A handy, simplified guide to how to perform ablution (wudhu) or tayammum.

How to Perform Wudhu and Tayammum

“O Believers! When you prepare for prayers, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet to the ankles … and [if you] do not find water then betake yourselves to clean earth and wipe your faces and your hands with it.” (Holy Qur'an: Chapter 5, Verse 6

Prior to performing the daily prayers, and as a recommended or obligatory prerequisite to other acts of worship, Muslims must purify themselves – this is usually done with water. The minor form of this purification with water is called Wudhu, while the major form is called Ghusl. If water is not available, the purification can be performed with clean earth or soil, and is called Tayammum.