PURGATORY. [[BARZAKH].]
PURIFICATIONS. Arabic t̤ahārah (طهارة). The legal methods of purification under the Muḥammadan law vary but slightly from those which were enjoined in the Talmudic law of the Jews; with the remarkable difference that whilst with the Muslim the simple act of purification suffices, the Jew was taught by the use of expiatory offering to discern to its full extent the connection between the outward sign and the inward fount of impurity.
The most minute regulations with reference to the subject of legal purification, were laid down in the Jewish law, and are found in a treatise of the Mishna entitled Yadaim. See also [Leviticus xv].
The following are the different acts of purification existing in Muḥammadan law:—
1. G͟husl (غسل). The washing of the whole body to absolve it from uncleanliness and to prepare it for the exercise of prayer, after the following acts: pollutio nocturna, menses, coitus, puerperium. [[GHUSL].]
2. G͟husl-masnūn (غسل مسنون). Such washings of the whole body as are founded upon the sunnah or practice and precept of Muḥammad, although they are not supposed to be of divine institution, namely, upon the admission of a convert to Islām; before the Friday prayer, on the festivals; after washing the dead; and after blood-letting. [[GHUSL MASNUN].]
3. Waẓūʾ (وضوء), or the simple ablution of hands, arms, ears, face, mouth, &c., before the recital of the usual prayers. [[ABLUTION].]
4. Tayyammum (تيمم), or the use of sand or dust instead of water for the waẓūʾ. [[TAYAMMUM].]
5. Istinjāʾ (استنجاء), or the abstersion of the private parts. [[ISTINJAʾ].]
6. Miswāk (مسواك), or the cleansing of the teeth. [[MISWAK].]