What are the fard acts of wudu? What are the obligatory of wudu? How to make wudu?
The unanimously accepted four obligatory acts of wuḍū are mentioned in the order in the afore-mentioned verse. These consist of washing the face, washing the hands up to the elbows, wiping the head, and washing the feet up to the heels.[1] Below they are individually explained in brief:
1) Washing the face:
It is farḍ according to all schools to wash the face once. The limits of the face are the part from the top of the forehead where the hair starts to the bottom of the chin where the beard ends and from one earlobe to the other. Water must reach to the skin under the beard (if it is not too thick), mustache and eyebrows.
2) Washing the arms:
It is farḍ to wash both hands up to the elbows (including elbows) once. If one wears a narrow and water-proof ring, it should be moved so as to let the water pass under it.
3) Wiping the head:
It is farḍ to wipe the head once. The schools have a disagreement regarding the amount of the area that needs to be wiped. According to Ḥanafis, one should wipe a quarter of the head with a wet hand or with a clean wet cloth that has not been used elsewhere. It is more virtuous to wipe the front of the head called “nāṣiyah”. A quarter of the head is as much as the size of a palm. Mughirah b. Shu’ba said: “The Prophet (saw) performed wuḍū and wiped the front of his head, over his turban and his khuff (leather socks).”[2]
Imam Shafiʿi says that the amount of the area that needs to be wiped can be as little as a single hair. According to the view preferred by the Malikis, the Zahiris, and the Ḥanbalis, it is farḍ to wipe the entire head.[3] According to the Ḥanafis and the Shafiʿis, it is not obligatory but sunnah to wipe the entire head. On the other hand, according to the Ḥanbalis, it is sufficient for a woman to wipe the front of her head.
4) Washing the feet:
It is farḍ to wash the feet up to and including the ankles once. The Prophet (saw) said “Save your heels from the fire…”,[4] and thus drew attention to the need to wash both feet together up to the ankles.
The majority of jurists, except for the Ḥanafis, added other farḍ acts to the wuḍū based on the evidence found from the sunnah. For instance, the Shafiʿis and the Ḥanbalis consider it farḍ to observe the order (tartīb) of the acts of wuḍū mentioned in the Qur’anic verse, the Malikis and the Ḥanbalis consider it obligatory not to take a break between acts of ablution (muwalāt), the Malikis accept it mandatory to rub the limbs while washing, and all schools, except the Ḥanafis, accept “stating the intention” as part of the obligatory acts of wuḍū.[5]
Moreover, the statement “and your feet” that comes after the sentence “wipe your head” in the afore-mentioned Qur’anic verse has instigated some jurists to interpret it differently. The Ja’fariyyah school, for example, has interpreted it to mean “wipe your feet as well”. However, the main four schools argue that numerous narrations related by numerous Companions tell us that the Prophet (saw) washed his feet while performing ablution in their presence in order to teach them how to perform ablution, and expressed the virtues of washing the feet.[6]
[1] Al-Mā’ida, 5: 6
[2] Al-Bukhari, Wuḍū, 48; al-‘Ayni, Umdat al-Qārī, II, 376, Aleppo 1972.
[3] See Ibn al-Humām, ibid, I, 10 ff.; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 92; Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Bidāyat al-Mujtahid, I, 11; Ibn Qudāmah, ibid, I, 125 ff.; al-Zuhaylī, ibid, I, 219 ff.
[4] Al-Bukhari, ʿIlm, 30, Wuḍū’, 27, 29; Muslim, Ṭaḥāra, 25-28, 30.
[5] Al-Zuhaylī, ibid, I, 214.
[6] Muslim, Ṭaḥārah, 32; al-Tirmidhī, Ṭaḥārah, 2; al-Darimī, Wuḍū, 45; See Zayd Ibn ʿAli, Musnad, p. 47.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ʿilmi ḥāl) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications