صفة الوضوء
‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that a man came to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, how is ablution performed?” The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) called for water in a vessel and washed his hands (up to the wrists) three times, then washed his face three times, and then washed his forearms three times. He then wiped his head and inserted his index fingers in his earholes; he wiped the back of his ears with his thumbs and the front of his ears with the index fingers. He then washed his feet three times. Then he said: “This is how ablution should be performed. If anyone does more or less than this, he has done wrong and transgressed (or transgressed and done wrong).”
عن عبد الله بن عمرو -رضي الله عنهما-: أن رجلا أَتَى النبيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال: «يا رسول الله، كيف الطُّهور فدعا بماء في إناء فغَسَل كفَّيْه ثلاثا، ثم غَسَل وجهَه ثلاثا، ثم غَسَل ذراعيْه ثلاثا، ثم مسح بِرَأْسه فأَدْخل إِصبعَيْه السَّبَّاحتَيْن في أذُنيْه، ومسح بإِبْهَامَيْه على ظاهِر أذُنيْه، وبالسَّبَّاحَتَيْن باطِنَ أذنيه، ثم غسل رجليه ثلاثا ثلاثا»، ثم قال: «هكذا الوضوء فمَنْ زادَ على هذا أو نَقَصَ فقدْ أَساءَ وظَلَم -أو ظَلَم وأَسَاء-».
شرح الحديث :
In this Hadīth, ‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned that a man came asking the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) about the way to perform ablution. Out of his keenness on teaching the man perfectly, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) decided to perform ablution. So he called for water in a vessel and washed his hands up to the wrists three times, then washed his face three times, and then did the same with his forearms. He then wiped his head and inserted the tips of both his index fingers in his earholes; he then wiped the back of his ears with his thumbs and the front of his ears with the index fingers. Finally, he washed his feet three times. After finishing, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) explained that this is how the acceptable ablution should be performed, and that if anyone does more or - according to the irregular narration - less than this, he has done wrong, due to his non-compliance with the Sunnah, and transgressed because of depriving himself of the reward for repeating the actions of ablution. It was also said that “doing wrong” is when one does more and that “transgression” is when one does less. However, it was countered that “doing less” cannot be considered as “transgression” because - according to other Hadīths - the actions of the ablution were repeated twice and sometimes only once. The answer to this controversy is that the addition “or less” is unauthentic and irregular.