Wudhu Part 1
Section 2 of 17 · Faraid in Islam · Ustadh Mahmud Kurkcu
The Verse of Wuḍūʾ
Wuḍūʾ, then, is a farḍ act performed whenever another act of worship requires it as a prerequisite. Allah (swt) says in Sūrat al-Māʾidah — verse seven, or verse six, depending on which copy of the Qurʾān is consulted:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ فَٱغْسِلُوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْمَرَافِقِ وَٱمْسَحُوا۟ بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْكَعْبَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن كُنتُمْ جُنُبًا فَٱطَّهَّرُوا۟ ۚ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَىٰٓ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَآءَ أَحَدٌ مِّنكُم مِّنَ ٱلْغَآئِطِ أَوْ لَـٰمَسْتُمُ ٱلنِّسَآءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا۟ مَآءً فَتَيَمَّمُوا۟ صَعِيدًا طَيِّبًا فَٱمْسَحُوا۟ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُم مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ لِيَجْعَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ حَرَجٍ وَلَـٰكِن يُرِيدُ لِيُطَهِّرَكُمْ وَلِيُتِمَّ نِعْمَتَهُۥ عَلَيْكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
“O you who believe, when you rise for Salāh, (prayer) wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and make MasH (wiping by hands) of your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles. If you are in a state of major impurity, cleanse yourselves well (by taking bath). If you are sick, or on a journey, or if one of you has come after relieving himself, or you have had sexual contact with women, and you find no water, then, go for some clean dust and wipe your faces and hands with it. Allah does not like to impose a problem on you; He, rather likes to cleanse you and to complete His favour upon you, so that you may be grateful.” (5:6)
O you who believe, when you rise for prayer, wash your faces and your hands to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet to the ankles. The address — O you who believe — is to Muslims specifically; Allah (swt) is not asking this of non-Muslims, who have no wuḍūʾ to make. Whenever the believer rises to perform ṣalāh, any ṣalāh, the face is washed, the hands are washed as far as the elbows, the head is wiped — masḥ is made upon it — and the feet are washed to the ankles.
Four farḍ components of wuḍūʾ are spelled out plainly in this āyah, and there is no way round them. A question naturally arises here: if every part of wuḍūʾ has already been washed except the feet, and freshly clean cotton socks are already on, would it be permissible simply to wipe over them rather than remove them and wash the feet beneath? That question is addressed further on, once the four conditions of a genuine khuff have been set out.
The adab, the sunan, the wājibāt and the farāʾiḍ of wuḍūʾ are set out at length in the books of fiqh, and a copy of the relevant book — whichever madhhab is followed, Ḥanafī, Shāfiʿī, Mālikī or Ḥanbalī — should be obtained and kept to. There is no mixing and matching: taking some rulings from one school and some from another and combining them within a single act of worship is not permitted, according to the ʿulamāʾ. Washing the face according to the Shāfiʿī school, the feet according to the Mālikī, the arms according to the Ḥanbalī and the head according to the Ḥanafī is not acceptable; one particular set of rules must be kept to within one particular act of worship, from beginning to end. There is no mixing.