غسل

Core meaning

To wash with water what must be made clean: the body before the Contact; hence the water that serves for washing, and the liquid that flows from the washing.

Uses

1. ٱغْسِلُوا۟, تَغْتَسِلُوا۟ → "to wash", "to wash oneself" : the gesture prescribed before the Contact: washing the faces and the hands, or washing oneself entirely.

   • «فَٱغْسِلُوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْمَرَافِقِ» — "wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows" (5:6)
   • «حَتَّىٰ تَغْتَسِلُوا۟» — "until you have washed yourselves" (4:43)

2. مُغْتَسَل → "for washing" : the water given to Ayyub, for washing and for drinking.

   • «هَٰذَا مُغْتَسَلٌۢ بَارِدٌۭ وَشَرَابٌۭ» — "here is cool water for washing and for drinking" (38:42)

3. غِسْلِين → "a foul discharge" : what flows from the washing, given as the only food to those at fault.

   • «وَلَا طَعَامٌ إِلَّا مِنْ غِسْلِينٍۢ» — "nor any food except a foul discharge" (69:36)

Evidence from the text

The verb always bears on water and on what it removes. In 4:43, the one who is soiled does not approach the Contact "until you have washed yourselves"; in 5:6, washing precedes the Contact, limb by limb. In 38:42, Ayyub runs with his foot, and the water that springs up is both for washing and for drinking.

In 69:36 the word is turned around: غِسْلِين names what flows from the washing, and it is the only food of the one who has here no warm friend left. What the water removes becomes what he is given to eat.

Distinctions

• طهر — purity: the state one obtains, whereas غسل says the gesture of the water
• مسح — to pass the wet hand without washing: the head, in 5:6

See also

صلو (the Contact)