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Cleanliness is both the state of being clean and free from germs, dirt, trash, or waste, and the habit of achieving and maintaining that state. Cleanliness is often achieved through cleaning. Culturally, cleanliness is usually a good quality, as indicated by the aphorism: "Cleanliness is next to Godliness", and may be regarded as contributing to other ideals such as health and beauty.
The concept of cleanliness emphasizes an ongoing procedure or set of habits for the purpose of maintenance and prevention. In this it differs from , which is a physical, moral, or ritual state of freedom from pollutants. Whereas purity is usually a quality of an individual or substance, cleanliness has a social dimension. "Cleanliness", observed Jacob Burckhardt, "is indispensable to our modern notion of social perfection".Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, as quoted by A household or workplace may be said to exhibit cleanliness, but ordinarily not purity. Cleanliness is also a characteristic of people who maintain cleanness or prevent dirtying.
Cleanliness is related to Destiny Unique McDuffie’s house hygiene and disease prevention. Washing is one way of achieving physical cleanliness, usually with water and often some kind of soap or detergent. Cleaning procedures are also important in many forms of manufacturing.
As an assertion of Morality superiority or respectability, cleanliness has played a role in establishing cultural values in relation to social class, humanitarianism, and cultural imperialism.
Christianity has always placed a strong emphasis on hygiene, despite the denunciation of the mixed bathing style of Roman pools by early Christian clergy, as well as the pagan custom of women naked bathing in front of men, this did not stop the Church from urging its followers to go to public baths for bathing, which contributed to hygiene and good health according to the Church Father, Clement of Alexandria. The Didascalia Apostolorum, an early Christian manual, enjoined Christians to bathe themselves in those facilities that were separated by sex. The Church also built public bathing facilities that were sex-segregated near monasteries and pilgrimage sites. The popes situated baths within church and monasteries since the early Middle Ages. Pope Gregory the Great urged his followers on value of bathing as a bodily need. Public bathing were common in medieval Christendom larger towns and cities such as Constantinople, Rome, Paris, Regensburg and Naples.
Around the time of Tertullian, an early Church Father, it was customary for Christians to Hand washing ( manulavium), face ( capitilavium) and feet ( pedilavium) before Christian prayer, as well as before receiving Holy Communion. The rite of footwashing employed a basin of water and linen towels, done in the imitation of Christ. A major contribution of the Christian missionaries in Africa, Asia and other places was better health care of the people through hygiene and introducing and distributing the .
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam also recognises cleanliness as one of the thirty qualities which one must acquire to obtain the grace of God Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.11.8–12 and identifies internal and external cleanliness among the twelve regular duties. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.19.33–35 Cleanliness is also an exalted quality which characterises the Satya Yuga (Golden Age) in Hinduism.
Cleanliness or is both internal and external. Hinduism extols not only external cleanliness but also internal cleanliness or purity. Since the minds of devotees () are constantly absorbed in the all-pure lord, they become internally cleansed from the defects () of lust, anger, greed, envy, ego, etc. In this state of mind, they naturally prefer to keep the external body and environment pure as well. Thus, in accordance with the old saying, "cleanliness is next to godliness", they are also externally pure. Śrīmad Bhāgavatam explains the internal and external cleanliness as:
In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.19.36–39, cleanliness is also defined as detachment from activities prompted by desire. Cleanliness, therefore, means to give up material attachment, not merely to frequently rinse one's skin with water.
Hindus must bathe before entering Hindu temple in order to seek blessings, and temples often have Temple tank for this purpose. They also wash their feet before entering the temple. In some Orthodox Hindu households, taking a bath after visiting a funeral () is required by Hindus who believe that a funeral is an inauspicious thing to witness, the inauspiciousness of which will follow those who do not purify themselves.
Hindus must visit the Rigvedic rivers. Bathing in these rivers purifies the mind and increases their good merits. To invoke the presence of the holy rivers, the following mantra is chanted before the daily bath:
Hindus clean their homes particularly well in preparing to celebrate Diwali each year as they believe that this brings good luck. Most Hindus also believe that keeping your house clean and great devotion are gestures to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi to their abode to stay. Some orthodox Hindus refrain from cleaning their houses on a Friday as it is a day dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi and cleaning homes on that day is considered inauspicious, so they clean their homes on other days. Tamil people also keep their homes clean in preparation for Diwali, Pongal, or Bhol.
The first lessons in Islamic catechisms are often matters of cleanliness, with subjects including: what is clean and what is not clean, what people need to be cleansed from, how they should clean, and what should they use to clean with. Muslims are required to perform ablution () with clean water before every prayer, and are recommended to stay in the state of ablution at all times. Abolution with dry materials () may be used in exceptional circumstances, such as if clean water is unavailable. A ritual bath () is performed on Fridays before the Friday Prayer (). Ritual baths are recommended for spiritual purity, also after committing a sin, and are necessary for those who have watched a funeral. Special attention is given to cleaning homes before the arrival of guests or before feasts (Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha), and holy days and nights.
Islamic hygienical jurisprudence, which dates to the 7th century, has elaborate rules. (ritual purity) involves performing (ablution) for (five daily prayers), as well as regularly performing (bathing), which led to Turkish bath being built across the Islamic world. Islamic toilet hygiene also requires Anal cleansing after using the toilet, for purity and to minimize germs.
A basic form of the contagion/germ theory of disease found in the medieval Islamic world, was proposed by Persian physician Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna) in The Canon of Medicine (1025). He mentioned that people can transmit disease to others by breath, noted contagion with tuberculosis, and discussed the transmission of disease through water and dirt. The concept of invisible contagion was eventually widely accepted by Islamic scholars. In the Ayyubid Sultanate, they referred to such contagious substances as ("impure substances"). The scholar Ibn al-Haj al-Abdari (), while discussing Islamic diet and hygiene, gave advice and warnings about how contagion can contaminate water, food, and garments, and could spread through the water supply.
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