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When Tayammum Is Allowed
Tayammum is allowed in two situations. The first is when there is no water, or not enough for purification, after looking for it where it could reasonably be found. The second is when water is there but you cannot use it: an illness or wound that water would worsen or slow to heal, cold so severe that washing would harm you and there is no way to warm the water, or water that you need to drink, or that a companion or an animal with you needs, to stay alive.
The verse names the sick and the traveler, and closes with ﴿مَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍ﴾ (“Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you”). 'Amr ibn al-'As was in a state of janabah on a very cold night and feared that washing would kill him; he made tayammum and led his companions in the dawn prayer, and when he told the Prophet ﷺ, he laughed and did not object.
Tayammum lifts the major state of impurity too. The Prophet ﷺ saw a man who had not prayed with the people because he was in janabah and had no water, and told him: “Use the earth, for it is enough for you.” As soon as water can be used again, the duty to wash returns.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
Must you search for water before making tayammum?
3 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanafi.
Show each school
- Only if water is thought to be nearHanafi
- RequiredMaliki · Shafi'i · Hanbali
- Hanafi
- Searching is not required unless you think it likely that water is close by, in which case you must look for it before making tayammum.
- Maliki
- You must look for water for each prayer, as far as it causes no hardship, unless you are certain there is none.
- Shafi'i
- If you think water may be present, you must search your belongings and your companions and look around you before making tayammum.
- Hanbali
- You must look for water in your belongings and the area nearby, and ask about it, before making tayammum.
- Qur'an 4:43
- Qur'an 5:6
- Qur'an 4:29
- Sunan Abi Dawud 334Graded by Al-Albani: Sahih · Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: SahihSahih
- Sahih al-Bukhari 344 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
The positions of the four schools are summarised from their standard references and are pending review by a qualified scholar. Follow the school you were taught, and for your own situation, ask a scholar.
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