What is "wudu"

n. Ritual washing by Muslims before prayers.

Wuḍūʾ ( ; / ALA-LC: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ) is the Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body (hands, mouth, nostrils, arms, head, feet) using water. What activities require wuḍūʾ, and what rituals constitute and what breaks or invalidates it are governed by fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).

Wuḍūʾ is typically done in preparation for formal prayers ( salat), and also before handling and reading the Qur'an according to the majority Sunni view. Impurifying activities that invalidate wudu include urination, defecation, breaking wind, deep sleep, and light bleeding.

Wuḍūʾ is often translated as "partial ablution", as opposed to ghusl, or "full ablution" (where the whole body is washed), or tayammum aka "dry ablution", (where water is replaced with sand or dust due to its scarcity, its harmful effect on the abluter or some other reason). Purification of the body and clothes is called taharah. To have taharah for the body, one should do either ghusl or wuḍūʾ.