Moreover, had he commanded them to do so, they would have transmitted that command and instructed others accordingly. Yet no Companion is reported to have required ablution merely for touching without sexual desire. Rather, the Companions differed over the meaning of the Most High’s words:

“Or you have touched women.”

Ibn ʿAbbās and a group of others said that this meant sexual intercourse. They would say: “Allah is Modest and Generous; He uses whatever euphemisms He wills for whatever He wills.” This is the more correct of the two views.

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, the Arabs, ʿAtāʾ ibn Abī Rabāh, and the mawālī (clients) disputed whether the phrase meant sexual intercourse or something short of it. The Arabs said, “It means sexual intercourse,” while the mawālī said, “It means something short of that.” They referred their dispute to Ibn ʿAbbās, who judged the Arabs correct and the mawālī mistaken.

Ibn ʿUmar used to say: “A man’s kissing his wife and touching her with his hand come under ‘touching.’” This is the view of Mālik and other scholars of Medina.

Some say that this was the view of Ibn ʿUmar and Ibn Masʿūd because neither considered dry ablution permissible for someone in a state of janābah (major ritual impurity). They therefore interpreted the verse as referring to what invalidates ablution. Yet the verse explicitly states that someone in a state of janābah may perform dry ablution.

Abū Mūsā cited the verse in his debate with Ibn Masʿūd, and Ibn Masʿūd gave him no answer. Al-Bukhārī recorded this in his Sahīh. It is thus clear that this was because he had not brought to mind what the verse entails.