The Ruling on Starting with the Right Side: Between Obligation and Recommendation
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you. The Sunnah, if it is broken from the Qur'an
The Shaykh:
No, the action of the Messenger, if it is an explanation of the Qur'an, they say it is beneficial for the stars, yes.
The questioner:
Or a group of people sit with him in action.
The Shaykh:
I see.
The questioner:
So you write it down. Then the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) came.
The Shaykh:
This would be stronger, as long as he started with the right side in action and commanded it, this would be stronger from the perspective of explaining the verse or from the perspective of the command.
The questioner:
No, it does not cut off a chapter from consideration.
The Shaykh:
Okay, what is it?
The questioner:
Salvation from the washing of the right hand as an obligation, then the left, then the right foot as an obligation, and after that the left.
The Shaykh:
No, no, it does not contain that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). His saying "Call for what fills you," his intention.
The questioner:
A partnership of nonsense.
The Shaykh:
Start with your right sides. No, this is not obligatory. They say it is obligatory. The command here is for recommendation. The command here is for recommendation, yes. Because the verse, because this is not an explanation of the verse, because the verse does not contain, does not contain starting with the right, unlike the sa'y (walking between al-Safa and al-Marwah) where there is starting with al-Safa.
The questioner:
I am sincere, it is transmitted as recommended.
The Shaykh:
The bare action of the Messenger is for recommendation. Yes.
The questioner:
The hadith of Abu Hurayrah.
The Shaykh:
A hadith that completes the recommendation, that the intended meaning is recommendation. Yes.
Another questioner:
Or life.
The Shaykh:
He likes it, but the wording of the hadith is "Start with your right sides when you perform wudu' (ablution), start with your right sides." This means your intention is that Aisha says he likes it, and his liking indicates recommendation, the recommendation of favoring the right side. It is not far-fetched. This would also be among the indicators, yes, it would be among the indicators that the Messenger did it from the perspective of recommendation and juristic preference. "He likes it" means he considers it good. He did not do it from the perspective of necessity, but rather he did it from the perspective of juristic preference, yes, it is not far-fetched, good, yes.
May Allah reward you. The Sunnah, if it is broken from the Qur'an
The Shaykh:
No, the action of the Messenger, if it is an explanation of the Qur'an, they say it is beneficial for the stars, yes.
The questioner:
Or a group of people sit with him in action.
The Shaykh:
I see.
The questioner:
So you write it down. Then the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) came.
The Shaykh:
This would be stronger, as long as he started with the right side in action and commanded it, this would be stronger from the perspective of explaining the verse or from the perspective of the command.
The questioner:
No, it does not cut off a chapter from consideration.
The Shaykh:
Okay, what is it?
The questioner:
Salvation from the washing of the right hand as an obligation, then the left, then the right foot as an obligation, and after that the left.
The Shaykh:
No, no, it does not contain that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). His saying "Call for what fills you," his intention.
The questioner:
A partnership of nonsense.
The Shaykh:
Start with your right sides. No, this is not obligatory. They say it is obligatory. The command here is for recommendation. The command here is for recommendation, yes. Because the verse, because this is not an explanation of the verse, because the verse does not contain, does not contain starting with the right, unlike the sa'y (walking between al-Safa and al-Marwah) where there is starting with al-Safa.
The questioner:
I am sincere, it is transmitted as recommended.
The Shaykh:
The bare action of the Messenger is for recommendation. Yes.
The questioner:
The hadith of Abu Hurayrah.
The Shaykh:
A hadith that completes the recommendation, that the intended meaning is recommendation. Yes.
Another questioner:
Or life.
The Shaykh:
He likes it, but the wording of the hadith is "Start with your right sides when you perform wudu' (ablution), start with your right sides." This means your intention is that Aisha says he likes it, and his liking indicates recommendation, the recommendation of favoring the right side. It is not far-fetched. This would also be among the indicators, yes, it would be among the indicators that the Messenger did it from the perspective of recommendation and juristic preference. "He likes it" means he considers it good. He did not do it from the perspective of necessity, but rather he did it from the perspective of juristic preference, yes, it is not far-fetched, good, yes.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، تابع باب الوضوء - 4 — islamhouse.com (1:07:24)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.