How to make wudu, step by step

Wudu is the washing a Muslim does before prayer: water over the hands, mouth, face, arms, head, and feet, in a couple of minutes. It prepares the body to stand before Allah and, the Prophet ﷺ said, carries away the soul’s mistakes with the water. Here is how to make wudu step by step, followed by the ease the sharia gives for socks, travel, illness, and a busy day.

What does the Quran say about wudu?

The Quran sets out the core of wudu in one verse, and closes it with a promise:

إِذَا قُمۡتُمۡ إِلَى ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ فَٱغۡسِلُواْ وُجُوهَكُمۡ وَأَيۡدِيَكُمۡ إِلَى ٱلۡمَرَافِقِ وَٱمۡسَحُواْ بِرُءُوسِكُمۡ وَأَرۡجُلَكُمۡ إِلَى ٱلۡكَعۡبَيۡنِۚ … مَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيَجۡعَلَ عَلَيۡكُم مِّنۡ حَرَجٖ وَلَٰكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمۡ

“When you rise for prayer, wash your faces and your arms up to the elbows, wipe your heads, and wash your feet up to the ankles… Allah does not wish to place any hardship on you, but He wishes to purify you.”

Quran 5:6

The Hanafi school counts these four acts as the obligatory core (farḍ) of wudu. The other schools add the intention, and some add keeping the order and washing without long pauses. Everything else is the beautiful Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

How to make wudu step by step

1. Intend in your heart to purify yourself for prayer, and say “Bismillāh” (in the name of Allah).
2. Wash your hands up to the wrists three times, between the fingers too.
3. Rinse your mouth three times.
4. Rinse your nose three times, drawing water in gently and blowing it out.
5. Wash your face three times, from the hairline to the chin and from ear to ear.
6. Wash your arms, the right then the left, from the fingertips up to and including the elbows, three times each.
7. Wipe your head once with wet hands, from the front to the back and back again.
8. Wipe your ears, the inside with the index fingers and the back with the thumbs.
9. Wash your feet, the right then the left, up to and including the ankles, three times each, between the toes too.

The Companion ʿUthman ibn ʿAffan showed this sequence to his students and said the Prophet ﷺ promised forgiveness to whoever makes wudu like it and then prays two units with a present heart (Sahih al-Bukhari 159). Three times is the Sunnah, and once is enough: Ibn ʿAbbas reported that the Prophet ﷺ sometimes washed each part a single time (Sahih al-Bukhari 157).

When you finish, look up and say the testimony:

«أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولُهُ»

“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger.”

Sahih Muslim 234a

The Prophet ﷺ said that the eight gates of Paradise are opened for whoever completes wudu well and says these words, to enter by whichever he wishes.

What is the reward of wudu?

«إِذَا تَوَضَّأَ الْعَبْدُ الْمُسْلِمُ - أَوِ الْمُؤْمِنُ - فَغَسَلَ وَجْهَهُ خَرَجَ مِنْ وَجْهِهِ كُلُّ خَطِيئَةٍ نَظَرَ إِلَيْهَا بِعَيْنَيْهِ مَعَ الْمَاءِ»

“When a Muslim servant makes wudu and washes his face, every wrong his eyes looked at leaves his face with the water.”

Sahih Muslim 244

The hadith goes on to the hands and the feet, until the person comes out of wudu clean of sin. On the Day of Judgment, the Prophet ﷺ said, his community will be called forward with faces and limbs shining from the traces of wudu (Sahih al-Bukhari 136).

How to make wudu with socks on

Wiping over leather socks (khuffs) is established by many reports. For cloth socks, Abu Dawud records that the Prophet ﷺ wiped over his socks and sandals, and names Companions who did the same, among them ʿAli, Ibn Masʿud, al-Baraʾ ibn ʿAzib, and Anas ibn Malik (Sunan Abi Dawud 159, graded hasan by al-Albani). Imam Ahmad allowed it, Abu Hanifa’s students Abu Yusuf and Muhammad allowed it for thick socks, and Abu Hanifa himself wiped over his socks in his final illness. Egypt’s Dar al-Ifta notes that some scholars, among them Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi and Ahmad Shakir, allowed wiping over any socks, thick or thin, and that a Muslim who follows this view in need is free of blame.

Put the socks on after a complete wudu. When you next make wudu, do everything as usual and, in place of washing the feet, pass wet fingers over the top of each sock. The permission lasts a day and a night at home and three days and nights when traveling (Sahih Muslim 276a).

How to make wudu without water: tayammum

The same verse of Sūrat al-Māʾida allows those who are ill, or traveling, or who find no water, to use clean earth. The ruling came down when Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) lost a necklace while traveling and the whole caravan halted at a place without water (Sahih al-Bukhari 334). Strike a clean natural surface lightly with both palms, wipe your face, then wipe your hands. A bandage or cast is wiped over with a wet hand.

Common questions about wudu

• In the shower: a full bath counts as wudu; see How do you perform ghusl?
• Nail polish and tattoos: see Is nail polish haram, and does it affect wudu? and Are tattoos haram? Ink lies under the skin and does not block water.
• What undoes wudu: see What breaks wudu?

A closing word

Wudu turns an ordinary sink into a place of worship. The Quran says:

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلتَّوَّـٰبِينَ وَيُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُتَطَهِّرِينَ

“Allah loves those who turn back to Him, and He loves those who purify themselves.”

Quran 2:222

Each time the water runs over your hands, you are among the people Allah loves. Then go and pray, as described in How to pray in Islam.