Chapter on the Virtue of Wudu: Allah the Exalted said: “O you who believe, when you rise to perform the prayer, wash your faces” up to His saying

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions:
He said -may Allah have mercy on him-: “Chapter on the Virtue of Wudu:
Allah the Exalted said:

O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows

يا أيها الذين آمنوا إذا قمتم إلى الصلاة فاغسلوا وجوهكم وأيديكم إلى المرافق

[Al-Ma'idah 5:6]

up to His saying:

Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful.

ما يريد الله ليجعل عليكم من حرج ولكن يريد ليطهركم وليتم نعمته عليكم لعلكم تشكرون

[Al-Ma'idah 5:6]

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From Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say:

On the Day of Resurrection, my followers will be called "Al-Ghurr-ul- Muhajjalun" from the trace of ablution

إن أمتي يدعون يوم القيامة غُرًا مُحجَّلين من آثار الوضوء

Sahih al-Bukhari 136

, so whoever among you can lengthen his whiteness, let him do so. Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim.”

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:
Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*: “Chapter on the Virtue of Wudu”: Wudu in the Arabic language is derived from *wudu'ah*, which means beauty and cleanliness. As for it in the Shari'ah: “It is the purification of the four limbs in a specific manner”: The four limbs are: the face, the hands, the head, and the feet. Wudu is a favor from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) upon this Ummah, as He commanded them to perform it and attached to it the reward that will be mentioned in this chapter, if Allah wills.
He said: And the saying of Allah the Exalted: , : When you hear Allah say: , be alert and attend to it with your hearing, for it is either a good that you are commanded to do, or an evil that you are forbidden from, or a truthful news that you benefit from. So the categories are three: either a good that you are commanded to do, or an evil that you are forbidden from, or a truthful news that you benefit from: whenever Allah says: .
Here it says: : wash your faces. Wash your faces, and Allah the Exalted did not mention washing the palms because washing the palms before the face is a recommended practice (sunnah) and not obligatory. The face extends from ear to ear in width, and from the hairline to the bottom of the beard in length. It includes rinsing the mouth and sniffing water into the nose; rinsing is in the mouth and sniffing is in the nose. : meaning, and wash your hands up to the elbows. The elbow is the joint between the forearm and the upper arm, and it is included in the washing, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): .
: The head is wiped and it is not obligatory to wash it. This is from the mercy of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) toward His servants, because the head has hair, and if washing it were made obligatory, it would be a hardship for people. The water would start to run down onto the clothes, and people would face hardship in the days of winter. But from the mercy of Allah is that the head is wiped and not washed. And the ears are part of the head and are also wiped, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to wipe his ears.
meaning: and wash your feet up to the ankles. The ankles are the two prominent bones at the bottom of the lower leg, and they are included in the washing. These are four limbs, and these are the limbs of wudu. Then He said, Mighty and Majestic: And in the second verse: : meaning, if a person is in a state of major ritual impurity (janabah), it is obligatory for him to purify his entire body from his head to the soles of his feet, including rinsing the mouth and sniffing water into the nose. Rinsing and sniffing are obligatory in wudu, and likewise in the full ritual bath (ghusl). And the one in a state of major ritual impurity (al-janib): “is the one upon whom the state of major ritual impurity has occurred”. Major ritual impurity is either the emission of semen with desire, or sexual intercourse, even if there is no emission. If a man has intercourse with his wife, it is obligatory for him to take a full ritual bath, whether he emitted or not. And if he emitted, it is obligatory for him to take a full ritual bath, whether he had intercourse or not, even if he merely thought and emitted, it is obligatory for him to take a full ritual bath.
meaning: if a person is obligated to perform wudu or a full ritual bath and he does not find water, or he is sick and would be harmed by using water, then he performs dry ablution (tayammum). He strikes the ground with his hands and wipes his face and hands. : meaning, in what He has made obligatory for us, He does not intend to make difficulty for us or cause us hardship. Rather, He is more merciful to us than ourselves, our children, and our mothers. The proof that He is more merciful to us than ourselves is His saying, the Exalted: : So the One who advises you not to kill yourself is more merciful to you than yourself. Therefore, He does not intend with this obligation to make things difficult for us or cause us hardship. : This is what Allah intended from us with wudu and the full ritual bath: to purify our outward appearance with water and to purify our inward selves with the oneness of Allah (tawhid). For this reason, it is recommended (sunnah) when you finish wudu to recite the testimony, saying: .
: And that is with this wudu by which sins are expiated and ranks are raised. .
And His saying: meaning: so that you may thank Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for His favors. It is obligatory for a person to thank Allah for His favors, because the favors of Allah are innumerable, especially the religious favors, because through the religious favors comes happiness in this world and the Hereafter. Gratitude: “is the performance of obedience to Allah by complying with His command and avoiding His prohibition, meaning with the tongue, the limbs, and the hearts”. Gratitude is with the heart, the tongue, and the limbs. We ask Allah to grant us the ability to be grateful for His favor and to worship Him well. Indeed, He is capable of all things.