Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (O you who believe, when you rise to perform the prayer, wash your faces...) the verse.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Pious, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. As for what follows:
We are opening our sessions for this day after having paused for a period, which is the third week of the month of Rabi' al-Thani, 1413. These sessions are scheduled every Thursday from ten o'clock until ten minutes before the call to the midday prayer. We ask Allah the Exalted to make them beneficial sessions

The questioner : Amen.

The Shaykh : for us and for our brothers, for He is Capable of all things. In this session, we will speak about the saying of Allah the Exalted: to the end of the verse. In this verse, Allah Mighty and Majestic commands His believing servants, when they rise to perform the prayer, to wash their hands, to wash their faces, and their hands up to the elbows, to wipe their heads, and to wash their feet up to the ankles.
And know that when Allah Glorified and Exalted begins a verse with His saying: , it is either a good thing that you are commanded to do, or an evil thing that you are forbidden from doing, as 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: إذا قال الله تعالى : يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فأرعها سمعك فإما خير تؤمر به وإما شر تنهى عنه When Allah the Exalted says: "O you who believe," then lend your ear to it, for it is either good that you are commanded to do, or evil that you are forbidden from doing..
And this verse about which we are speaking now is a good thing that Allah commands us to do. "When you rise to perform the prayer" means: when you intend to stand for it, then do what is mentioned. The people were commanded to purify themselves in this manner of purification because they stand before Allah Mighty and Majestic in their prayer, conversing with Allah through His words, His glorification, His magnification, and their supplication.
So the prayer is a garden among the gardens of worship. For this reason, Allah commanded purity when performing it. His saying Mighty and Majestic: .
Someone might ask: Where is the washing of the two hands that takes place before washing the face? The answer is that we say: The washing of the two hands is not a condition for the validity of the ablution, but it is a recommended practice among the recommended practices of the ablution. If a person performs it, he is rewarded for it, and if he does not perform it, there is no blame on him for that.
And the first obligatory part of the ablution is washing the face. The face, the scholars said: its limit in width is from ear to ear, and its limit in length is from the hairline of the forehead at the top to the bottom of the beard. Whatever descends from the beard is considered part of the face, because it is taken from the concept of facing, and a person faces another with all this part of his body.
And included in washing the face is rinsing the mouth and sniffing water into the nose, because the nose and the mouth are two organs in the face. So their washing means that rinsing the mouth and sniffing water into the nose are included in the command to wash the face, because the nose and the mouth are two organs of the face. Accordingly, one begins first with rinsing the mouth, then sniffing water into the nose, then washes the entire face.
His saying Mighty and Majestic: : The elbows are the joints between the upper arm and the forearm. They are called elbows because a person finds comfort in them when leaning on them while sitting and while lying down. So they are a support in which a person finds comfort.
And the elbows are included in the washing, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to wash them. So they are included, and it is obligatory for us to know that the hand includes from the tips of the fingers to the elbow, because Allah said: . So it is necessary to wash from the tips of the fingers to the elbow. Many people perhaps wash only the forearm without washing the palm, either out of ignorance or thinking that washing the palm before washing the face is sufficient for that. But we must be attentive, because it is necessary to wash the entire hand that Allah commanded to be washed, from the tips of the fingers to the elbow.
Then He said the Exalted: : So the head is distinguished from what came before it, because its purification is by wiping, not by washing. The wisdom of it being a wiping is the hardship of washing it, especially in the days of winter, and if one has a lot of hair, it becomes difficult for him and may harm him. For this reason, the purification of the head was made lighter, so it is by wiping.
And in it is another lightening, which is that one does not repeat the wiping, unlike the other limbs, for which it is better to repeat three times. As for the head, it is not repeated.
And in it is a third lightening, which is that it is permissible to wipe over the turban if one has a turban on his head. As long as it is on his head, he may wipe over it, whether he put it on while in a state of purity or not, and whether he wipes over it within a day and a night or more than that, because there is no, no specific limit for it, and it is not required that it be put on while in a state of purity, because the apparent indication of the Sunnah is the absence of that. So in the purification of the head, there are three lightenings:
The first, what is it? That it is a wiping, not a washing. The second: that it is wiped once and not repeated. The third: that it is valid to wipe over the turban as long as it is on his head, as the Sunnah has come. It is not established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he set a time limit for the turban, as he set a time limit for the leather socks. The leather socks on the feet have a day and a night for the resident and three days for the traveler.
