The Act of Wudhu

Quran Verse:
Allahu yuhhibul muttahireen
Allah loves those who keep pure and clean 9:108

Wudhu is a special type of washing which Allah teaches us about in the Qur'an 5:6 (An easy way to remember the chapter number is that there are 5 prayers). The actions for wudhu were shown to us by the Holy Prophet when he returned from Me'raj.

Wudhu is a way to help us prepare us for salaa. But if we just blast open the tap and rush through the actions, it doesn't really benefit us in the same way. Every action must be done with care and remembrance of Allah.

If we were to stop and just think about the water we are about to use, it would remind us of Allah in so many ways!

The word wudhu comes from the Arabic word wada'ah which means beauty and purity. When we do wudhu properly and try to stay in wudhu as much as we can, it purifies our soul and makes it beautiful!

Activity: Qualities of Water

Brainstorm how reflecting on water helps us remember Allah. 

Watch the beautiful explanation What is Wudhu? 

Challenge
It is mustahab, highly recommended to try to be in wudhu all the time. To help you build up to something which may seem difficult at first, start by trying to make it a habit to do wudhu before you go to bed. Sleeping in wudhu earns you the reward of worshiping all night! Then start making wudhu every time you go to the toilet. Try to do wudhu before you go to mosque too.

Activity: Duas for Wudhu

Watch: 1. How to perform Wudhu 2. Animated Instructional video

Download: Wudhu Illustrated Steps Chart by Qfatima

Resources: Wudhu Assesment by QFatima

See Also: The Power of Wudhu

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Concentration in Salaa

Learning Objective:
To clearly illustrate the importance and need to concentrate in Salaa.

When our mind is distracted by what's happening around us or is busy thinking about things that have happened in the day or things we need to do, we are not concentrating on praying salaa properly. Our focus is not on Allah and we loose out on achieving the benefits that Allah has placed in salaa for us.

Once we recite the Takbiratul Ihram, we must take away our distracting thoughts and focus only on Allah and pray our Salaa with full concentration. Only then will we benefit fron the prayer.

Activity: Taste the Sweetness of Salaa
Fill a glass with juice. Place one straw inside the drink and another outside of the glass. Have the children try to drink the juice using both straws at the same time. They will only be able to suck up air! Only be removing the straw from the outside with they then be able to drink the juice.

When our mind is wandering with thoughts about everything around us, we may be going through the actions of salaa but we wont be able to benefit from the salaa properly. It is like trying to drink from both straws at the same time! But when we focus our mind and heart on salaa we remove the straw filling with distractions from the outside. We are able to focus only on Allah and taste the sweetness of feeling close and connected to Him. It is the salaa prayed in this way which will help us gain from the benefits Allah has placed for us in it.

If you sucked hard on both straws you may have found the effort helped you draw up some juice. You will have managed to taste some of the sweetness of the drink. But was it easy? Did you manage to drink up as much as if you'd removed the outside straw completely? It's very hard to benefit from the sweetness of salaa when our mind is distracted but with every effort we make to concentrate, we benefit more from our prayer.

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Blow Life into your Salaa

Activity: Blow Life into your Salaa 

Write the The 5Ps to Perfecting our Prayer on a rubber glove. Place the glove over a paper cup and secure with an elastic band, then tuck the glove into the cup. Make a small hole on the side of the cup through which a straw can be inserted. Blow into the straw to inflate the glove upwards. Explain how when we work on improving our salaa using the 5P tool, we blow life into our salaa! Only when our salaa has life can we benefit from it.

Watch how the 5Ps blow life into our salaa!

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The 5Ps to Perfecting our Prayer

Qur'an Verse:

Akimis salaata li dhikri, Keep up Salaa for My remembrance 20:14

Salaa is the main pillar of Islam. It is the action which must be given the greatest importance because the acceptance of all our deeds depend on the acceptance of salaa. Below are five areas we can work on to improve our salaa and fill it with the remembrance of Allah.

1. Prioritize

Be aware of the salaa times so you can schedule your day accordingly around salaa. Put Allah first when making other plans!
See also: Put God First

2. Prepare

- Think of Allah during the day not just at salaa time

- Wudhu with duas

- Adhaan

- Perfume/Clean clothes/Aqiq ring

- Understand meanings

3. Ponder

Pause and sit for a minute before you start salaa and think

- Why am I praying? 

- Who am I praying to? You are standing infront of your Creator. A greater meeting than with the Queen!

4. Pay Attention

Remove distractions: 

- sound: Close door/away from people talking/TV/phone on silent

- eyes: no people passing infront of/looking at 5 different points when praying
See Also: Concentration in Salaa

5. Pray for help

Even Prophet Ibrahim asked Allah to help him keep up the salaa! Learn the Quranic dua 14:40 and ask Allah to help you understand and give importance to praying salaa properly. 

Activity: The 5Ps to Perfecting our Prayer

Have the children illustrate the lesson by drawing around the hand and labelling each finger with one of the 5Ps. Have them brainstorm and add notes how each one can be worked on. Have them reflect, share ideas and write down one action point on how they will work on improving their salaa to implement the lesson. Explain how to make progressive goals and work through each one over time.

Watch lesson in action

Activity: Blow Life into your Salaa

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Islamic Beliefs eBook

Introducing the fundamental beliefs of Islam through creative ideas and activities complete with 20 corresponding Quranic phrases. 

The I Am A Muslim eBook will download as one handy PDF document, allowing you to:

• Read the book on screen and access online links directly
• Save it on your computer
• Print the entire contents as a booklet
• Print just one activity at a time. 

Download Complete Islamic Beliefs eBook

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