What is the Sunnah regarding the number of times in ablution and the ruling on drying?

Question:
Ablution has been performed once, twice, and three times. What is the best?

Answer:
The obligatory amount is once: performing the ablution thoroughly on the limbs—the face and hands, wiping the head once including the ears, and the feet once. This is the obligatory part. However, if he repeats it twice, that is better; if he repeats it three times, that is the best, except for the head and ears, which are wiped only once. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) performed ablution once, once, and he performed it twice, twice, and he performed it three times, three times, to indicate the permissibility and to indicate the perfection. Twice, twice is the middle, three times, three times is the perfection, and once, once is the minimum of the obligation.
And if he varies between them, such as washing some of them once, some twice, and some three times, there is nothing wrong with all of that.
Q: Does he dry his limbs or leave them without drying?
The Shaykh: The matter is broad. Drying is easy. If he dries them, there is nothing wrong; if he leaves them, there is nothing wrong.
Q: Does the Messenger’s (peace and blessings be upon him) leaving off drying not indicate that it is disliked?
The Shaykh: That was his leaving it off in the full bath. As for ablution, nothing has been established regarding it, and we know nothing about it. As for the full bath, leaving off the wiping with a towel is better; leaving off the wiping with a towel is better in the full bath for major ritual impurity.