Personal Hygiene/Care In Islam

[booda]

In discussion with a male Muslim friend he told me that Muslim men were obliged to shave/trim their armpit hair and also their pubic hair. Is this correct?

What other guidelines/rules of personal hygiene/care, apart from ablutions, are Muslims obliged to follow?

Thanks

[Arsalan]

Perosnal Hygiene is a highly important part of ones Islam. Infact a hadith points to this through a saying attributed to the Prophet saw That "cleanliness is half of faith" . We also learn in Islam that cleanliness is part of the Fitrah ( the natural state of innocence ) . Hence there are many actions that are advised in the Sunnah to be carried out to maintain cleaniless. I cant list them all here ...

- Brushing the teeth regularly. In the time of the Prophets this was done using a special twig called a miswak , which has anti bacterial and medicinal properties.

- clipping the nails of the feet and fingers at regular intervals,

- shaving the pubic hair...

Needless to say these 3 alone are big steps towards personal hygiene and keeping a good check on health and wellness.

Muslims do a washing formula of members of their body before every prayer of the 5 prayers. it takes 2/3 minutes on average. And again this washing is a very interesting
way of maintain bodily purity and health, as well as coming to God with external cleanliness along with the internal cleaninless without which ones prayer has little meaning.

This wasing can be be bypassed in certain circumstanes ie.e travelleing.. in which case dry earth can be used instead.

Muslims are also obliged to have a "shower/bathing" after certain actions, or at regular intervals.

[Al-Nasser]

In discussion with a male Muslim friend he told me that Muslim men were obliged to shave/trim their armpit hair and also their pubic hair. Is this correct?

What other guidelines/rules of personal hygiene/care, apart from ablutions, are Muslims obliged to follow?

Thanks

the first time i knew that non Muslims don't do that frequently i was really shocked

[booda]

AbdulMajid, thanks for the good post. Do you have anylinks where I can read more?

the first time i knew that non Muslims don't do that frequently i was really shocked
Don't do what? Shave their pubic and armpit hair?

[Mira]

AbdulMajid, thanks for the good post. Do you have anylinks where I can read more?

Hello booda,

I'm not AbdulMajid, again .. but as I mentioned before, I like to poke my nose here and there. Here's a good link:

http://www.ummah.net/forum/showthread.php?p=608886#post608886


Don't do what? Shave their pubic and armpit hair?

Ok, the brothers are shy, I guess. It's alright, I'll tell you: Not washing their genitals after using the toilet :)

[booda]

Erm....does anyone mind if we get back on topic?

[Arsalan]

There are some Flashes here

http://english.islamway.com/bindex.php?section=flashmain

on how muslims do the washing before their prayers. And how they pray too.

And there is more detailed informaiton on external purificaiton here:

http://www.inter-islam.org/Actions/actionsdex.htm

although thats aimed at muslims specifucally , not non muslims learning. But its v good.

[almahdi]

I agree that wudu can promote good hygiene, but how clean are you with just cleaning with water/ clean dirt?

[icarrim]

On the issue of personal hygiene , it is important to know how much Islam lays emphasis on cleanliness of the body,both "inside and outside '.One leads to another and here it reaches the soul and hence qualifies the individual for "ibaadat".