The other, yet weaker, the possibility is that ‘إلى’ (to) means ‘the end point.

The other, yet weaker, the possibility is that ‘إلى’ (to) means ‘the end point.’ In this case, we should see to which verb ‘إلى’ belongs. If it belongs to “اغسلوا” (wash), the verse means that the elbow is the end point of the hand to be washed in the ablution. In other words, washing the hand should begin from the fingertips and end at the elbow.

At the first glance, ‘إلى’ may seem to belong to “اغسلوا”, But with further attention, it becomes clear that ‘إلى’ (to) cannot belong to “اغسلوا” (wash), because when ‘إلى’ is used to mean the end point of something, the action before the endpoint should be repeated before the final action. As in the phrase, “ضربته إلى أن مات” (beating to death), in which the action before the endpoint (beating) is repeated before the endpoint (death).

But it is not true to say “قتلته إلى أنْ مات” (killing to death). The question here is that if the mentioned condition exists in the honourable verse, i.e. whether or not the action before the endpoint is repeated before “مرافق” (elbows).

The answer is negative because the action before the endpoint is “washing the hand” and it is not repeated before “the elbows.” The reason is that “hand” includes the fingertips and the arms and the parts between them, and when “washing the hand” is completed, washing “the elbow” is done too and “washing the hand” cannot be repeated before “the elbow.” As a result, if ‘إلى’ means the endpoint, it cannot belong to “اغسلوا”, since the mentioned condition is not present, i.e.

the action before the endpoint is not repeatable before it. So, ‘إلى’ should be considered to belong to something else and that is the verb أسقِطوا‘’ (exclude), which is omitted here.

In this case, the meaning of the verse becomes, “Wash your faces and your hands, but exclude up to the elbows.” Of course “washing the hands and excluding up to the elbows” can be done in two ways; first, not to wash from the fingertips to the elbow and wash from the elbow to the arm; and second, not to wash from the arm to the elbow and wash from elbow to the fingertips. But no one has ever said not to wash from the fingertips to the elbow.

Therefore, the only true sense is not to wash from the arm to the elbow but to wash from the elbow to the toes. This possibility is quoted by Ibn Husham from some grammarians and he has not rejected it. See: Mughni Al-Labib, Vol. 2, section 5 (Editor). 5. Al-Intisar, p. 16. 6. Al-Sara’ir, Vol. 1, p. 99.