What is the correct method of tayammum?
2026-09-21
F55 · Selected fatwas
Shaykh Ibn Bāz
الشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز
Original Q&A · Complete published question and answer
The complete published question and answer are included, with presenter follow-ups and closing remarks where present. The browsing title is editorial.
النص العربي
السؤال الأصلي
أرجو من سماحتكم أن تُبيِّنوا لنا طريقة التَّيمم الصَّحيحة؟
الجواب
التَّيمم بالصعيد مثلما قال الله عز وجل: فَتَيَمَّمُوا صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَامْسَحُوا بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ [النساء:43]، مسحة واحدة لليد والوجه، يضرب التراب، يعني: يضع يديه في التراب ضربًا، التراب الطيب الطاهر في الأرض، أو في الإناء الذي فيه التراب، أو الخرقة التي فيها التراب، أو الفراش الذي فيه التراب، ثم يمسح وجهه وكفّيه، يمسح وجهه هكذا، وكفَّيه هكذا...، ثم كفّيه هكذا... التراب يمسح به وجهه، ثم يمسح بالبقية كفّيه ظاهرهما وباطنهما، هذا هو التيمم.
وليس هناك حاجة إلى مسح الذراعين أو الرأس، لا، من فضل الله وتيسيره أنه سبحانه جعل الوجه واليدين كافيين، في الوضوء يغسل وجهه ويديه، ويمسح رأسه وأذنيه، ويغسل رجليه، لكن في التيمم ربنا جلَّ وعلا يسَّر وسهَّل، وجعل الوجه والكفَّين كافيين، يمسح المريضُ وجهَه وكفَّيه ويكفي، والحمد لله.
ويقوم التيمم مقام الماء على الصحيح، إذا تيمم صلَّى بالتيمم النافلة والفريضة، والحاضرة والمستقبلة، ما دام على طهارةٍ، حتى يُحدِث أو يجد الماء إن كان عادمًا له، أو حتى يستطيع استعماله إذا كان عاجزًا عن استعماله؛ لأن التيمم طهورٌ يقوم مقام الماء، كما سمَّاه النبيُّ: طهورًا.
English translation
English translation prepared for SalafAlSalih.com from the cited Arabic source. It is not an official translation.
Original question
Would Your Eminence explain the correct method of tayammum for us?
Answer
Tayammum is performed with clean earth, as Allah, mighty and majestic, says: “Seek clean earth and wipe your faces and hands” [al-Nisāʾ 4:43]. There is one wiping for the hands and face. He strikes the earth—that is, he places his hands upon it with a strike: clean, pure earth on the ground, in a container holding earth, on a cloth bearing dust, or on bedding bearing dust. He then wipes his face and hands: his face like this, and his hands like this… then his hands like this… He wipes his face with the dust, then with what remains he wipes the backs and palms of his hands. This is tayammum.
There is no need to wipe the forearms or the head. No. It is Allah's bounty and facilitation that He, glorified is He, has made the face and hands sufficient. In wuḍūʾ, a person washes his face and arms, wipes his head and ears, and washes his feet. But in tayammum our Lord, majestic and exalted, has made things easy and made the face and hands sufficient. A sick person wipes his face and hands, and that suffices, praise be to Allah.
According to the correct view, tayammum takes the place of water. After performing tayammum, a person may pray voluntary and obligatory prayers, the current prayer and later prayers, as long as he retains his ritual purity, until he breaks it, finds water if he had none, or becomes able to use water if he had been unable to use it. Tayammum is a means of purification that takes the place of water, as the Prophet called it a means of purification.
Source and editorial notes
Official Ibn Bāz website fatwa 21097
الموقع الرسمي للشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز
Official website of Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz
Arabic checked against the complete official published transcript. Text is preserved; spacing is normalized and legacy honorific glyphs are expanded. The English translates every displayed paragraph; Quran quotations are translations of their meanings.