the elbows,’ has merely added this on his own (1).”

Likewise, he would perform dry ablution using the ground on which he prayed, whether it was soil, salt-covered ground (2), or sand. It is authentically reported that he said: “Wherever a man of my community finds himself when prayer becomes due, he has there his place of prayer and his means of purification” (3). This explicitly establishes that if prayer becomes due while someone is on sand, that sand is a means of purification for him. When he and his Companions travelled on the expedition to Tabūk, they crossed those sands along their route while their water was extremely scarce. Yet it has not been reported that he carried soil with him or instructed anyone to do so, nor that any of his Companions did so, despite the certainty that sand is more abundant than soil in desert wildernesses. The same is true of the land of the Hijāz (4) and elsewhere. Whoever reflects on this will be certain that he performed dry ablution with sand. Allah knows best. This is the view of the majority of scholars.

As for the description of dry ablution that involves placing the inner surfaces of the fingers of the left hand against the backs of the fingers of the right hand, then passing them up to the elbow, then turning the palm onto the underside of the forearm and holding the left thumb upright like a caller to prayer until it reaches the right thumb and is pressed against it—this is something (5) that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is known with certainty never to have done, taught any of his Companions, commanded, or recommended. Such was his practice, and it is the standard by which matters must be judged.