with the fingers spread apart; he wipes his face with their inner sides, and his hands with his palms, and interlaces his fingers.

His statement, “with the fingers spread apart,” means separated, so that the soil may enter between them. This is because the jurists hold that it is obligatory here to cover the entire face and hands; hence, they said, “with the fingers spread apart.”

Yet the hadiths narrated from the Prophet ﷺ stating that he struck with his hands do not mention that he spread his fingers apart. The purification of dry ablution is based on ease and leniency; it is not like purification with water.

His statement, “he wipes his face with their inner sides, and his hands with his palms,” means: with the inner sides of the fingers, leaving the palms, so that he does not wipe with them. For if he were to wipe with the whole inner side of the hand, then wished to wipe his hands, the soil would have become used in an obligatory purification. According to the legal school, it would then be pure but no longer purifying, based on the view that soil, like water, is divided into three categories: purifying, pure, and impure. This is not accepted. The correct view, as mentioned previously, is that there is no soil described as pure but not purifying (1), and that soil used in an obligatory purification remains purifying. Accordingly, there is no need for this manner, since it rests on a weak rationale and has no evidence to support it. Rather, the evidence indicates the contrary: the hadith of Ammar states, “He wiped his face with his hands” (2), without further detail. Thus, we say: Wipe your face with both hands, and wipe one hand with the other.

His statement, “and interlaces his fingers,” means that this is obligatory, unlike purification with water, where it is recommended, because water penetrates and enters between the fingers without