Step 7 of 7
How Many Prayers One Tayammum Covers
A valid tayammum permits everything that wudu permits, or that ghusl permits when it was made in place of ghusl: prayer, the circling of the Ka'bah, and touching the mushaf.
The schools differ on how long one tayammum lasts. The Hanafi school treats it as a full substitute for water, so it stays valid like wudu until something breaks it. The other three schools see it as a permission granted for a need, and so limit it, either to one obligatory prayer or to the time of one prayer.
They also differ on whether you may make tayammum for an obligatory prayer before its time has begun. Making a fresh tayammum for each obligatory prayer, after its time has begun, is valid with all four schools.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
How many obligatory prayers may be prayed with one tayammum?
2 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanafi, Hanbali.
Show each school
- As many as you wishHanafi
- One obligatory prayerMaliki · Shafi'i
- Until the prayer's time endsHanbali
- Hanafi
- You may pray as many obligatory and voluntary prayers as you wish with one tayammum until it is broken or you find water.
- Maliki
- Each obligatory prayer needs its own tayammum, and voluntary prayers may be prayed with it when they follow straight after the obligatory one.
- Shafi'i
- One tayammum is for a single obligatory prayer, while you may pray as many voluntary prayers with it as you wish.
- Hanbali
- Tayammum ends when the time of the prayer ends; within that time you may pray the obligatory prayer, make up missed prayers, and pray voluntary prayers with it.
May you make tayammum for an obligatory prayer before its time begins?
3 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanafi.
Show each school
- ValidHanafi
- Not validMaliki · Shafi'i · Hanbali
- Hanafi
- Tayammum before the prayer's time is valid, just as wudu is, since it is a purification in its own right.
- Maliki
- Tayammum for an obligatory prayer is made only after its time has begun.
- Shafi'i
- Tayammum for an obligatory prayer before its time has begun is not valid, since it is allowed only out of need.
- Hanbali
- Tayammum for an obligatory prayer is made only once its time has begun.
- Qur'an 5:6
- Jami' al-Tirmidhi 124Graded by Ahmad Muhammad Shakir: Sahih · Al-Albani: Sahih · Bashar Awad Maarouf: Hasan Sahih · Zubair Ali Zai: HasanSahih
- Sahih al-Bukhari 335 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
The positions of the four schools are summarised from their standard references and are pending review by a qualified scholar. Follow the school you were taught, and for your own situation, ask a scholar.
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