The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 214
CH. 4 AN-NISA' ablution for Prayer, betook himself to pure dust and wiped his face and hands therewith. (tayammum) is technically the process of striking the palms of the hands on the surface of pure earth and then wiping or passing them over the face, etc. , in the prescribed manner (Tāj). Commentary: According to this verse, Prayer cannot be considered to have been properly performed if the devotee simply repeats the words of Prayer without understanding what he says. It is also implicit in the verse that a non-Arab Muslim, besides praying in the prescribed Arabic words, should also pray to God and supplicate to Him in his own tongue, in the language which he usually speaks and in which he can best express his thoughts and feelings. The word though primarily meaning "intoxicated" is, as shown under Important Words, much wider in its significance. Any state or condition in which one is not in full possession of oneself, either through anger or love or hunger or sleep, etc. is included in this expression. The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: "If a man is sleepy, then he should not say his Prayers till the state of sleepiness has left him" (Bukhārī, ch. on Wuḍū'). Again: "A man should not say his Prayers when he is hungry and the food has been placed before him (Bukhārī, ch. on Ṣalāt), or when the call of nature demands his attention" (Dāwūd, ch. on Ṭahārat). The expression, nor when you are 654 PT. 5 unclean, means that just as a man cannot perform Prayers when he is in a state of (not in full possession of his senses). Similarly, he cannot perform Prayers in a state of being (for the meaning of which see Important Words above), until he performs total ablution by bathing. Sexual intercourse creates a sort of uncleanness in the body which must be removed by bathing in order to ensure proper state of purity, cheerfulness and readiness necessary for worship. The clause, except when you are travelling along a way, means that though ordinarily a person who is in a state of "uncleanness" cannot perform his Prayers except after properly bathing, yet if he becomes "unclean" when he is actually travelling on the way, bathing is not obligatory on him for the performance of Prayers. He can in this case perform tayammum as ordered in the concluding part of the verse. The sentence, if you are ill or you are on a journey (while unclean) or if one of you comes from the privy or you have touched women and you find no water, then betake yourselves to pure dust, mentions four classes of persons on whom (ablution) or (total ablution) is not obligatory for the performance of Prayer, they being required to perform what is known as tayammum, i. e. betaking to pure dust and wiping therewith the face and the hands, as detailed in Hadith and Sunnah. These four classes are: (1) the sick; (2) those on