Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning
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Muhammad Asad | | O YOU who have attained to faith! When you are about to pray, wash your face, and your hands and arms up to the elbows, and pass your [wet] hands lightly over your head, and [wash] your feet up to the ankles. And if you are in a state. requiring total ablution, purify yourselves. But if you are ill, or are travelling, or have just satisfied a want of nature, or have cohabited with a woman, and can find no water-then take resort to pure dust, passing therewith lightly over your face and your hands. God does not want to impose any hardship on you, but wants to make you pure, and to bestow upon you the full measure of His blessings, so that you might have cause to be grateful. | ⇨ |
M. M. Pickthall | | O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash you faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. And if ye are unclean, purify yourselves. And if ye are sick or on a journey, or one of you cometh from the closet, or ye have had contact with women, and ye find not water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands with some of it. Allah would not place a burden on you, but He would purify you and would perfect His grace upon you, that ye may give thanks. | ⇨ |
Shakir | | O you who believe! when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles; and if you are under an obligation to perform a total ablution, then wash (yourselves) and if you are sick or on a journey, or one of you come from the privy, or you have touched the women, and you cannot find water, betake yourselves to pure earth and wipe your faces and your hands therewith, 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. | ⇨ |
Yusuf Ali | | O ye who believe! when ye prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; Rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body. But if ye are ill, or on a journey, or one of you cometh from offices of nature, or ye have been in contact with women, and ye find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand or earth, and rub therewith your faces and hands, Allah doth not wish to place you in a difficulty, but to make you clean, and to complete his favour to you, that ye may be grateful. | ⇨ |
[Al-Muntakhab] | | O you whose hearts have been touched with the divine hand: When you intend to perform your act of worship, ablution becomes a duty. Wash your faces , your hands and the forearms up to the elbows, and with your wet hands wipe your heads, then wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are spiritually unconditioned following sexual congress or seminal emissions then purify yourselves to render the obligation "pure": you bathe before you pray. But if you are sick or on a journey or have defecated or touched women and the sensation of contact stirred you to passion, and you found no water, metaphoric ablution becomes a religious rite: apply clean sand, dust or dry earth lightly to your faces and hands. Allah does not intend to put you in difficulty but to set you upon the course of purity of thought and action, for the actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts. He means to make all grace abound in you that you may hopefully impel yourselves to the feeling of gratitude and gratefulness and lift to Him your inward sight. | ⇨ |
[Progressive Muslims] | | O you who believe, if you rise to attend the contact-method, then wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles; and if you have had intercourse, then you shall bathe. And if you are ill, or traveling, or you have excreted feces, or you have had sexual contact with the women, and you could not find water, then you shall do ablution from clean soil; you shall wipe your faces and your hands. God does not want to make any hardship over you, but He wants to cleanse you and to complete His blessings upon you that you may be appreciative. | ⇨ |
Abdel Haleem | | You who believe, when you are about to pray, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe your heads, wash your feet up to the ankles and, if required, wash your whole body. If any of you is sick or on a journey, or has just relieved himself, or had intimate contact with a woman, and can find no water, then take some clean sand and wipe your face and hands with it. God does not wish to place any burden on you: He only wishes to cleanse you and perfect His blessing on you, so that you may be thankful. | ⇨ |
Abdul Majid Daryabadi | | O ye who believe! when ye stand up for the prayer wash your faces and your hands unto the elbows, and wipe your heads, and wash your feet unto the ankles. And if ye be polluted, then purify yourselves And if ye be ailing or on a journey or one of you cometh from the privy or ye have touched women, and ye find not water, then betake yourselves to clean earth and wipe your faces and hands therewith. Allah intendeth not to lay upon you a hardship, but intendeth to purify you and to complete His favour upon you, that haply ye may return thanks. | ⇨ |
Ahmed Ali | | You, you those who believed, if you started/got up to the prayers, so wash with water your faces, and your hands to the elbows, and rub/wipe with your heads and your feet to the two joints/ankle bones, and if you wereimpure/unclean , so be purified/cleaned , and if you were sick/diseased or on (a) journey/trip/voyage or one of you came from the safe hidden depression in the ground (toilet), or you touched and felt repeatedly the women, so you did not find water, so wipe your hands and face with dust good/pure dust, so rub/wipe with your faces and your hands from it, God does not want to make/put on you strain/hardship, and but He wants to purify you mentally and physically and to complete (E) His blessing on you, maybe/perhaps you thank/be grateful. | ⇨ |
Aisha Bewley | | You who have iman! when you get up to do salat, wash your faces and your hands and your arms to the elbows, and wipe over your heads, and wash your feet to the ankles. If you are in a state of major impurity, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey, or have come from the lavatory, or have touched women, and cannot find any water, then do tayammum with pure earth, and wipe your faces and your hands. Allah does not want to make things difficult for you, but He does want to purify you and to perfect His blessing upon you so that hopefully you will be thankful. | ⇨ |
Ali Ünal | | O you who believe! When you rise up for the Prayer, (if you have no ablution) wash your faces and your hands up to (and including) the elbows, and lightly rub your heads (with water) and (wash) your feet up to (and including) the ankles. And if you are in the state of major ritual impurity (requiring total ablution), purify yourselves (by taking a bath). But if you are ill, or on a journey, or if any of you has just satisfied a want of nature, or you have had contact with women, and can find no water, then betake yourselves to pure earth, passing with it lightly over your face and your hands (and forearms up to and including the elbows). God does not will to impose any hardship upon you, but wills to purify you (of any kind of material and spiritual filth), and to complete His favor upon you, so that you may give thanks (from the heart and in speech, and in action by fulfilling His commandments). | ⇨ |
