Cleanliness in Islam

to Him in repentance and purify themselves” (2:222). Just as repentance frees body and soul of worldly moral dross, so does water remove impurities from body and clothing. Islam, accordingly, exhorts every Muslim, on the one hand, to keep his clothes and body clean with water and, on the other to turn in remembrance to God, thus purifying his soul. The Mosque, the focal point of Islamic life, is called in a hadith the “home of the pious people.” As the Qur’an puts it: “There you shall find men who would keep pure. God loves those who purify themselves” (9:108). We are asked, therefore, to clean the mosque, ridding it of noise and dust, just as Abraham and Ishmael have enjoined “to cleanse Our House (the Kabah) for those who walk around it, who meditate in it, and who kneel and prostrate themselves,” (2:125). Following the examples of the sanitizing of the mosque, Muslims are urged to keep their bodies pure by ablution and bathing, their clothes clean by regular washing and their houses and their surroundings spotless. These practices are incumbent upon every Muslim. According to a hadith, the Prophet Muhammad said, “God is pure and loves purity,” which means that cleanliness and purity are on the highest scale of cardinal virtues. What God loves is undoubtedly of supreme value. Every Muslim must, in consequence, lead a life marked by its cleanliness and purity in order to earn the approval of his Creator.