A Dictionary of Islam Being a cyclopedia of the...

ABLUTION. Arabic, waẓūʾ, wuẓūʾ (وضوء), Persian, ābdast (آبدست). Ablution is described by Muḥammad as “the half of faith and the key of prayer” (Mishkāt, iii. 3c), and is founded on the authority of the Qurʾān, Sūrah v. 8, “O Believers! when ye prepare yourselves for prayer, wash your faces and hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles.”

These ablutions are absolutely necessary as a preparation for the recital of the liturgical form of prayer, and are performed as follows: The worshipper, having tucked up his sleeves a little higher than his elbows, washes his hands three times; then he rinses his mouth three times, throwing the water into it with his right hand. After this, he, with his right hand, throws water up his nostrils, snuffing it up at the same time, and then blows it out, compressing his nostrils with the thumb and finger of the left hand—this being also performed three times. He then washes his face three times, throwing up the water with both hands. He next washes his right hand and arm, as high as the elbow, as many times, causing the water to run along his arm from the palm of the hand to the elbow, and in the same manner he washes the left. Then he draws his wetted right hand over the upper part of his head, raising his turban or cap with his left. If he has a beard, he then combs it with the wetted fingers of his right hand, holding his hand with the palm forwards, and passing the fingers through his beard from the throat upwards. He then puts the tips of his fore-fingers into his ears and twists them round, passing his thumbs at the same time round the back of the ears from the bottom upwards. Next, he wipes his neck with the back of the fingers of both hands, making the ends of his fingers meet behind his neck, and then drawing them forward. Lastly, he washes his feet, as high as the ankles, and passes his fingers between the toes.

Before commencing the waẓūʾ:—“I am going to purify myself from all bodily uncleanness, preparatory to commencing prayer, that holy act of duty, which will draw my soul near to the throne of the Most High. In the name of God, the Great and Mighty. Praise be to God who has given us grace to be Muslims. Islām is a truth and infidelity a falsehood.”