Second: It invalidates ablution if accompanied by sexual desire; otherwise, it does not. This is the view of Mālik and other scholars of Medina.

Third: It invalidates ablution in some circumstances even without sexual desire. This is the view of al-Shāfiʿī and others. Three positions are reported from Ahmad ibn Hanbal, corresponding to these three views, but his best-known position agrees with Mālik’s.

The correct view on this matter is one of the first two: either touching does not invalidate ablution at all, or it invalidates it when accompanied by sexual desire. As for requiring ablution merely because one has touched a woman without sexual desire, this is the weakest view. It is not known to have been held by any of the Companions, nor has anyone reported that the Prophet instructed Muslims to perform ablution because of it.

Yet such contact is commonplace, and scarcely anyone avoids it in everyday life. A man regularly hands his wife something, which she takes in her hand, and similar situations arise frequently in people’s lives. Had ablution been obligatory because of this, the Prophet would have commanded it repeatedly, and it would have become widely known. Had he done so, it would have been transmitted from him, even if only through solitary reports. Since no Muslim has reported that he instructed any Muslim to do any such thing—despite everyone’s frequent exposure to it—it is clear that this is not obligatory.