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Fatwa CenterDoubts about performing ablution and prayer
Question
I want to pray and do good deeds. However, I am always afraid that I will perform, the ablutions and prayer wrong. Is there a way I can know without asking anybody, because of fear from embarrassment?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, you should learn how to perform ablution appropriately and how to perform the prayer appropriately so that you avoid making mistakes.
Indeed, learning how to pray and all the conditions of a valid prayer are matters which a Muslim is not permitted to ignore and this is an individual obligation upon every Muslim.
The method of performing ablution is as follows:
Abdullaah Ibn Zaid 
was asked about how did the Prophet perform ablution, and he demonstrated practically the method of ablution as follows:
He poured water from the pot over his hands and washed his hands thrice and then he put his hands in the pot and rinsed his mouth and washed his nose by putting water in it and then blowing it out with three handfuls of water. Again he put his hand in the water and washed his face thrice and washed his forearms up to the elbows thrice; and then he put his hands in the water and wiped his head starting from the front to the rear of his head and back to the front again once, and then he washed his feet up to the ankles thrice [washing the right foot first and then the left foot]. This is the complete way of performing ablution.
It was also narrated in Saheeh Al-Bukhari and other books of Hadeeth that sometimes the Prophet washed his organs of ablution twice and sometimes once.
For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 84841.
As regards the method of performing the prayer, please refer to Fatwa 85270.
Finally, we remind our brother that nobody should be ashamed of asking questions related to worship. How can a person know how to perform his religious duties without learning them or inquiring about them by asking knowledgeable people in Islam? In fact, worshipping Allah has to be in accordance to what the Prophet Muhammad taught us, otherwise acts of worship will be rejected and returned to its doer. The Prophet said: “Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim (male or female).”
Allaah Knows best.
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