If You Are Sick or Traveling — The Comprehensiveness of the Concession
asbab
Level: intermediate
madani-events
as-055
يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمۡ وَيَهۡدِيَكُمۡ سُنَنَ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِكُمۡ
— المائدة 6
Verse: "If you are sick or traveling, or one of you comes from the bathroom, or you have been with women and cannot find water — then perform tayammum." (5:6)
Context: A broader legislative context expanding the first tayammum verse. This verse gathered all tayammum causes in more comprehensive detail.
The four stated causes: Illness, travel, answering the call of nature, marital relations — all share the state of impurity with absence or inability to use water.
Principle: "Allah intends ease for you" — a universal principle following purification verses, as if Allah explicitly states all these rulings are built on ease not hardship.
Source: Al-Qurtubi (6/84); Ibn Kathir (3/11); Ibn Al-Arabi
Question: What are the four causes of tayammum mentioned in the Al-Maidah verse?
Answer: (1) Illness (2) Travel (3) Answering the call of nature (4) Marital relations — all permit tayammum when water is absent or its use is impossible.