The shaykh and imam, the scholar and mufti of the people, the independent jurist and leading authority in Islamic law, Ahmad ibn ʿAbd al-Halīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām Ibn Taymiyyah al-Harrānī—may Allah have mercy on him and be pleased with him—said:

Allah, the Almighty and Majestic, says:

“O you who believe, when you rise to pray, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe over your heads, and wash your feet up to the ankles. If you are in a state of sexual impurity, purify yourselves. If you are ill or on a journey, or one of you has relieved himself, or you have had contact with women, and you find no water, then seek clean earth and wipe your faces and hands with it. Allah does not intend to impose hardship upon you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favour upon you, so that you may be grateful.”

This address entails that everyone who rises to pray is commanded to perform the washing and wiping mentioned—that is, ablution.

A group of scholars held that this is a general statement whose scope has been restricted.