for the purpose here is to draw attention to what the verse indicates. His words,

“Or one of you comes from relieving himself, or you have touched women, and you find no water, then perform tayammum,”

explicitly establish that, when water is unavailable, a person may pray even after defecating without washing himself afterward. It is also established in the Sunnah that “three stones suffice him.”

As for cases involving an excuse, He says:

“When you rise to pray, wash…”

This includes everyone who rises to pray: someone who has relieved himself just as much as someone who has passed wind. If washing the two private parts with water were obligatory upon someone rising to pray, it would be obligatory just like washing the four bodily parts. Yet the Quran indicates that he is obliged to perform only the washing and wiping it mentions. It also indicates that both someone who performs ablution and someone who performs tayammum are ritually pure. As for the two private parts, the Sunnah establishes that cleansing them with stones is sufficient.

The words of the Most High,

“In it are men who love to purify themselves, and Allah loves those who purify themselves,”

indicate that cleansing oneself with water after relieving oneself is recommended and loved by Allah, not obligatory. Other Muslims did not cleanse themselves with water, yet He did not censure them for this; rather, He approved their practice while singling out these men for praise. This indicates that what the others did was permissible, while what these men did was better, and that this is one of the ways in which Allah has favored some people over others.