PHYSICAL CLEANLINESS IN THE VIEW OF ISLAM
One form of perfection and beauty of Islam is how Islam not only regulates aspects related to worship (ubudiyah) but also other aspects that are human (insaniyah). For example, Islam is very concerned about health problems for the people as a means of supporting the worship of Allah SWT. The essence of health itself actually boils down to how Islam regulates the importance of maintaining cleanliness, both for oneself, others and the surrounding environment.
In Islamic teachings, cleanliness is the most important part of the basic elements of Islam which include faith, sharia, and muamalah. There are three vocabularies that are often used in the Koran and the Hadith of the Prophet SAW related to cleanliness, namely taharah, tazkiyyahand Nadhafah. The three vocabularies have meanings that include bodily cleanliness (jismiyyah) and inner (hissiyyah). Term taharah for example, what is mentioned in the Koran almost 31 times, can have a broad meaning, not only meaning to be clean physically from dirty things such as uncleanness, but also to be clean and pure inwardly from heinous, despicable and evil deeds.
Physical cleanliness is clean in a concrete way which can be interpreted as clean from all dirt or anything that is considered disgusting. In Islamic jurisprudence, physical cleanliness is always associated with purity. Although in practice the term clean is sometimes distinguished from sacred. For example, a body that is exposed to soil may be considered physically dirty, but not necessarily impure. Vice versa, the body physically may look clean, but it is not necessarily holy because it may still have hadas, both small hadas (not performing ablution) and large hadas (menstruation, childbirth or junub).
The importance of Islam in maintaining physical cleanliness is mentioned one of them in the word of Allah surah al-Maidah (5) verse 6, where Allah requires people who are going to pray to clean the limbs first by means of ablution. Routine ablution certainly makes the body more comfortable, kept clean and this will also prevent various kinds of diseases caused by dirt. Rasulullah SAW made a beautiful parable related to this as in the hadith told by Abu Hurairah radhiyallahu 'anhu, he said that Rasulullah ﷺ said:
God willing فِيهِ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ خَمْسًا ، مَا تَقُولُ ذَلِكَ يُبْقِى مِنْ دَرَنِ Home » . قَالُوا لاَ يُبْقِى مِنْ دَرَنِهِ شَيْئًا . قَالَ « فَذَلِكَ مِثْلُ الصَّلَوَاتِ الْخَمْسِ or بِهَا الْخَطَايَا »
"Did you know, if there was a flowing river in front of your house and you bathed there five times a day, would any dirt still stick to your bodies?" The companions replied: "There will not be any dirt left." He ﷺ said: "Thus the five daily prayers, Allah made as a cleansing of sins." [HR. Bukhari no. 528 and Muslim no. 667].
But ironically, chastity and physical cleanliness for oneself are often not accompanied by responsibility for maintaining cleanliness for the surrounding environment such as responsibility for cleanliness on roads, other people's yards, rivers and others. Therefore, a good Muslim should be able to maintain the above balance because Islam itself is rahmatan lil 'alamin.
Sumber:
Research and Development Agency and Education Ministry of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia (2017), Tafsir al-Qu'an Thematic, Volume 4, Jakarta: Kamil Pustaka
Shihab, Quraish (2002), Interpretation of the Misbah, Jakarta: Lantern of the Heart
Name : Eni Mawarti, S.Pd.I
NIK: 111002226