Quran and Hadith on Wipe or Wash your feet for Wudu (Ablution)
Mahbub Khan
Sent: Saturday, March 5, 2022 11:22 AM
To: Distribution
Subject: Quran and Hadith on Wipe or Wash your feet for Wudu (Ablution)
Dear Friends,Assalamu-Alaykum.بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
I would like this email as a continuation of our last Sunday’s Halaqa (2/27/22) discussion on the required steps for Wudu (Ablution). Thanks to Imam Chebli and Aminul Islam Bhai for sharing their deeper knowledge of Islam with us, thus stimulating our thoughts, and inspiring us to learn more. May Allah bless you..
Quran Sura Al-Maida (The Feast) Sura number 5, Verse 6, provides the guidelines for Wudu (Ablution) as a preparation for Salat (Namaz).
In order to understand the proper meaning of this verse in terms of whether the feet need to be washed or just wiped (without washing) during Wudu (Ablution), one needs to know the meaning of the Arabic word مسح (pronounced masahh – I put two ‘h’ to stress the sound coming from the throat). The English translation of this word is Wipe.
This translation can be verified by an Arabic to English dictionary, and be further confirmed by a reverse translation from English to Arabic. Please see Appendix 1 which shows snapshots of translations of these words.
Let us go to the part of the verse which describes the treatment of head and feet in a Wudu (I highlighted the Arabic word masahhu in bold font).
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ فَٱغْسِلُوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْمَرَافِقِ وَٱمْسَحُوا۟ بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْكَعْبَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن
Here is a word for word translation by Dr. Shehnaz Shaikh, Ms. Kauser Katri (from https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/5/6/).
Quran 5:6: “O you who believe! When you stand up for the prayer, then wash your faces and your hands till the elbows and wipe your heads and your feet till the ankles.”
Please notice, this is word for word translation is consistent with the meaning of ‘masahh’ as shown in the Appendix 1.
As clear and unambiguous it may seem, there are variations in how this word and the sentence have been translated by various authors. We can classify the variations in translations in three categories:
A. Masahh is translated as Wipe for both head and feet, which seems to be closer in meaning to the content of Quran.
B. Masahh is translated as Wipe for head, but Wash for feet. The word Wash for feet has been put within parenthesis (wash). Parenthesis highlights that the content within parenthesis is not included in the Quran text, but the author thinks that will either clarify the content of Quran or that that is what Quran really meant.
C. Masahh is translated as Wipe for head, but Wash for feet, and the word Wash for feet has been added without parenthesis, or any other exceptions, thus making this category inconsistent with the content of Quran.
Here are a few Category A English translations of the above line in the verse:
1. The Study Quran, edited by Seyyed Hossain Nasr, published by HarperColins, USA, 2015, page 278: (Thanks to Marjan Zaman who gave me this book as a gift).
2. The Quran Translation by M. H. Shakir, published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc. USA, 1999, page 66:
Quran 5:6: “O you who believe! when you rise up to prayer, wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbows, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankles; and …”
3. The Quran – A New Translation by Thomas Cleary, Starlatch Press, USA, (2004), page 51:
Quran 5:6: “Believers, when you are going to pray, wash your faces and your hands and arms to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet to the ankles. And …”
4. The Koran, translated by N. J. Dawood, Published by Penguin Books, London, 2000, page 107:
Quran 5:6: “Believers, when you rise to pray wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbow, and wipe your heads and your feet to the ankle.”
5. A Bengali translation, Quran Sharif Translation by Bhai Girish Chandra Sen, Published by Dibya Prakash, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2008, Page 100:
Here are a few Category B English meanings of the above line in the verse where, for feet, Wash has been introduced and Wash has been put within parenthesis (wash):
6. The Qur’an, Text, Translation and Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc. USA, 2005, page 242:
Quran 5:6: “O ye who believe! when you prepare for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles”.
7. Interpretation of the Meanings of The Noble Qur’an by Dr. M Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali and Dr. M Muhsin Khan, Published by Darussalam, New York, 2010, page 124:
Quran 5:6: “O you who believe! When you intend to offer As-Salat (the prayer), wash your faces and your hands (forearms) up to the elbows, rub (by passing wet hands over) your heads, and (wash) your feet up to the ankles.”
8. The Holy Quran – translated by Maulana Muhammad Ali, Published by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha’at Islam, Ohio, USA, 2002, page 249:
Quran 5:6: O you who believe, when you rise up for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and (wash) your feet up to the ankles.
Here is an example of Category C translation where the author uses Wash instead of Wipe by disregarding the content of Quran. I will quote this example from M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, who was (until now) one of my favorite translators. (This is what I had read out at our last Sunday’s Halaqa).
9. The Qur’an – Translation by M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Published by Oxford University Press, UK, (2016), page 109:
Quran 5:6: “You who believe, when you are about to pray, wash your faces and your hands and arms up to the elbows, wipe your heads, wash your feet up to the ankles and …”
There are quite a number of other translators, who belong in one or the other of these three categories, but I don’t have all of their printed books with me. I will share a few translations based on the information available on the web (which may not always be reliable).
Quran surah Al Maidah 6 (QS 5: 6) in arabic and english translation - Alquran english
Please see Appendices 2, 3 and 4 for the list of these additional Quran references.
Finally, my humble observations:
Since there is a sizeable number of scholars and authors in each of these three categories we have defined, we should not simply explain away this inconsistency as an error or a lack of rigor on the part of the authors who seem to have deviated from the exact and literal meaning. In my view, it may be somewhat similar to the issue of the count of daily prayers (Namaz). Although Quran does not explicitly account for five counts of daily prayers, yet we adopted a frequency of five, most probably, due to the unbroken continuity of this practice over the generations which may ultimately trace back all the way to the early days of Islam. It is also possible that the practice of washing the feet as part of Wudu may have a similar background of wide use during the Prophet’s (PBUH) time.
