Musnad al-Humaydi

Abdullah bin Muhammad says: Imam Zain al-Abidin, may Allah have mercy on him, sent me to Lady Rabi’ bint Mu’awwidh, may Allah be pleased with her, so that I could ask her about the ablution (wudu) of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had performed ablution at her place. I went to this lady, and she brought out a vessel and showed it to me, in which there would be one mudd or perhaps one mudd and a quarter mudd of water. She said: I used to keep the water of the Prophet’s ablution in this vessel. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, would begin by washing both hands three times before putting them into the vessel, then he would rinse his mouth three times, and put water into his nose three times, and wash his face three times, then wash both arms three times, then wipe his blessed head from front to back and from back to front. Then he would wash both feet three times each. Then this lady said: Your cousin came to me, he asked me about this, and when I told him, he said: I find in the Book of Allah only the command to wash two things and to wipe over two things. By this lady, she meant Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both.

Imam Humaydi, may Allah have mercy on him, says: Sufyan demonstrated the method of wiping (masah) before us; he placed both his hands on the sides of the parting of his hair, then wiped with them up to his forehead, then he placed both hands on the sides of the parting in the middle of his head, then wiped back to the nape of his neck. Sufyan says: Ibn ‘Ajlan first narrated this report from Ibn ‘Aqil from Lady Rabi’, may Allah be pleased with her, and he narrated these additional words regarding wiping: “Then he wiped both sides up to the cheeks, until he reached the edges of the beard.” When we asked Ibn ‘Aqil about this, he did not mention wiping over the cheeks. There was some weakness in his memory, so I did not like to prompt him.