This is how the historians have related it. Allah knows best whether this account is authentic. Nevertheless, the evidence and reasoning already mentioned are sufficient. Even so, if he finds no place other than such a cracked spot, it is permissible for him to urinate in it.

Touching one’s private part with the right hand, ……….

His statement, “and touching his private part with his right hand,” means that it is disliked for one relieving himself to touch his private part with his right hand. This includes both private parts, because the singular noun in a possessive construction conveys a general meaning, and “private part” may refer to both the front and rear private parts. Thus, it is disliked for him to touch his private part with his right hand, based on the hadith of Abu Qatadah: “None of you should hold his penis with his right hand while urinating, wipe himself after relieving himself with his right hand, or breathe into a vessel.” (1)

Whoever reflects on this hadith will find that the Prophet ﷺ restricted it to the state of urinating. The phrase “while urinating” expresses the condition of the subject of “should hold.”

The scholars, may Allah Most High have mercy on them, differed concerning this qualification: is it intended—meaning that the prohibition applies only when one is urinating—because his hand may become soiled with urine? But when he is not urinating, then this organ is, as the Prophet ﷺ said, “only a part of you,” (2) when he was asked about a man touching