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Ablution in the Prophetic Traditions - Al-Shia The Scientific and Cultural Website of Shia belief Ablution in the Prophetic Traditions 2021-06-19 431 Views Ablution Some people have claimed that traditions imply the cof washing the feet in the ritual ablution and that there are no valid traditions for rubbing them. This claim has led them to justify and interpret the honourable verse of ablution against its apparent meaning.

The counter-argument to this claim is that so many valid traditions stipulate the obligation of rubbing, not washing the feet. The readers’ attention is hereinafter directed to some traditions narrated by the Sunnis: It is narrated from Rifa’ah Ibn Rafi’ that he was by the Prophet (a.s) when said: “In fact, no one’s prayer is acceptable until he/she accomplishes the ablution completely and correctly, as the Almighty has stated, i.e.

washes the face and the hands to the elbows and rub the head and the feet to the ankles” (1). As is evident, this tradition has clearly stated that the head and the feet should be rubbed.

Al-Bukhari, Ahmad, Ibn Abi Shaybah, Ibn Abi Umar, Al-Baghawi, Al-Tabarani, Al-Bawirdi and others have narrated Abbad Ibn Tamim Al-Mazani’s reporting his father’s saying: “I saw the Messenger of Allah (a.s) performing ablution and rubbing his feet with water.” (2) Ibn Hajar Asqalani narrated this tradition in the biography of Tamim Ibn Zayd Ansari, saying, “The narrators of the tradition are all trustworthy.” The stipulation of this tradition to the obligation of rubbing the feet is also clear.

It is narrated from Abu Matar that he said: One noon, as I was sitting in a mosque near Bab al-Rahmah (A door in Kufah Mosque) with Amir al-Mu’minin (the Commander of the Believers) Imam Ali (a.s), a man came and asked him to show him the ablution as performed by the Messenger of Allah (a.s). Ali (a.s) called Qanbar (his servant) and asked for a jug of water. Then, he washed his two palms and his face three times.

Then he took some of his fingers to his mouth (washing his teeth) and sniffed water twice or three times. Next, he washed his forearms three times and rubbed his head once. Then he said, “Inside the mouth and the nose are like the face and their outside parts are like the head (in ablution).” He then rubbed his feet to the ankles while water poured from his beard to his chest. Then he drank water and said, “Where is the man who asked me about the Prophet’s ablution?