and more starkly than on any other color.

– al-danas: with fatḥah on the dāl and the nūn; it means grime and filth.
– al-bard: with fatḥah on the bāʾ and the rāʾ; it refers to the hailstones that fall from clouds.

Al-Khaṭṭābī said: Mentioning snow and hail serves to reinforce the plea. The washing here is not meant in its literal sense; rather, it is a striking metaphor for thorough purification from sin.

Shaykh al-Islam observed that hot water would in fact cleanse more effectively, yet snow and hail are invoked to match the burning heat of the sins that are to be removed.

What is derived from the ḥadith

1. The opening supplication (istiftāḥ) is recommended. Its place is after the opening takbīr and before seeking refuge and beginning the recitation; this is the gentle pause that the Prophet ﷺ observed in silence.
2. The supplication is ordinarily recited quietly, unless there is a need to say it aloud so that those praying behind may learn it, as ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) once did.
3. The etiquette of the learned in proper instruction: the student asks and the teacher answers about matters that are truly needed, while they are engaged in acting upon them, not in contrived, purely theoretical puzzles.
4. According to our Hanbalī jurists, the imam’s pauses are three:
   a. The first is before al-Fātiḥah in the opening rakʿah.
   b. The second is after al-Fātiḥah, for a span equal to its recitation; this is the view of al-Shāfiʿī. Ibn al-Qayyim explained that this pause is to allow the congregation to recite, and therefore it should be lengthened long enough for them to finish al-Fātiḥah.
   A second report from Imām Aḥmad, however, states that the imam does not pause here, in agreement with Abū Ḥanīfah and Mālik; this is the fatwā given and the position relied upon in the Hanbalī manuals.