When Water Appears: Tayammum and the Subtlety of Humility
Invalidating Conditions of Tayammum and the Character of the Companions: Humility in Knowledge
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour continues his discussion on the book of purification, specifically covering what invalidates tayammum (dry ablution). He explains that the same things that invalidate wudu also invalidate tayammum, with one additional condition: if water becomes available to a person, tayammum immediately becomes invalid. Sh. Ali Mashhour uses a hadith from Abu Said Al-Khudri about two travelers who performed tayammum, then found water. One man repeated his prayer while the other did not. The Prophet (PBUH) approved both actions but noted the second man received double reward for his caution, while the first man's action would now be impermissible since he now knows water was available. Sh. Ali Mashhour then extends this discussion into a profound lesson about the character of the Companions, particularly their humility and avoidance of self-praise. He illustrates how Abu Said narrated the hadith in the third person to avoid any appearance of praising himself, connecting this to broader Islamic teachings about avoiding hidden riya (showing off) and seeking Allah's pleasure over human admiration.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Alhamdulillah. Continuing in the book of purification from in the chapters regarding yesterday we discussed the way that a person goes about making we discussed the parameter ters of aum. We discussed what constitutes a and in typical fashion once we learn how to build something up we also learn what compromises it right and so the next chapter and really the final chapter in this subject and this topic is what compromises the things that invalidate. The author says,.
[Silence]
He says what invalidates or what compromises is the same exact thing that compromises wuboo. No difference. That which compromises or invalidates is the same thing that invalidates woo. But there is an additional one additional caveat and that is that a person is able to source water or that a person is able to use it because remember aum is for a person who doesn't have water or is unable to use water for whatever reason. So here we have the things that break a person's woo are the things that break a person's same thing and one additional and that is that a person now is able to use water they either are able to source it or they're able to use it now is invalid immediately immediately. And this is a a principle that's even become a kind of idiom or a kind of proverb used as an analogy by the Muslim and especially in Arab culture. They say that that if if water becomes available is invalid, right? that's easy enough. We now have the evidences for this. If you suffer forch.
[Silence]
He tells us that two men during the prophet's time sam went on a journey. Now this is a weird way of saying this. If it was only two men that were on this journey, how does he know about this? Well, Abu Sah knows about this either because they told him or because he is one of the two men. And most likely it is he that's one of the two men. But he doesn't want to say it in a particular way because we'll see at the end of the narration why he uses this particular model of of of of narrating. He says, "So the time for salah came upon them and they didn't have any water and so they both made and they both made their salah after which they were able to source water. Water then became available while the time for the salah was still in. And so one of the two men made wudoo and then remade his salah that they had just made with and the other did not. And so when they returned they asked the messenger of Allah sallallah.aii wasallam and they mentioned to him what had occurred. And so the prophet sallallah.aii Wasam said to the one who did not pray again. He said, "You have done the sunnah. You were correct, right? And your salah is correct." And he said to the one who made wudoo and made salah again, he said, "You will receive your reward twofold, twice fold." Why? Because he was unsure. And he did what is safest because he was unsure, right? He did what would be safest for his dean and for his salah. He didn't know, but he was unsure. So he did what he could to safeguard his prayer as best as he knew how. And so for him, he receives his reward twice. once for the salah and once again for his you know for his diligence and so forth. But now if they were to go into that situation again, would it be correct for him to make his salah again? No. Not only would it be incorrect, it would be impermissible. Why? Because now he knows. So a person is not to understand from this that it's best to do it twice. No, we know now. This is in the case of not knowing. So why do you think Abu said two men went on a journey and so forth? What do you think? The other person. Do you think he was one of them?
