56 – It is related from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: “The Prophet ﷺ fixed the period of wiping over the khuffs at three days and their nights for the traveller, and one day and one night for the resident.” This concerns wiping over the khuffs and is recorded by Muslim. (1)

Glossary of terms
– “Three days”: A “day” runs from the appearance of the second dawn until sunset. Thus, if someone does something during the daytime and speaks of it after sunset, he says, “I did it yesterday.” Some have preferred the expression “yesterday, the nearer one.” Grammatically the word yawm (day) is masculine, while its plural ayyām is a feminine plural, as in the phrase “ayyām mubārakah” (blessed days).
– “And their nights”: the plural of laylah. Al-Miṣbāḥ notes that the regular plural would be laylāt. A “night” extends from sunset to the rising of the dawn. Al-Muʿjam al-Wasīṭ adds: one may say “I did such-and-such tonight” for the period from daybreak until midday; once midday has passed, one says “last night,” meaning the night that has already elapsed.

Points derived from the ḥadīth

1. The maximum period for a resident to wipe is one day and one night, calculated—according to the stronger of the two scholarly opinions—from the first act of wiping after minor impurity until the same time on the next day.
2. The maximum period for a traveller to wipe is three days and their nights, counted from the first act of wiping after minor impurity until the corresponding time on the fourth day.
3. The same time limits apply to the ʿimāmah (turban) and to women’s khumur (head veils) according to those who allow wiping over them. Although there is disagreement on the matter, the preponderant view is that such wiping is permissible.