The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) came upon us. We brought water for him in a brass vessel and he performed ablution.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: The prayer of a person who does not perform ablution is not valid, and the ablution of a person who does not mention the name of Allah (in the beginning) is not valid.

This tradition means that if a person performs ablution and takes a bath but does not have the intention to perform ablution for prayer and purify himself from sexual defilement, his ablution or bath is not valid.

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: When anyone amongst you wakes up from sleep at night, he should not put his hand in the utensil until he has washed his hand three times, for he does’ not know where his hand was during the night.

“ twice or thrice.” This version does not mention Abu Razin.

I heard the Messenger of Allah (May Peace be upon him) say: When any of you wakes up from sleep, he should not put his hand in the utensil until he washes it three times, for none of you knows where his hand remained during the night or where it went round.

I saw ‘ Uthman’ b. ‘Affan while he performed ablution. He poured water over his hands three times and then washed them. He then rinsed his mouth and then cleansed his nose with water (three times). He then washed his right arm up to the elbow three times, then washed his left arm in a similar manner; then wiped his head; then washed his right foot three times, then washed his left foot in a similar manner, and then said : I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) performing ablution like this ablution of mine. Then he (the Prophet) said: He who performs ablution like this ablution of mine and then offered two rakhahs of prayer without allowing his thoughts to be distracted, Allah will pardon all his past sins.

I saw ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan performing ablution. He then narrated the same tradition. In this version there is no mention of rinsing the mouth and snuffing up water. This traditions adds : “He wiped his head three times. He then washed his feet three times. He then said : I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) performing ablution in like manner. He (the Prophet) said: He who performs ablution less than this, it is sufficient for him. 73 The narrator did not mention prayer (in this version).

Abu Dawud said : All the sound traditions narrated by ‘ Uthman indicated that the head is to be wiped once, because they mentioned (the washing of each part in) ablution three times. In their versions of tradition they mentioned the wordings: “he wiped his head.” In this case they did not mention any number as they did in other cases.

I saw the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) performing ablution as you saw me perform ablution. He then reported the tradition like that of al-Zuhrl and completed it.

Abu Dawud said: Another version says: "He performed ablution three times only."

Abdu Khayr said: Ali came upon us and he had already offered prayer. He called for water. We asked: What will you do with water when you have already offered prayer? - Perhaps to teach us. A utensil containing water and a wash-basin were brought (to him).

He poured water from the utensil on his right hand and washed both his hands three times, rinsed the mouth, snuffed up water and cleansed the nose three times. He then rinsed the mouth and snuffed up water with the same hand by which he took water. He then washed his face three times, and washed his right hand three times and washed his left hand three times. He then put his hand in water and wiped his head once.

He then washed his right foot thrice and left foot thrice, then said: If one is pleased to know the method of performing ablution of the Messenger of Allah, this is how he did it.

‘All offered the dawn prayer and went to Rahbah (a locality in Kufah). He called for water. A boy brought him a vessel containing water and a wash-basin. He held the vessel with his right hand and poured water over his left hand. He washed both of his hands (to the wrist) three times. He then put his right hand in the vessel ( to take water) and rinsed his mouth three times and snuffed up water three times. He then narrated almost the same tradition as narrated by Abu ‘Awanah. He then wiped his head, both its front and back sides, once. He then narrated the tradition in like manner.

I heard ‘Abd Khair say: I saw a chair was brought to ‘Ali who sat on it. A vessel of water was then brought to him. He washed his hands three times ; he then rinsed his mouth and snuffed up water with one handful of water. He narrated the tradition completely.

he wiped his head so much so that drops (of water) were about to trickle down. He then washed his feet three times and said: This is how the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) performed ablutions.

I saw ‘ Ali performing ablution. He washed his face three times and his hands three times and wiped his head once. Then he (‘Ali) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) used to perform ablution in this way.

I saw ‘Ali perform ablution. He (Abu Hayyah) then described that ‘Ali went through every part of the ablution three times, i.e. he performed each detail of his ablution three times. He then wiped his head, then washed his feet up to the ankles. He then said: I wanted to show you how the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) performed ablution.

‘Ali b. Abi Talib entered upon me after he has passed water. He then called for water for ablution. We brought to him a vessel containing water, and placed it before him. He said: O Ibn’Abbas, may I not show you how the Messenger of Allah(ﷺ) used to perform ablution? I replied : Why not? He then inclined the vessel to his hand and washed it. He then put his right hand in the vessel and poured water over the other hand and washed his hands up to the wrist. He then rinsed his mouth and snuffed up water. He then put both of his hands together in the water and took out a handful of water and threw it upon the face. He then inserted both of his thumbs in the front part of the ears. He did like that twice and thrice. He then took a handful of water and poured it over his forehead and left it running down his face. He then washed his forearms up to the elbow three times. He then wiped his head and the back of his ears. He then put both of his hands together in the water and took a handful of it and threw it on his foot. He had a shoe foot like that. Do you wash your foot while it is in the shoe? He replied : Yes, while it is in the shoe. This question and answer were repeated thrice. Abu Dawud said: The version transmitted by Ibn Juraij from Shaibah is similar to the one narrated by ‘ Ali. In this version Hajjaj reported on the authority of Ibn Juraij the wording: He wiped his head once. Ibn Wahb narrated from Ibn Juraij the wording: he wiped his head three times.

Can you show me how the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) performed ablution? ‘Abd Allah b. Zaid replied: Yes. He called for ablution water, poured it over his hands, and washed them; then he rinsed his mouth and snuffed up water in the nose three times; then he washed his face three times and washed his forearms up to elbow twice; then he wiped his head with both hands, moving them front and back of the head, beginning from his forehead, and moved them to the nape; then he pulled them back to the place from where he had started (wiping); then he washed his feet.

He rinsed his mouth and snuffed up water from one hand, doing that three times.