Why wudu?

[HOPE]

Salaam all,


Why is wudu  prescribed before salat?  Some claim that since we are in the presence of God we need to be respectful by being clean.  I personally never feel clean by just wetting my face and arms without soap.  Never tried the soil method; it sounds even worse for cleaning purposes.  The answer seems to be scientific.

Quantum theory   taught us the wave/particle duality.  Very simply put, energy and matter interact.  Mass and energy are interchangeable.  Matter gets rid of its mass if it travels with the speed of light and becomes energy.  When energy congeals or slows down, it becomes inactive and materializes.

Every thought is a pulse of energy generated by the brain.  Human body also generates static electricity.  We can get super charged due to wearing certain fabrics.  Low humidity also leads to static build up in the body.  It needs to be grounded to neutralize the bio-electrical stress from the static electricity.

Water and soil rich in minerals  are good conductors for release.

During salah, head, face, hands are not usually covered  and the static electricity  buildup  on the skin  may interfere with the bio-electrical communication between us and the recorders that we salute on the right and left.

What do you think?  Makes sense to me.  I read this in Turkish written by a professor of neurology, Gazi özdemir.  His book is named Brain and Religion.  Couldn’t find it in English.  It is not a translation, just my understanding.

[Orange]

http://quransmessage.com/articles/wudu%20FM3.htm

[HOPE]

salam orange,

appreciate your reply; yet the question was 'why' rather than 'how'.  If you are trying to say [because God said so], no arguments from me. 

[Truth Seeker]

Salaam,


I think that the answer lies in 5.6 where it states:

"... 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."

Thanks

[HOPE]

Salam,

Thanks.  Are you emphasizing the notion that the inconvenience of wudu should not be perceived as a hardship but as a nimatullah?  Since blessings  lead (should) to the human act of gratitude.  14/7  if you give thanks, I will give you more.  Then it becomes the spiritual purification rather than the physical.

[Truth Seeker]

Salaam...

yes it is a spiritual preperation before praying. I feel that it helps us mentally focus before we stand in front of our Lord.

Thanks

[Wakas]

salaam,

Generally speaking:

if one is going to be in the presence of others, then it is best to be clean.

when one is clean one feels more fresh, perhaps concentrate better.

cleansing oneself with water etc is good hygeine practice.

recommending cleaning by water places an emphasis of being close to a water supply, access etc.

purifying with clean soil can and likely does reduce germ-load on hands etc (try it yourself, put ketchup on your hands, go to the beach and rub them in sand - after, do you have less ketchup on your hands?)

following a routine in preparation for something can lead to priming/tuning the mind for that task.

etc
etc.

[HOPE]

Salaam Wakas,
 
Quran says keep your homes clean and your clothes clean when in mosques.  It seems it is left to the individuals or cultures to define what cleanliness means.  Here is a history of human physical cleanliness:

"The origins of personal cleanliness date back to prehistoric times. Since water is essential for life, the earliest people lived near water and knew something about its cleansing properties - at least that it rinsed mud off their hands.  A soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soapmaking was known as early as 2800 B.C. Inscriptions on the cylinders say that fats were boiled with ashes, which is a method of making soap, but do not refer to the purpose of the "soap." Such materials were later used as hair styling aids.
Records show that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500 B.C., describes combining animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to form a soap-like material used for treating skin diseases, as well as for washing
At about the same time, Moses gave the Israelites detailed laws governing personal cleanliness. He also related cleanliness to health and religious purification. Biblical accounts suggest that the Israelites knew that mixing ashes and oil produced a kind of hair gel.
The early Greeks bathed for aesthetic reasons and apparently did not use soap. Instead, they cleaned their bodies with blocks of clay, sand, pumice and ashes, then anointed themselves with oil, and scraped off the oil and dirt with a metal instrument known as a strigil. They also used oil with ashes. Clothes were washed without soap in streams.
Soap got its name, according to an ancient Roman legend, from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. Rain washed a mixture of melted animal fat, or tallow, and wood ashes down into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women found that this clay mixture made their wash cleaner with much less effort.
The ancient Germans and Gauls are also credited with discovering a substance called soap, made of tallow and ashes, that they used to tint their hair red.
As Roman civilization advanced, so did bathing. The first of the famous Roman baths, supplied with water from their aqueducts, was built about 312 B.C. The baths were luxurious, and bathing became very popular. By the second century A.D., the Greek physician, Galen, recommended soap for both medicinal and cleansing purposes.
After the fall of Rome in 467 A.D. and the resulting decline in bathing habits, much of Europe felt the impact of filth upon public health. This lack of personal cleanliness and related unsanitary living conditions contributed heavily to the great plagues of the Middle Ages, and especially to the Black Death of the 14th century. It wasn't until the 17th century that cleanliness and bathing started to come back into fashion in much of Europe. Still there were areas of the medieval world where personal cleanliness remained important. Daily bathing was a common custom in Japan during the Middle Ages. And in Iceland, pools warmed with water from hot springs were popular gathering places on Saturday evenings.
Soapmaking was an established craft in Europe by the seventh century. Soapmaker guilds guarded their trade secrets closely. Vegetable and animal oils were used with ashes of plants, along with fragrance. Gradually more varieties of soap became available for shaving and shampooing, as well as bathing and laundering.
Italy, Spain and France were early centers of soap manufacturing, due to their ready supply of raw materials such as oil from olive trees. The English began making soap during the 12th century. The soap business was so good that in 1622, King James I granted a monopoly to a soapmaker for $100,000 a year. Well into the 19th century, soap was heavily taxed as a luxury item in several countries. When the high tax was removed, soap became available to ordinary people, and cleanliness standards improved."

[Wakas]

w/salaam,

Thanks for the info, but I'm not sure I'd agree with "Quran says...." the part below.

Quran says keep your homes clean and your clothes clean when in mosques. 

If you are referring to 7:29, 7:31, then please see: http://www.mypercept.co.uk/articles/meaning-masjid-quran.html

[HOPE]

Salaam Wakas,

Thanks.  You are right.  Zeenat is a multifaceted word.  In this context I understand it as God given provisions. 7:31-33 talks about some of these provisions.  Regarding clothing from plants we get cotton, flax; from animals we get wool, silk; from minerals we get gold, silver, gems.  We're also given health which needs to be protected by keeping the body clean and eating sensibly.  7:32 refers to the human prohibition of these provisions.