16. One should remove any bad smell from one's hands after answering a call of nature.
17. One should enter the bathroom with the left foot, saying: "I seek refuge in God from noxious male and female beings (devils)," and exit with one's right foot, saying: "O God, I seek your forgiveness."
18. After a man has relieved himself, he should wait until the urine stops completely and make sure that none of it has fall en onto his clothes. This is called istibra (seeking full purification). Ibn 'Abbas related that the Messenger of God, upon him be God's blessings and peace, passed by two graves and said: "They are being punished, but not for a great matter (on their part). One of them did not clean himself from urine, and the other used to spread slander." (Tirmidhi, "Tahara," 53) To erase all doubt, the person should sprinkle his penis and underwear with water.

Wudu' involves washing with water at least once the usually exposed bodily parts, namely, the face, hands and arms up to (and including) the elbows, and feet, and wiping one-quarter of the head. It is obligatory for any obligatory or supererogatory prayer, circumambulating the Ka'ba, and touching the Qur'an with bare hands.

Wudu' is performed in the following manner:

1. Ensure that the water to be used is pure.
2. Intend to perform wudu' to offer prayer, if you plan to pray after taking it.
3. Recite: "Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim" (i.e., in the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate).
4. Wash the hands up to the wrists three times, and do not miss the parts between the fingers.
5. Clean your mouth with a brush or a finger, and gargle with water three times.
6. Rinse the nostrils with water three times.
7. Wash the face from the forehead to the chin and from ear to ear three times.
8. Wash the right arm followed by the left up to the elbows three times.
9. Wipe at least a quarter of the head with wet hands, pass the wet tips of the little fingers inside and the wet tips of the thumbs outside the ears, and pass the palms over the nape and sides of the neck.
10. Finall y, wash the feet up to (and including) the ankles, the right foot first and then the left, taking care to wash in between the toes, each three times. The obligatory acts are as follows:
11. Washing the face.
12. Washing both arms up to and including the elbows.
13. Wiping a quarter of the head with wet hands.
14. Washing both feet up to and including the ankles. The following acts nullify wudu':
15. Whatever comes out from the two private parts (front and back): waste matter, urine, wind, wadi (a thick white secretion discharged after urination), mazi (a white sticky fluid that flows from the sexual organs when thinking about sexual intercourse or foreplay, and so on), and prostatic fluid. Semen, menstrual blood, and post-childbirth blood require ghusl.
16. Emission of blood, pus, or yellow matter from a wound, boil, pimple, or something similar to such an extent that it flows beyond the wound's mouth.
17. Vomiting a mouthful of matter.
18. Physical contact for pleasure between men and women without any obstacle (e.g., clothes). If the head of one's penis disappears into a woman's vagina, ghusl is required.
19. Loss of consciousness through sleep, drowsiness, and so on.
20. Temporary insanity, fainting, hysteria, or intoxication.
21. Audible laughter during prayer.