Chapter on Wudūʾ (Ablution)
Its obligatory elements are six:
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Intention: namely, to lift the state of minor ritual impurity, to obtain permission for an act that requires purity, or to discharge the obligatory wudūʾ itself. Someone in a continual state of impurity—such as a woman with chronic bleeding—needs only the intention of permissibility, not removal, according to the sounder view in both cases. If, together with a valid intention, he also means to cool himself, the ablution is valid on the preferred opinion. An intention limited to something for which wudūʾ is merely recommended—such as reciting the Qurʾan—does not suffice, according to the soundest position. The intention must accompany the very first act of washing the face, although another view allows attaching it to a preceding sunnah act. According to the sounder view, he may perform the ablution in non-consecutive segments, distributing it over his limbs.
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Washing the face, defined as the area between the usual hairline and the bottom of the chin and jaw, and from ear to ear. This includes the region called the ghamam and, on the sounder view, the taḥdhīf as well, but not the two recessed white patches (al-nazʿatān) that flank the forelock. I say: the majority hold that the taḥdhīf belongs to the head; Allah knows best. One must wash every eyelash, eyebrow, sideburn, moustache, cheek, and the tuft beneath the lower lip, both hair and skin. Some maintain that the inside of a thick tuft beneath the lip need not be washed. If the beard is sparse, it must be washed throughout; if thick, only its outer surface is obligatory. One opinion states that hair lying outside the facial boundary need not be washed at all.
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Washing the hands together with the elbows. If part of the limb is amputated, whatever remains must be washed. When the arm is severed at the elbow, washing up to the head of the humerus is obligatory on the well-known view; anything above that is merely recommended.
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The minimum wiping of some skin of the scalp or hair within its bounds. One may wash instead of wipe, and simply placing the hand without drawing it forward is sufficient.