: What does istinja mean?

Safy Eman

‏٢٨ أبريل ٢٠١٧‏، الساعة ‏٦:٣٨ م‏

Your wudu will not be valid without Istinja
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Question: What does istinja mean?
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ANSWER
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Istinja is to clean urine and stool off private parts after urination and defecation.

Doing istinja is sunnat al-muakkada.

Cleaning is not necessary when gas or a stone has issued.

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Question: Is it permissible to do istinja with pieces of newspapers?
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ANSWER
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It is not permissible to do istinja with any paper containing writing or fit for being written on. Toilet paper is used to dry private parts [after istinja].

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Question: Is it permissible to do istinja with paper?
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ANSWER
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Doing istinja with paper is makruh.

It is mustahab to dry the wetness left on the private parts after washing them.

Toilet paper or a cloth may be used for this purpose.

If it is not available, one may dry them with one's hand.

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Question: What does istibra mean?
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ANSWER
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Istibra is to make the urethra free from drops of urine. It is wajib for men to do istibra, that is, not to leave any drops in the urethra, by walking, coughing, or by lying on their left side.

They must not perform wudu' unless they are satisfied that there are no drops of urine left.

One drop oozing out will both nullify their wudu' and soil their underpants.

If less than a palmful oozes onto underpants, the salat one performed after doing wudu' will be rendered makruh.

If more than this amount oozes, one's salat will not be valid.

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Question: What does istinka mean?
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ANSWER
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It means one's being thoroughly satisfied that no more urine has been left in one's urethra or that there is no filth left on one's body.

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Question: Is there any difference between the istinja of a woman and that of a man?
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ANSWER
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After defecation, a woman should remove the filth on her anus with her finger from the front to the back.

If she removes it from the back to the front, she may move the filth to her genital area and cause infection.

She should not touch her genitals with her hands.

Touching them with her hands may cause both infection and sexual arousal.
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Bidet also known as Istinja ...
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It was invented to cleanse the private areas after each bathroom visit

Muslims adopting this method and have been doing so for over 1450 years ago in Islam

Many celebrities including Oprah and Dr. OZ is catching On and equally making use of this Islamic Values
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Doing Istinja is Sunnah Muakkadah (Emphasized Sunnah) when we pass impurity from any of our two passages (front & back).

It is Sunnah to purify the area with the use of stone in old time nowadays equivalent of (Tissue in modern times) or water.

It is best to make use of both.

So you would wipe the area first with a stone (modern day we would use tissue) and then wash the area with water.

If one does not have access to both water and stone, it would be sufficient to clean the area with just one,

for example, just using water or just using stone (tissue), of course using water would be better as it will clean the area thoroughly and eliminate the impurity.

Overall the Sunnah is to purify the area.

It is recommended to use 3 stones, even if purity is achieved with less, The Prophet Peace Be Upon Him has stated “Perform istinja with three stones”

if you use more than its also fine,

it is recommended to use odd numbers such as three, five.etc

Stone: In the past there was no tissues, hence the use of stones was practiced. Not every stone is suitable for istinja, there are certain conditions of a cleansing stone which need to be met such as:

The stone should not be too rough and not too smooth; as if it is too rough it could harm you, and if it is is too smooth, it will not serve its purpose.

The stone should not be valuable, this applies generally to anything that you are going to use for istinja, the item should not be valuable, whether it’s a stone, paper, tissue or anything else..

The stone should not be respected.

As the area we are cleaning is not pure, and using something that generally you or others would respect is not suitable.

How to do istinja

After you have relived yourself you are now ready to do istinja, I will outline in simple steps on how to do istinja.

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Step 1

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Male:
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If the scrotum is loosely hanging (generally when the body temperature is warm) he would wipe with the first stone (tissue) from the front area (the part closest to the testacies) wiping towards the back.

With the second stone (tissue) he would wipe from the back (rear part of the anus) towards the front, and with the third stone (tissue) he would wipe from the front towards the back.

If the scrotum is not loose (generally when the body temperature is clod) he would first wipe from the back area of the anus towards the front (the part closest to the testacies).

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Female:
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The female would always wipe first from the front (part closest to the vagina) wiping towards the back, and with the second stone (tissue) wiping from the back to the front and so on.

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Step 2
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Wash both the hands; in case of any impurity that may have gone onto the skin during step one.

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Step 3
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Pour water over the anus area and rub the area using the inner part of your fingers (Not the side where your nail is).

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Male
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Men would start by using their middle finger when rubbing and cleaning with water, than he would use his wedding finger (ring finger), so that he is using both his middle and ring finger both to clean together.

He should not just use one finger to complete his istinjah as its possible that the area would not be fully cleaned with just the one finger.

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Female
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Females would start by using both her middle and ring finger from the beginning.

So she would use two fingers from the beginning to clean.

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Step 4
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You should try utmost in cleaning until the stench is completely removed from your body.

If one is not fasting, they should also relax their buttocks so that the water can full clean the exit of the passage thoroughly.

If one is fasting, they should be cautions to ensure that no water goes inside the body which will nullify the fast.

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Step 5
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One you have completed the washing, you would wash your hands, and if one is also fasting, they should wipe the area washed to ensure there is no water left in case it enters the body whilst standing., which would again nullify the fast.

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Reference:
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نور الىضاح – فصل فى الاستنجاء

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For more information refer to this video
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Why do Muslim wash the private part after the urinate?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpd42lP6cy4
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