It is also not established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he attributed the wiping over it to putting it on while in a state of purity. Al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah narrated that he wiped over the turban and that he wiped over the leather sock. The leather sock, he said: , and the turban, that was not mentioned in it. So this indicates that it is not required in putting on the turban that it be put on while in a state of purity, and a specific duration is not required for it. Analogizing it to the sock is an analogy with a difference, because the sock is worn on a limb that is washed, whereas the turban is worn on a limb whose purification is by wiping, which is lightened from the original.
Then He said the Exalted: . In it are two canonical recitations: with the accusative case, and with the genitive case:
So as for the recitation with the accusative case , it is conjoined to the face, meaning: wash your faces, then it was conjoined to it and it said: , meaning: and wash your feet. And as for the recitation with the genitive case and , it is conjoined to , meaning: wipe your feet.
So if it is said: How can we reconcile these two recitations, that the foot is wiped or that it is washed? The answer is that it should be said: The Sunnah clarified when it is wiped and when it is washed. If one wears socks or leather socks, then its obligation is wiping. And if it is uncovered, then its obligation is washing. So the two recitations are applied to two states of the foot: in the state of being uncovered, washing is obligatory, and in the state of being covered, wiping is sufficient.
And with this, we have acted upon the noble verse in both ways of recitation. If you say: Is it permissible for us to recite with both recitations, so we say: ? The answer is: As for in one single instance, no. And as for reciting this one sometimes and that one sometimes, yes. It is better for one who knows two recitations in the verse to recite with this recitation sometimes and with the other recitation sometimes. And that is for two reasons: The first reason: That it is more in accordance with the Sunnah, because both recitations have come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
And the second: So that he does not forget a way in which the noble verse was established. Because if he does not follow up and recite with this recitation sometimes and that one sometimes, he will forget the recitation that he was not reciting with, so he will have forgotten a way of the recitations that came with the noble verse.
But this is on the condition: That the recitation is between him and himself, or between him and his colleagues from the students of knowledge. But with the general public, he does not recite with a recitation that is not in the mushaf that is in their hands, because if he recites with another recitation that is not in their hands, confusion will occur among the general public: How is the Qur'an being changed? If he recites the saying of Allah the Exalted: and recites in the saying of Allah the Exalted: .
If he recites in front of the general public, they will object to him and throw at him what they throw at him of contradicting the Qur'an that is in their hands. Then disturbance and doubt will occur in them. For this reason, we do not see it as better, rather we do not see it as good, for a person to recite in front of the general public with a recitation that is not well-known among them, because of these two dangers. But between him and himself, it is better to memorize the recitations and recite with this one once and with that one once, for the two reasons we mentioned.
And His saying the Exalted: . The two ankles are the two prominent bones at the bottom of the lower leg. They are included in the washing, as that was established from the action of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). This is the description of the ablution that Allah commanded when intending to perform the prayer. But it has obligatory parts and it has recommended practices, which we will mention now in the most complete manner, the recommended ones.
If water is present, or if he is in the bathroom and intends to perform wudu from a tap, he must form the intention, for the intention is known to be necessary for a sane person. He should say the name of Allah, wash his hands three times, then rinse his mouth and sniff water three times. He may rinse his mouth and sniff water with one handful three times, or he may separate them, rinsing his mouth three times and then sniffing water three times. There is leeway in this matter. Then he washes his face three times, then washes his hands to the elbows three times, then wipes his head once, moving his hands forward and backward, starting at the forehead and drawing his hands down to the nape of the neck, then returning to the forehead. He wipes his ears because the ears are part of the head, just as the nose and mouth are part of the face. He wipes the ears by inserting his index fingers into their canals and wiping the outer part of his ears with his thumbs. Then he washes his feet from the tips of the toes to the ankles three times.
The Sunnah is to interlace the fingers of the hands and the feet to ensure that water reaches between the fingers, especially the toes of the feet, because they are close together.
After this complete wudu, he says: "I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. O Allah, make me one of those who repent and make me one of those who purify themselves." If a person does this, the eight gates of Paradise are opened for him, and he may enter through whichever he wishes. By this, he has purified his outward and inward self. His outward self is purified by the wudu, as you have heard, and his inward self is purified by the word of sincerity, the testimony that there is no deity but Allah and that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger, and his asking Allah the Exalted to make him one of those who repent, for repentance purifies the soul from sins, and one of those who purify themselves.
I ask Allah to purify all our hearts from the filth of shirk (associating partners with Allah), doubt, hatred, and enmity toward the Muslims, and to make us and you guides who are guided, righteous, and reformers. Indeed, He is Generous and Noble. May Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.