that appears in the Verse of Ablution concerning washing. The scholars then differed about repeating the wiping of the head: is such repetition a commendable act, or does it carry no special merit?

Al-Shāfiʿī held that whoever performs the ablution three times for each limb should likewise wipe his head three times. Most jurists, however, maintain that there is no virtue in repeating the wiping.

The root of their disagreement is whether they accept an additional wording that occurs in a single ḥadīth when it reaches them through only one chain of transmission and is not reported by the majority of narrators. In most of the reports—such as the ḥadīth of ʿUthmān and others—in which it is related that the Prophet performed his ablution three times three times, only the statement that he wiped his head three times has been conveyed. Al-Shāfiʿī bolstered the need to accept this extra wording by invoking the outward generality of the report: “He—peace and blessings be upon him—performed ablution once once, twice twice, and three times three times.” Although these words are those of a Companion, their apparent sense is that they apply to all the limbs of wuḍūʾ. This additional wording, however, is not found in the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections; should its chain prove sound, one must adopt it, for the silence of a narrator on a point is no proof against another who affirms it.

Most scholars require fresh water for wiping the head, by analogy with the other limbs. Ibn al-Mājishūn is reported to have said: “If no water remains, one may wipe the head with the moisture left in his beard”—a view chosen by Ibn Ḥabīb, Mālik, and al-Shāfiʿī.

The recommended manner of wiping is to begin at the front of the head, pass the hands back to the nape, and then return them to the point of origin, as described in the ḥadīth of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Zayd al-Thābit. Some scholars prefer to begin from the rear of the head; this, too, is related in the description of his—peace and blessings be upon him—ablution in the ḥadīth of al-Rubayyiʿ bint Muʿawwidh, though it has not been authenticated in the two Ṣaḥīḥs.

Eighth Issue under Delimitation
The scholars disagreed about wiping over the turban. Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Abū Thawr, al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, and others permitted it, while another group—including Mālik, al-Shāfiʿī, and Abū Ḥanīfah—prohibited it. The reason for their disagreement is their divergence over whether one must act upon the report transmitted on the matter from al-Mughīrah and others: that he—peace and blessings be upon him—“wiped over his forelock and over the turban,” and by analogy with the ruling on leather socks. For this reason most of those who allow it stipulate that the turban be put on in a state of ritual purity. Those who rejected this ḥadīth did so either because it had not