the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, one night during a journey. He said, “Do you have any water with you?” I replied, “Yes.” He then dismounted from his riding animal and walked away until he disappeared from my sight in the darkness of the night. He then returned, and I poured water over him from the water-skin. He washed his face and hands. He was wearing a woolen cloak and was unable to draw his arms out through its sleeves, so he brought them out from beneath the cloak and washed his arms. Then he wiped his head. I then bent down to remove his leather socks, but he said, “Leave them on, for I put them on while I was in a state of purification.” So he wiped over them. (1)

His saying, Most High, “up to the ankles”: the ankles are the two protruding bones on either side of the feet, where the leg and foot joints meet. They must therefore be washed along with the feet, as we mentioned regarding the elbows.

The obligatory elements of ablution are washing the three limbs as Allah, Most High, has mentioned, and wiping the head. The scholars differed over whether intention is obligatory. Most held it to be obligatory, since ablution is an act of worship and therefore requires an intention, like all other acts of worship. Others held that it is not obligatory; this was the view of al-Thawri and the scholars of legal reasoning.

They also differed over whether maintaining the prescribed order is obligatory—that is, washing the limbs successively in the order in which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, mentioned them. A group held it to be obligatory, and this was the view of Malik, al-Shafi‘i, Ahmad, and Ishaq, may Allah have mercy on them. This is also related from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him.

Al-Shafi‘i cited as proof the saying of Allah, Most High: “Indeed, Safa and Marwah are among the symbols of Allah” (Surah al-Baqarah, 158). The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, began with Safa and said, “We begin with what Allah began with.” (2) Likewise here, Allah, Most High, began by mentioning the washing of the face; thus, in practice, we must begin with what Allah began by mentioning.

A group held that maintaining the prescribed order is a sunnah. ⦗103⦘ They said that the conjunctions in the verse indicate mere combination, not sequence, just as Allah, Most High, says: “Alms are only for the poor and the needy,” to the end of the verse (Surah al-Tawbah, 60). They agreed that maintaining an order is not obligatory when distributing alms among the eligible categories. Those who held the prescribed order to be obligatory replied that it has not been reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, observed an order among the eligible categories; whereas regarding ablution, it has only been reported that he performed it in the order mentioned by Allah, Most High. The explanation of the Book is derived from the sunnah, just as Allah, Most High, says: “O you who believe, bow and prostrate” (Surah al-Hajj, 77). Since He mentioned bowing before prostration, and it has not been reported that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did otherwise,