Obligatory and optional aspects of ablution

In Islam, ablution, or Wudhoo', is to wash one's face, hands, arms,
head and feet with water. Allaah, the Most High, Says (what means): "O
you who have believed! When you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your
faces and yourforearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash
your feet to the ankles..." [Quran 5:6]
Abu Hurayrah narrated that he Prophet said: "Allaah does not accept
the prayer of one who nullified his ablution until he performs it
again." [Al-Bukhaari, Muslim, Abu Daawood and At-Tirmithi]
There is a consensus among the Muslim scholars that ablution is part
of Islamic law. Therefore, it is a recognised fact of the religion.
There are many reports describing the manner inwhich the Prophet
performed ablution, and the following is one of them. Humraan, the
freedslave of 'Uthmaan bin 'Affaan narrated that 'Uthmaan once asked
for a tumbler of water in order to perform ablution; when it was
brought to him, he poured water from it over his hands and washed them
thrice, and then put his right hand inthe water container and rinsed
his mouth and washed his nose by putting water in it and then blowing
it out. Then, he washed his face thrice and then his forearms up to
the elbows thrice; then, he passed his wet hands over his head and
then washed each foot thrice. After that, 'Uthmaan said:"I saw the
Prophet perform ablution like thisof mine, and he then said: "If
anyone performs ablution like that of mineand offers a two-Rak'ah
(units) prayer during which he does not think of anything else (not
related to the present prayer) then his past sins will be forgiven."
[Al-Bukhaari]
There are matters scholars did not differ regarding their obligation,
and other matters which they agreeto the fact that they are
recommended matters if neglected, one's ablutionwould still be valid.
On the other hand there are matters over which the scholars have
different opinions. In this article we will highlight the three
categories.
Obligatory Acts of Ablution:
In light of the above-mentioned verse, ablution should have certain
components which, if not fulfilled, make one's ablution void. These
are:
(i) Washing the face: This involves using the hands to pour or run
water from the top of the forehead to the bottom of the jaws, and from
one ear to the other.
(ii) Washing the arms to the elbows: The elbows must be washed, for
the Prophet did so.
(iii) Wiping the head: This means to wipe one's head with wet hands.
The apparent meaning ofthe Quranic words (which mean): "… and wipe
over your heads…" [Quran 5:6] does not imply that all of the head
needs to be wiped yet the way of the prophet is what confirms this
fact. Three different ways were recorded of how he would wipe his
head:
(a) Wiping all of his head:'Abdullaah Ibn Zayd reported that the
Prophet would wipe his entire head with his hands. He would start with
the front of his head, then move to the back, and then return his
hands to the front. [Ibn Maajah, Abu Daawood and others']
(b) Wiping over the turban only: Bilaal reported that the Prophet
said: "Wipe over your shoes and head covering." [Ahmad]. It should be
noted that the condition for wiping over the turban and socks is that
prior ablution was performed before putting them on. Many Prophetic
narrations have been related on this topic by Imaams Al-Bukhaari,
Muslim and others .
(c) Wiping over the front portion of the scalp and the turban:
Al-MugheerahIbn Shu'bah stated: "The Messenger of Allaah performed
ablution and wiped over the front portion of his scalp, his turban and
his socks." [Muslim]
There is, however, no strong Prophetic narration that clearly states
that he wiped over part of his head, even though the verse [Quran:
5:6] apparently implies it.It is also not sufficient just to wipe over
locks of hair that proceed from the head or along the sides of the
head.
(iv) Washing the feet andthe heels: This has been confirmed in
narrations from the Prophet concerning his actions and statements. Ibn
'Umar said warning against not properly and entirely washing the feet:
"(Once), the Prophet lagged behind us on one of our journeys. He
caught up with us after we had delayed the afternoon prayer. We
started to make ablution and were (only) wiping over our feet (and not
washing them) when he said: "Woe to these heels! Save them from the
Hell-fire" repeating it twice or thrice." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]
Optional Aspects:
The following acts are not obligatory, yet, once done, are rewarded
for since they constitute the way the Prophet used to perform
ablution:
1. Brushing the teeth with a tooth-stick (Miswaak).
2. Passing wet fingers through the beard.
3. Passing the fingers of both hands against each other, and also
passing them through the toes.
4. Washing each limb three times.
Controversial issues:
There are certain issues pertaining to ablution which are
controversial among Muslim scholars; some classify them as obligatory,
while others classify them as optional. Such issues are:
1. Intention: This is the desire to do the action and to please Allaah
by following His command. It is purely an act of the heart, for the
tongue (verbal pronouncement and so on) has nothing todo with it.
2. Reciting the 'Basmalah' (saying: 'Bismillaah, i.e. 'In the name
of Allaah).
3. Rinsing the mouth.
4. Sniffing water into the nose and blowing it out.
5. Following the prescribed sequence.
6. Washing each part without pause, to ensure that no part dries
up before the next step.
7. Wiping the two ears (inside and outside).