and his turban at other times. As for wiping only the front of his head, this has not been reported from him, as explained above.
He would wash his feet when he was wearing neither leather socks nor socks, and wipe over them when they were in leather socks. He would wipe his ears with the water used for his head, wiping both their outer and inner surfaces. It has not been established that he took fresh water for them; this has only been authentically reported from Ibn ʿUmar (1).
No authentic hadith whatsoever has been reported from him concerning wiping the neck (2).
It has not been reported that he said anything during his ablution other than invoking Allah’s name (3). Every hadith concerning the words of remembrance that (4) are to be recited during ablution is a fabricated lie. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) neither said any of them nor taught them to his community. Nothing has been established from him other than invoking Allah’s name at the outset (5), and saying: “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.
(1) Recorded by Mālik (73), ‘Abd al-Razzāq (26) in an extended version—and through him by Ibn al-Mundhir in al-Awsat (1/402)—and Abū ‘Ubayd in al-Tuhūr (367), through two transmission routes from Nāfi‘, from Ibn ‘Umar.
(2) Ibn al-Mulaqqin thoroughly and ably examined the issue of wiping the neck. See al-Badr al-Munīr (2/221–225) and al-Talkhīs al-Habīr (1/241–242).
(3) The passage “It has not been reported from him … invoking Allah’s name” is omitted from ص.
(4) ك, مب, ن read alladhī (“which,” masculine singular), a slip of the pen prompted by the word al-wudū’ (“ablution”).
(5) Al-Bukhārī said in al-Tirmidhī’s al-‘Ilal al-Kabīr (p. 33): “In my view, no hadith on this subject is better than this one”—the hadith transmitted by Ribāh ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān from his grandmother, from her father. Its chain includes Abū Thifāl al-Murrī, of whom al-Bukhārī said: “His hadith is open to question.” See Tahdhīb al-Kamāl (4/410). Al-Tirmidhī identified a defect in it on the basis of the mursal (disconnected) version transmitted by Wakī‘ from the aforementioned Ribāh ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān. It will be discussed again in detail in the sections on remembrance at the end of volume two (pp. 459–460).