al-Mudawwana, for he states there that a sick person who cannot use water may perform dry ablution even when water is available, and that a healthy person who is at home, rather than travelling, may perform dry ablution when water is unavailable, in accordance with the interpretation we have mentioned. This is also Mujāhid’s view, as related in al-Mudawwana: “A person suffering from smallpox, and others in similar circumstances, is permitted to forgo ablution.” He would recite:
“If you are ill or on a journey” [al-Mā’idah: 6].
He said, “This is among the less obvious points of Quranic interpretation.” Those who understand the verse as involving transposition do not permit a sick person to perform dry ablution when water is available, even if he cannot use it, nor a healthy resident when water is unavailable, because they take His words, “And you cannot find water” [al-Mā’idah: 6], as referring back to travel and illness.
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The interpretation I adopt is that “or” in His words, “Or one of you comes from relieving himself” [al-Mā’idah: 6], means “and”. On this reading, the verse retains its apparent meaning without requiring any transposition or implicitly supplied wording. Its meaning is therefore clear and unproblematic, while it remains in its recited order, without transposition or implicit additions. For when Allah, mighty and majestic is He, says:
“O you who believe, when you rise for prayer, wash your faces” [al-Mā’idah: 6],
through to His words,
“And you cannot find water” [al-Mā’idah: 6],
He makes clear that sick people and travellers who have relieved themselves or touched women are to perform dry ablution if they cannot find water. On this interpretation, too, neither a sick person who has water available but cannot use it nor a resident who has no water qualifies for dry ablution.
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As for the differing interpretations of particular aspects of the verse, one concerns His words, Most High:
“When you rise for prayer” [al-Mā’idah: 6].
It has been said that this means, “When you rise while in a state of ritual impurity.” Another interpretation is, “When you rise from your beds.” This is the view of Zayd ibn Aslam, and it is preferable to the first interpretation, because states of ritual impurity