Coming from a country where snow is not part of everyday life, I often used to wonder about the meaning behind seeking purification through snow, as mentioned in one of the prophetic supplications recited at the beginning of Salah. It was something I recited regularly, yet the reference to snow always felt distant and abstract.
After coming to a country where snow becomes part of everyday life during winter, that curiosity slowly turned into understanding. I began to notice how snow behaves when it settles on a car. Quite remarkably, it cleans it very well. Dust, mud, and even oily grime seem to disappear after snowfall, sometimes more effectively than with plain water.
As we know, snow does not scrub or rub forcefully. It settles gently, absorbs the dirt, and removes it quietly, leaving the surface clean and refreshed.
This simple observation, once only a thought and now a lived experience, helped bring clarity to a deeper spiritual meaning found in the opening supplications of Salah.
The Prophet ﷺ would ask Allah at the beginning of prayer to wash away sins using water, snow, and hail. This supplication is authentically reported in the most reliable collections of hadith. The mention of snow is intentional and full of wisdom, something that classical Islamic scholars reflected upon at length.
They explained that snow represents a unique form of purification. Unlike ordinary water, it cleans deeply without spreading impurity. They also pointed out that sins leave behind effects on the heart, such as restlessness, desire, anger, and guilt, which can be likened to heat. Snow, with its cooling nature, symbolizes calming and extinguishing those effects. Others emphasized that mentioning snow after water reflects a request for the highest level of purification, one that leaves no residue behind.
Taken together, these reflections show that snow represents complete and gentle purification. It cools, absorbs, and removes impurity without harshness or exposure.
In the same way, the believer is not only asking Allah for forgiveness, but also asking for sins to be erased entirely, for their effects to be removed, and for the heart to be restored to purity, just as freshly fallen snow leaves a surface clean and renewed. Subhanallah!
The Full Opening Supplication of Salah (Duʿāʾ al Istiftāḥ)
اللَّهُمَّ بَاعِدْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ خَطَايَايَ كَمَا بَاعَدْتَ بَيْنَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ
اللَّهُمَّ نَقِّنِي مِنْ خَطَايَايَ كَمَا يُنَقَّى الثَّوْبُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الدَّنَسِ
اللَّهُمَّ اغْسِلْنِي مِنْ خَطَايَايَ بِالْمَاءِ وَالثَّلْجِ وَالْبَرَدِ
Allāhumma bāʿid baynī wa bayna khaṭāyāya kamā bāʿadta bayna al mashriqi wal maghrib.
Allāhumma naqqinī min khaṭāyāya kamā yunaqqā ath thawbu al abyaḍu mina ad danas.
Allāhumma ighsilnī min khaṭāyāya bil mā’i wath thalji wal barad.
O Allah, distance me from my sins just as You have distanced the East from the West.
O Allah, purify me from my sins as a white garment is purified from dirt.
O Allah, wash away my sins with water, snow, and hail.
This supplication is authentically reported from the Prophet ﷺ and is among the well known opening supplications recited after the opening takbīr in Salah. It is recorded in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī and Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
Baarak Allahu feekum
Abu Abdul Mannaan
