The astonishing similarity in ablution is mainly between Judaism and Islam. Adherents of both religions are commanded to wash their bodies before approaching prayer, and it is a prerequisite for Jews to do it before entering holy places. The two religions refer to the purification of body using water by the same name (Tahara). In both religions there are 2 types of wash, one which involves full body immersion and the second is for certain body parts. The full immersion is usually headlining a new beginning or a marking point, as the first full body wash is for the new born and the very last is for the deceased before burial. The other types of full immersion wash are post child delivery for women, post menstruation, proselytizing, and after sex for men and women alike.
The minor ritual washing named Wudu; which Muslims perform before prayer, requires a 3 times wash of the forearm, face, head, and feet. Jews also wash their hands for the same number of times after visiting the toilet. The staggering similarity appears the Gospel of Mark which shows how the Pharisees carried the practice of ablution to great excess in their ceremonial preparations.The exact word that is used in the Greek New Testament refers to the arm from the elbow to the tips of the fingers, exactly how Muslims wash according to Quran 5:6 " O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles." The Old Testament also states how ablution should precede performing ritualistic prayers, and more specifically the wash of hands and feet. In Exodus 30:21 the bible reads, " So they shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they will not die; and it shall be a perpetual statute for them, for Aaron and his descendants throughout their generations,” and in Samuel 12:20 it is a prerequisite to enter the house of God to pray, "Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate."
Although ablution is less frequently performed in Christianity compared with Judaism and Islam, water is a major motif in the Christian faith through baptism. Like the Old testament and Quran dictates the full immersion of body after conversion and birth, Christianity holds the two ideas but in a rather fused manner due to the theological conceptions of the residence of the Holy Spirit in believers. The biblical figure which introduced baptism is John the Baptist, a man recognized as a prophet by Muslims and Mandaeans who recognize a number of Qur'anic and Biblical figures to be prophets of which the very last is John the Baptist. Mandaeans are more commonly known as the Subba and the term Subba is derived from the Aramaic root related to baptism, and they build their house of worship, manda beside a river in order to perform masbattah (baptism) as water is an essential element in the Mandaeic faith. Modern mandas sometimes have a bath inside a building like Jewish Mikveh inside synagogues.
The second account of ablution in Christianity is the wash of feet performed by Jesus on his last meeting with his disciples and his last famous prayer. When Jesus insisted on washing Simon Peter's feet, Simon asked why just the feet and not the head and the hands too . Jesus replied saying, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean." This way Jesus showed a distinction of two types of wash, a major full immersion one, and another minor one for certain body parts.
The ritualistic features of belief systems has a great effect of drawing their adherents apart. The similarity in the essence of these rituals can explain a lot about the course of revelation from God to humanity and why things look the way they are. The major headlining ideas of a belief system is usually cognitively walled and secured by ritualistic familiarity and the sanctification of these rituals would be mistaken for reverence for the off the beaten tracks, theological questions.
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