[Arabic recitation]
The one that was correct. So he doesn't want to narrate it I was right, he was wrong. So actually, you know, I was correct. But anyways, that's what happened. He didn't want the narration to be that. So he narrates it in the third person. And this is common amongst the companions, right? It's subtle. It's subtle, but it it speaks volumes to their character. I don't want to even be misunderstood as praising myself. Not even misunderstood as saying something praiseworthy about myself. I don't even want the listener to, you know, unintentionally praise me in that sense. The companions have this often. This is recurring in the narrations that the companions narrate. You got two types of people. You got one type that is concerned with admiration of the listener. from a guy that's been around the block a few times, a guy that's been dealing with people for a long time, been in this for a long time. If you want to know which kind of person that is, the ones that testify and proclaim that they don't care the most are the ones that care the most. The ones that say, "I don't care what people think." That's the one that cares the most what people think. People usually deny the things about themselves that they hate the most about themselves or the things that they wish they could change about themselves. The companions didn't do this. They didn't even you know dispraise themselves. As a matter of fact, in the books of etiquets and seeking knowledge, the scholars mention a type of person, the the mention that one of the slipperiest type of people that praise themselves are the ones that praise themselves by putting themselves down. Oh, I'm just a humble servant. I'm the I'm the least of you guys. You're all better than me. I'm I'm the worst. Right? Cuz the inferred idea is, you know, look how humble this guy is. The companions never did that. You'd never see them stand up and make proclamations about themsel in the good or in the bad unless they absolutely had to in order to teach. Right. Dispraising oneself so that the listener will infer praise is a type of praising oneself and it's actually arguably worse than outright praising oneself. What does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say? Says do not praise yourselves. Allah knows best. Who is a person of tawa? Allah knows best. Well, what is this person supposed to do? Not make themselves the main topic. And that's hard. It's not easy. You have to learn to do that because when a person praises himself, he sees for himself an opportunity. He is worried what others think. And we all are worried about what others think about us. It's it's not correct and it's improbable. It's illogical for a person to not care what other people think. This is ridiculous. Of course you care what other people think. I care what other people think about me. Of course you do. That's where most of your livelihood comes from. If people think bad of you, this is going to seriously harm you. If people think good of you, this will benefit you in ways. Nobody wants to be dispraised. And however, there are those who do nothing in the way of praising themselves. They leave that to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then there are those who seek this in subtle ways from others. And this is a type of disease right inf the two men that you know one man has the gardens in the middle of he has the gardens and you know he is the disbeliever in this story and then he has the neighbor that is a believer. Look at the way that he structures his sentences. He always structures his sentences with Anna. Me I me I. This is not the way of the companions of the way of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. We can learn a lot from this this subtle thing that Abu say here does and that is that simply because he was correct. He didn't want to be praised for that in any way. And so he says two men they went and this is what happened. And right why the listener now learns the lesson without focusing on on the praise of Abu or anyone else. Right. the first man to ever shoot an arrow. Does anyone know who it was? Yes. Abuas, the first man to ever shoot an arrow. He shot the first arrow in the history of this jihad. The first arrow. Could you imagine the honor? He shot the first arrow. And he said we would go out with the prophet sallall.aii to battle.
[Silence]
He said we would go out to travel to go to war and we would be so hungry that we'd have nothing to eat to the point that we would resort to eating desert trees. tree leaves until our lips blistered from ma malnourishment. And we would go to relieve ourselves and our stool would be so dry it would be the stool of a goat or a sheep. You ever see a goat or a sheep? Stools like little balls, right? And then after he said this, he thought for a minute and then he stopped talking and he was very disappointed in himself that he said this. He's already going to Jenna, right? He's already going to Jenna. But then when he thought about it, he was excited to talk about the times he had with the prophet Sam. But then he thought better of it and he wouldn't say it anymore. Wouldn't tell this story anymore after that. This is something that a person has to fight to change about himself. Every one of us cares what other people think about us. However, how do we garner praise? We garner Allah's pleasure. And he is the one that places our love in people's hearts without us even trying. And if we seek praise from people subtly or otherwise, very likely that it will be at the expense of Allah's pleasure. for.
[Silence]
You. The bed.