Ali Quli Qara'i | | O you who have faith! When you stand up for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe a part of your heads and your feet, up to the ankles. If you are junub, purify yourselves. But if you are sick, or on a journey, or any of you has come from the toilet, or you have touched women, and you cannot find water, then make tayammum with clean ground and wipe a part of your faces and your hands with it. Allah does not desire to put you to hardship, but He desires to purify you, and to complete His blessing upon you so that you may give thanks. | ⇨ |
Amatul Rahman Omar | | O you who believe! when you get up for Prayer (perform the ablution, so as to) wash your faces and your hands upto the elbows, and pass your (wet) hands over your heads (for mashah), and (wash) your feet upto the ankles. And if you are under an obligation to perform a bath, then wash yourselves thoroughly clean by a bath. But if you have been taken ill or on a journey (while under obligation to take a bath) or one of you comes from the privy, or you have had (sexual) contact with women and you do not find water, then have recourse to clean pure dust and wipe your faces and your hands with it (as Tayammum). Allah does not intend to impose any impediments on you, but He intends to purify you (internally and externally) and complete His blessings upon you so that you may give (Him) thanks. | ⇨ |
Hamid S. Aziz | | O you who believe! When you rise up to prayer wash your faces, and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet down to the ankles. And if you are polluted, then purify yourselves (bathe). But if you are sick, or on a journey, or if you come from the toilet, or if you have touched women and cannot find water, then take from high ground (clean) sand or earth and wipe your faces and your hands therewith. Allah does not wish to make a burden for you; but He wishes to purify you and to fulfil his favour upon you; that you may give thanks. | ⇨ |
Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali | | O you who have believed, when you rise up for prayer, then wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, (Or: "part of" the head) and (wash) your legs to the ankles. And in case you are ritually unclean, (i.e., from the emission of semea or "for women" sexual discharge) then totally purify yourselves; and in case you are sick or on a journey, or (in case) any of you has come up from the privy, or you have had contact with women, yet you cannot find water, then have recourse to good (i.e. a mounting place, high and dry) soil (and) so wipe (most of) your faces and hands with (some) of it. In no way does Allah indeed will to make any restriction for you, but indeed He wills to purify you and perfect His favor on you, indeed, that possibly you would thank (Him). | ⇨ |
Muhammad Sarwar | | Believers, when you are about to pray, wash your face and your hands along with the elbows and wipe your head and your feet to the ankles. If you experience a seminal discharge, manage to take (the required) bath. If you are sick, or on a journey, or have just defecated, or have had intercourse with women and cannot find any water, perform a tayammum by: touching clean natural earth with both palms and wiping (the upper part) of your face and (the back of) your hands. God does not want you to suffer hardship. He wants you to be purified. He wants to complete His favors to you so that perhaps you would give Him thanks. | ⇨ |
Muhammad Taqi Usmani | | O you who believe, when you rise for Salah, (prayer) wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and make MasH (wiping by hands) of your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. If you are in a state of major impurity, cleanse yourselves well (by taking bath). If you are sick, or on a journey, or if one of you has come after relieving himself, or you have had sexual contact with women, and you find no water, then, go for some clean dust and wipe your faces and hands with it. Allah does not like to impose a problem on you; He, rather likes to cleanse you and to complete His favour upon you, so that you may be grateful. | ⇨ |
Shabbir Ahmed | | O You who have chosen to be graced with belief! When you congregate for Salat, wash your faces and your forearms, hands to the elbows. Lightly rub you heads and your feet to the ankles. If you are in a state of ceremonial impurity, bathe your whole body. But, if you are ill or traveling, or coming from the privy, or are in a state of ceremonial impurity and find no water, then take clean sand or earth and lightly rub your faces and hands. (This will help you prepare mentally for congregational prayer (4:43)). Allah does not wish to place upon you any difficulty, but to make you clean and to perfect His blessings upon you, that you be grateful. | ⇨ |
Syed Vickar Ahamed | | O you who believe! When you get ready for prayer, then wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) up to the elbows; Rub your head (with water); And wash your feet up to the ankles. If you are in a state of bodily impurity, (resulting from sexual contact,) bathe your whole body. But if you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you have come from the offices of nature (i.e., toilet), or you have been in contact with women and you do not find water&mdash Then take for yourself clean sand or earth, and rub your faces and hands with it. Allah does not wish to place you in difficulty, but to make you clean, and to complete His favor on you, that you may be thankful. | ⇨ |
Umm Muhammad (Sahih International) | | O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah, then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful. | ⇨ |
Farook Malik | | O YOU who have attained to faith! When you are about to pray, wash your face, and your hands and arms up to the elbows, and pass your [wet] hands lightly over your head, and [wash] your feet up to the ankles. And if you are in a state. requiring total Y ablution, purify yourselves." But if you are ill, or are travelling, or have just satisfied a want of nature, or have cohabited with a woman, and can find no water-then take resort to pure dust, passing therewith lightly over your face and your hands. God does not want to impose any hardship on you, but wants to make you pure, and to bestow upon you the full measure of His blessings, so that you might have cause to be grateful. | ⇨ |
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