Have you ever heard of the word istinja' or istinjak? If you are a Muslim and went to primary school in Malaysia, that word might have came up when you were in your Islamic studies classes.
In Fiqh terminology, Istinjak means to clean the private areas after relieving ourselves. It matters not if it is the stinky poopy or just taking a leak.
Istinjak is very important as it ensures that you are clean and can perform prayers without the need to change clothes.
From my observation in queuing to use public toilets, most Muslim men take istinjak issue too lightly. Zipping it back at a standing urinal without doing istinjak is soo disgusting and sooo not cool!!!
If you take a leak and then straight away keep you little brother back in your underwear or boxers (or pants if you are the Rambo type), then you are not in a clean state to perform prayers and even your clothes are stained with najis (dirt) which requires washing.
Islam is a comprehensive religion. It even teaches us how to cleanse ourselves after relieving ourselves. There are many techniques of doing istinjak.
The most common material is to use clean water. That is the easiest and most comfortable way to do istinjak. To me, it is also the psychologically cleanest way to perform istinjak. Just pour clean water over your private areas until there are no more traces of poop or urine.
Bear in mind that water must flow over the opening of your private areas.
My late Grandfather (May Allah bless his soul and place him amongst the righteous and in Jannah Insha Allah) told me that for men, we must "dehemkan" our penis after urinating. "Dehemkan" literally means to give a small cough.
What he meant was to give our little stormtrooper down there a slight tap on its helmet to ensure that those stubborn drops of urine are all squeezed out from the hose before attempting to wash it with water. Then, just pour some clean water over the tip of your Stormtrooper's tip to complete the istinjak.
To just wipe it with a wet cloth is not sufficient. Therefore, using baby / wet wipes to clean our business is not sufficient unless if we pour clean water over our private parts after that or use a dry tissue after using a wet wipes.
Alhamdulillah in Malaysia, water can be found in abundance. Most public toilets are prepared with clean water supplies. But that cannot be said for some places in Malaysia or other countries. Some places in Malaysia, particularly in KLCC or five star hotels have the dry toilet policy. I hate this policy as there are no water hose in the bathroom. They only provide clean water at the hand sink at the entrance of the toilet.
Running out with your lighsaber in one hand towards the sink is certainly not an ideal sight when only toilet papers are provided in the cubicle. In some countries, water is not such of a luxury to be used freely in toilets. Now how does one clean himself then?
Islam is an easy religion to practice if you are equipped with sufficient knowledge. It provides the ways even as to how we clean ourselves after answering the call of nature. In the Quran, Allah stated that He loves easiness and He dislikes hardness and the Prophet (pubh) said that cleanliness is part of the faith.
Now back to Istinjak, Istinjak can be performed using water and one can use certain dried items such as pebbles with smooth surface, (red bricks is a definite no-no!)
Paper (never ever use sand paper! *ouch*)
tissue or toilet paper
to clean your private area. The condition is to wipe the back or the front at least 3 times and the result of each one of the three times must be that it remains dry (i.e. no urine) or no signs of poop visible. 3 or more times is the important condition. Let’s say, after the second time of wiping one's lightsaber's tip with a tissue, one stubborn drop of urine decides to say hello, than you must wipe it clean again another 3 times to ensure that it is dry.
The law is not like ablution where the use of earth is as a substitute when there is no water. Clean and dry stuff can be used interchangeably with water. This means that you can use both, water and the dried item at the same time to do istinjak. So you can use wet wipes to thoroughly clean the area and then wipe it 3 times with a dry clean item.
For my fellow brothers, if you go to a standing urinal to take a leak, my advice is this:
Go to a urinal that upon flushing, has a clear small tiny host above it that remits clean water. After " deheming " your little brother, cup your hand below that small host to collect some clean water, then pour it over the tip of your tiny host. Make sure that water flows over the opening of your soldier!
And remember, the Prophet (pbuh) forbade us to touch our little soldier with our right hand when we go to take a leak.
Let's hope that our efforts of cleaning ourselves because of Him is rewarded, Insha Allah.
Keep it clean. Istinjak before zipping it in.
God knows best.
Blog adjourned.
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