I tried to explore Hadith sources for a clue, but could not find any overwhelmingly decisive evidence. I included a few references of Hadith in Appendix 5 which you may find somewhat relevant and interesting.
Considering the lack of water in the hot and dry Arabian desert area, and also the fact that feet with clean shoes and socks are less likely to get dirty as often as hands or the face, it may make sense to wipe the feet under certain circumstances. There are Hadiths of washing feet, wiping over leather socks, wiping over leather slippers, and performing Wudu in sandals.
In South Asia subcontinent, we have been taught to clean our nostril and rinse inside of the mouth as part of the Wudu. I did not see any reference to that, but I expect references to exist.
Splitting of the sentence between wiping the head and wiping-washing the feet may sound strange for a non-Arabic speaking person since there are no punctuations in this sentence. As we know classical Arabic (like classical Hebrew) did not have any punctuations. That gives the Quran reader or translator a freedom to break the sentence wherever deemed appropriate. Or, does it?
One interesting observation that I could not help but noting, is that all the non-Muslim translators fall in Category A translation (wipe head and feet, which seems to be closer to the content of Quran). These non-Muslim translators are: N. J. Dawood, Bhai Girish Chandra Sen, Thomas Cleary, and J. Arberry. One reason I can think of their accuracy is that they are more focused on the literal content of Quran without being diverted by other factors, such as, content of Hadith or other tradition of practices from the early days of Islam.
It is likely that the Muslims in the West will find the interpretation of Category A more appealing. This will reduce the need for an awkward and uncivil practice of using public bathroom sinks for washing the feet. Hidden in the Category A meaning could be the infinite wisdom and farsightedness of the Omniscient in making His directives easy (not burdensome) to follow in all cultures in all ages.
My apologies if I hurt anyone’s feelings. Please feel free to share your thoughts. We can all learn from each other.
Allah knows best.
Regards.
Mosleh-Uddin Ahmed
Email: mosle...@gmail.com
Tel: 732-710-0605
Note: For more details on Appendices 1 and 5 please see the Word file attached. I could not include them all in the emai.
Appendix 2: Category A - translation of verse 5:6 (masahh = Wipe):
· J. ARBERRY (5:6) O believers, when you stand up to pray wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet up to the ankles.
· MUHAMMAD SARWAR (5:6) Believers, when you are about to pray, wash your face and your hands along with the elbows and wipe your head and your feet to the ankles.
· TALAL ITANI (5:6) O you who believe! When you rise to pray, wash your faces and your hands and arms to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and your feet to the ankles.
· ALI QULI QARAI (5:6) O you who have faith! When you stand up for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe a part of your heads and your feet, up to the ankles.
Appendix 3: Category B - Translation of verse 5:6 (masahh = (Wash) within parenthesis):
· MUHAMMAD TAQI-UD-DIN AL-HILALI AND MUHAMMAD MUHSIN KHAN, (5:6) O you who believe! When you intend to offer As-Salat (the prayer), wash your faces and your hands (forearms) up to the elbows, rub (by passing wet hands over) your heads, and (wash) your feet up to ankles
· MOHAMMED MARMADUKE WILLIAM PICKTHALL (5:6) O ye who believe! When ye rise up for prayer, wash you faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles.
· DR. GHALI (5:6) O you who have believed, when you rise up for prayer, then wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, (Or: “part of” the head) and (wash) your legs to the ankles.
· ALI UNAL (5:6) O you who believe! When you rise up for the Prayer, (if you have no ablution) wash your faces and your hands up to (and including) the elbows, and lightly rub your heads (with water) and (wash) your feet up to (and including) the ankles.
· AMATUL RAHMAN OMAR (5:6) O you who believe! when you get up for Prayer (perform the ablution, so as to) wash your faces and your hands upto the elbows, and pass your (wet) hands over your heads (for mashah), and (wash) your feet upto the ankles.
· HASAN AL-FATIH QARIBULLAH AND AHMAD DARWISH (5:6) Believers, when you rise to pray wash your faces and your hands as far as the elbow, and wipe your heads and (wash) your feet to the ankle.
· Muhammad Asad - O YOU who have attained to faith! When you are about to pray, wash your face, and your hands and arms up to the elbows, and pass your [wet] hands lightly over your head, and [wash] your feet up to the ankles. (from: https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/5/6/)
Appendix 4: Category C - Translation of Verse 5:6 (masahh = Wash explicitly without any exceptions)
· SAHIH INTERNATIONAL (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.
· AHMED ALI (5:6) O believers, when you stand up for the service of prayer wash your faces and hands up to elbows, and also wipe your heads, and wash your feet up to the ankles.
· ABDUL MAJID DARYABADI (5:6) O ye who believe! when ye stand up for the prayer wash your faces and your hands unto the elbows, and wipe your heads, and wash your feet unto the ankles
· FARIDUL HAQUE (5:6) O People who Believe! When you wish to stand up for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and pass wet palms over your heads and wash your feet up to the ankles
· AHMED RAZA KHAN (5:6) O People who Believe! When you wish to stand up for prayer, wash your faces, and your hands up to the elbows, and pass wet palms over your heads and wash your feet up to the ankles;
Appendix 1: English meaning of masahh / wa-imsahhu
Appendix 5 Selected Hadith on Wudu/Ablution
