Ayah 6 of Surah Maidah is mainly about ritual purity – a single, concise verse containing rulings on wudu, ghusl and tayammum. However, before mentioning the rulings of purity, Allah sub’hanahu wa ta’ala begins by addressing the believers in a way that subtly, yet impactfully, encourages them to hasten towards prayer specifically, and other acts of ibadah generally.
“O you who believe, when you rise for Salah (prayer), wash your faces…”
[Al Maidah, Ayah 6]
A literal understanding of the verse would mean that we are required to make wudu every time we stand up for prayer. However, we know that we do not need to make wudu if we are already in a state of ritual purity. And even if we are in need of wudu, we don’t necessarily have to make wudu exactly at the time we stand up to pray. We would normally make wudu way before that.
Abu Su’ud explains that the verse actually means “O you who believe, when you [intend to] rise for Salah…”
So, the intention to perform an action (in this case, standing up for prayer) has been replaced by the action itself that is the result of the intention. That is, the action now stands as a metaphor for the intention. This, according to Abu Su’ud, is done for two reasons:
- For brevity, and
- To indicate that it is befitting for the one who intends to pray to hasten to perform it such that his intention does not separate from the action.
How many times do we intend to pray but we delay it for worldly reasons to the very end of the prayer time? And how many good actions have we missed out on just because we have procrastinated despite making the intention to do them?
May Allah give us the tawfiq to hasten to every good action that draws us closer to Him.
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Qur'anic Reflections 
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