Modesty, then, is what kept ʿAli (may Allah be pleased with him) from asking the Prophet ﷺ this question face-to-face.
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The report shows that a single transmitter’s narration is accepted and acted upon in matters of ritual law such as this.
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One of Muslim’s wordings reads, “Wash your penis and perform ablution,” while another adds, “and wash the testicles.”
These two versions indicate that washing the penis and testicles is obligatory, followed by ablution, because madhy exits through the same channel as urine, and as will be clarified by the narration of Abu Dawud cited in point 7. -
The command to wash the penis and testicles proves that madhy is impure, though some scholars excuse a small amount of it because avoiding it completely is difficult.
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Dry cleansing with stones or the like (istijmar) is not sufficient for removing madhy; water is required. Allah knows best—it differs from the usual discharges such as urine.
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The Hanbalis and some Malikis hold that when madhy is emitted one must wash the entire penis and the testicles, relying on this hadith and its sound variants, which explicitly mention washing the penis in the literal sense of the term, and on Abu Dawud’s narration (208): “He should wash his penis and testicles and then perform ablution.”