The Quranic Foundation (5:6)
“O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. And if you are in a state of janabah [major ritual impurity], then purify yourselves. But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself or you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it. 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.”
The verse establishes: four body parts, the option of tayammum when water is unavailable, and the explicit divine purpose — purification.
The Six Obligatory Acts
Across all four Sunni legal schools, with some variations:
- Niyyah (intention): the conscious intention to perform ablution for prayer — stated or held in the heart
- Washing the face (wajh): from hairline to chin, ear to ear — once completely
- Washing the arms to the elbows (mira faqayn): both arms, elbows included — once
- Wiping the head (mash al-ra’s): a portion of the head with wet hands (Hanafi: one-quarter minimum; Maliki and Hanbali: the whole head; Shafi’i: any part)
- Washing the feet to the ankles (rijlayn): both feet, ankles included — once
- Order and continuity (tartib and muwala): doing the acts in sequence without a long break (required by Shafi’i, Hanbali, Maliki; not by Hanafi)
The Sunna Elements
What the Prophet consistently did in addition to the obligatory:
- Beginning with Bismillah
- Washing the hands to the wrists three times before anything else
- Using the siwak (tooth stick)
- Rinsing the mouth (madmada) and sniffing water into the nose (istinshaq)
- Performing each act three times rather than once
- Running fingers through the beard
- Running fingers between the toes
- Wiping the neck with the backs of the hands
- Beginning from the right side
Nullifiers of Wudu
Wudu is nullified by: any excretion from either private part, bleeding (in some schools), sleep that removes consciousness, loss of consciousness, touching the private parts directly (Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanbali), or sexual contact.
See also: Understanding Namaz, Niyyah, Sunna Al Nabawi, Tazkiyah, Fiqh Al Nikah, Fiqh Al Sadaqa