Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "O you who believe, when you rise to pray, wash your faces and your hands to the elbows, and wipe your heads."

Then Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: We have previously discussed the address in His saying: several times, so there is no need to repeat it here. And His saying: means when you intend to pray. It is not a condition that a person must be standing on his feet; rather, whenever he intends to pray, even if he is sitting, he is obligated to do what Allah has commanded. And His saying: The prayer is a known act of worship, beginning with the takbir and ending with the taslim. This is how the scholars defined it: that it is a known act of worship. They did not mention its specific form because both the specialized and the general public know it. It begins with the takbir and ends with the taslim. So, the phrase "beginning with the takbir" is a distinguishing feature that excludes everything other than the prayer, because none of the other acts of worship begin with the takbir. And "ending with the taslim" also excludes what begins with the takbir but does not end with the taslim, such as the tawaf around the House. Although beginning the tawaf with the takbir is not a pillar, it is among the recommended practices. However, it is excluded by our statement "ending with the taslim," because the tawaf does not end with the taslim. This indicates that the narrations reported as marfu' (attributed to the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him) that the tawaf around the House is not valid as marfu' are actually from Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), and they are not valid, neither in the affirmative nor the negative. Therefore, the stronger opinion is that ritual purity is not a condition for the tawaf, because it is not part of the prayer, and it cannot be included in this verse because it is not a prayer. When it becomes clear that the marfu' hadith, which is in reality mawquf (stopping at a Companion), does not apply, and when it is established that it is not valid, neither in the affirmative nor the negative, it becomes clear that ritual purity is not a condition for it. Will not someone say: "The prayer in the linguistic sense is supplication? And the intended meaning is 'when you rise to supplication'?" We say: No. What is established as being transferred from its linguistic meaning to a legal meaning, when it appears in the language of the Shari'ah, is understood in its legal sense, meaning the meaning of the Shari'ah. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Do we say the meaning is that Allah does not accept the supplication of any of you? No, no one says that, even though the prayer in the linguistic sense is supplication. But we say that when linguistic realities are transferred to legal realities, they must be understood in their legal sense in the language of the Lawgiver. Washing is known; it is the passing of water over a limb, meaning the water flows over it, to distinguish it from wiping over the limb. "Faces" is the plural of "face." I think 'Aqil knows this? Yes, it is well known? It is called a face because it is the means of facing others. It is also a face in another sense: it is the face of the heart. A person knows what is in his heart from what is on his face. For this reason, when a person is pleased, his face brightens, and when he is sad, his face contracts. So, it is the means of physical facing, and it is truly the face of the heart because it reveals what is in the heart. So, what is the face? We said that it is what is used for facing. The scholars defined it as the area from ear to ear. The white area between the cheek and the ear is considered part of the face. As for its length, it is from the hairline of the forehead to the bottom of the beard. This criterion, from the hairline of the forehead, is more precise than the statement of some scholars: "from the roots of the hair of the head." Because if you say "from the roots of the hair of the head," it would be necessary to say "the customary" to exclude those with receding hairlines or baldness, meaning some people's hair roots descend to the forehead, and some people's rise at the temples. But if we make the criterion the hairline of the forehead, it becomes more precise in terms of the face, and it also matches reality, because what faces people when they meet is what is below the hairline, while what is beyond it faces the sky above. Is the hanging part of the beard part of the face or not? Some scholars said that it is part of the face. Accordingly, if a person has a long beard, it is included in the face. And some scholars said that the hanging part of the beard is not part of the face, because it is considered detached. Because we have three things in the human body that are considered detached: hair, nails, and teeth. These are considered detached. So they say that since it is considered detached, it does not enter the limit of the face. But the correct opinion is that it enters the limit of the face because it is the means of facing, and because it was narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in a hadith with a good chain that he used to comb his beard during wudu. If someone says: "This is an action, and an action does not indicate obligation?" We say: It does not indicate obligation in principle, but when it occurs as an explanation of the explicit text, it has the ruling of that explicit text. And His saying: "Hands" is the plural of "hand." Be careful! Here is a restriction on the hand, because it is "to the elbows." So it is obligatory to wash the hand from the tips of the fingers to the elbow. The elbow is the joint of the upper arm and the forearm. It is called an elbow because a person uses it for support, meaning he leans on it. And His saying: The scholars said that "to" here means "with." They interpreted "to" as "with" because it was established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that when he performed wudu, he washed his elbows. So the Sunnah explains the Qur'an. Then they cited as evidence that there is a parallel in the Qur'an, such as His saying: meaning the wealth of the orphans But there is a consideration regarding the citation of this evidence. The important point is that what indicated that the limit of the goal here is included is the Sunnah. He said: Wiping is the passing of the hand over the wiped object. But it is known that the intended meaning is to wipe them with water, to wipe the heads with water. For this reason, some scholars claimed that there is an inversion in the verse and that the meaning is: "Wipe your heads with water." And we say that the "ba" is not for transitive action with "ba," but it conveys an additional meaning to wiping, which is adhesion. And also comprehensiveness. Adhesion and comprehensiveness: although the indication of the issue of adhesion is clear, comprehensiveness is because "ba" indicates comprehensiveness. For this reason, we said that His saying: indicates the obligation of comprehensiveness of the House with tawaf, because "ba" is for comprehensiveness. And His saying: What is the limit of the head? The head is what is the head. And what is the limb that is the head of the entire body? It is what is between the joint of the head and the neck. Accordingly, the neck does not enter the head because it is an independent limb. Then, if you exclude from the head — we said the head is what is the head — if you exclude the face from it, what remains is what is the head other than the face. Does that include the two ears? The answer is yes, it includes the two ears. First, because the derivation indicates their inclusion. Second, because it was established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he used to wipe with his ears.