Wudūʾ is the purification with water that Allah made a condition for ṣalāh: “O you who believe, when you rise to pray, wash your faces and your hands to the elbows, wipe your heads, and wash your feet to the ankles” (Qurʾān 5:6). It is also required for ṭawāf around the Kaʿba and (in the majority view) for touching the muṣḥaf. Beyond obligation, staying in a state of wudūʾ through the day is a beloved, rewarded habit.
How to perform wudūʾ
The complete, recommended way — doing this fulfils every school’s obligation. Acts marked “once” are the minimum; three times is sunnah.
- 1
🧠Make the intention (niyya) in your heart to purify yourself for worship.
It is not spoken aloud.
- 2
🗣️Say “Bismillāh”.
- 3
🖐️Wash both hands up to the wrists, three times.
- 4
💧Rinse the mouth (maḍmaḍa) three times.
- 5
👃Draw water into the nose and blow it out (istinshāq), three times.
- 6
😊Wash the whole face, three times — from the hairline to the chin, and from ear to ear.
- 7
💪Wash the right arm to and including the elbow, three times, then the left.
- 8
🤲Wipe the head once — pass wet hands from the front to the nape and back.
- 9
👂Wipe the ears once — index fingers inside, thumbs behind.
- 10
🦶Wash the right foot to and including the ankle, three times, then the left. Take care between the toes and at the heels.
- 11
🤲Finish with the duʿāʾ: “Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā Allāh…”
Whoever says it, the eight gates of Paradise are opened for him (Muslim 234).
Obligatory acts (farḍ)
FarḍAll four schools agree on the four Qurʾānic acts below. They differ on whether intention, sequence, continuity, rinsing the mouth/nose, and wiping the whole head are additionally obligatory — see “Compare the schools”.
Agreed by all schools
- ✓Wash the entire face
- ✓Wash both arms, including the elbows
- ✓Wipe the head (how much differs — see Compare)
- ✓Wash both feet, including the ankles
Also obligatory in Hanafi
In this school the four Qurʾānic acts, done once, complete the obligation.
Recommended acts (sunnah)
SunnahThese multiply the reward and complete the wudūʾ; leaving them does not invalidate it.
- • Saying “Bismillāh” at the start
- • Using the siwāk / miswāk
- • Washing the hands three times before beginning
- • Rinsing the mouth and nose (a sunnah in the schools where it is not obligatory)
- • Beginning each pair of limbs with the right
- • Running wet fingers through the beard and between the fingers and toes (takhlīl)
- • Washing each limb three times instead of once
- • The supplication after wudūʾ
What breaks wudūʾ
Two causes are agreed by all four schools; the rest are points of difference — follow your school and see Compare.
Agreed by all schools
- ✕Anything that exits the front or back passage — urine, stool, wind, etc.
- ✕Loss of consciousness — deep sleep, fainting, intoxication, or insanity
Also in Hanafi
- ✕Flowing blood, pus, or a mouthful of vomit
- ✕Laughing aloud while in ṣalāh
Common mistakes
- ⚠ A barrier the water cannot pass — nail polish, thick paint, dough, wax — left on the skin. It must be removed first.
- ⚠ Wiping the head with dry hands.
- ⚠ Rushing so a spot is left dry — often the elbows or the heels. “Woe to the heels from the Fire.”
- ⚠ Wasting water; the Prophet ﷺ made full wudūʾ with a small amount.
- ⚠ Pronouncing the intention aloud — the niyya is in the heart.
- ⚠ Missing the corners of the face or the gaps between fingers and toes.
Evidence
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ فَاغْسِلُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ وَأَيْدِيَكُمْ إِلَى الْمَرَافِقِ وَامْسَحُوا بِرُءُوسِكُمْ وَأَرْجُلَكُمْ إِلَى الْكَعْبَيْنِ
“…wash your faces and your hands to the elbows, wipe your heads, and wash your feet to the ankles.” — the foundational command for wudūʾ.
Qurʾān 5:6 (al-Māʾida)
“No prayer is accepted without purification.”
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 224 ṣaḥīḥ
“Woe to the heels from the Fire” — said when some hastened and left their heels dry; wash every part.
Bukhārī 60 / Muslim 241 ṣaḥīḥ
Making wudūʾ well causes minor sins to depart the body, even from beneath the nails.
Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 245 ṣaḥīḥ
Compare the schools
Tap a school to see its ruling first everywhere on this page.
Wudūʾ
Is intention (niyya) a condition of wudūʾ?
Hanafi: Sunnah, not a condition of validity — wudūʾ performed to wash counts as purification (though reward depends on intention). Wudūʾ is treated as a means (wasīla).
Other schools
Maliki: Obligatory (farḍ) — no valid wudūʾ without the intention of purification.
Shāfiʿī: Obligatory (a pillar) — the niyya is made when washing the face begins.
Hanbali: Obligatory (a condition) — no valid wudūʾ without it.
"Innamā al-aʿmāl bi-l-niyyāt" (Bukhārī 1, Muslim 1907). al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya.
Wudūʾ
How much of the head must be wiped?
Hanafi: Wiping about one-quarter of the head is obligatory; wiping the whole head is sunnah.
Other schools
Maliki: The whole head must be wiped.
Shāfiʿī: Wiping any part of the head — even a few hairs within its bounds — suffices as the obligation.
Hanbali: The whole head, including the ears, must be wiped.
Difference over the "bāʾ" in "wa-msaḥū bi-ruʾūsikum" (Qurʾān 5:6) — partitive vs. comprehensive. al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya.
Wudūʾ
Are rinsing the mouth (maḍmaḍa) & nose (istinshāq) obligatory in wudūʾ?
Hanafi: Sunnah in wudūʾ — but obligatory (farḍ) in ghusl, since the whole body (incl. inner mouth & nose) must be reached.
Other schools
Maliki: Sunnah in wudūʾ (and in ghusl).
Shāfiʿī: Sunnah in wudūʾ (and in ghusl).
Hanbali: Obligatory (wājib) in both wudūʾ and ghusl — the mouth and nose are treated as part of the commanded face-washing.
Difference over whether mouth & nose are part of "al-wajh" (the face) in Qurʾān 5:6. al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya.
Wudūʾ
Are order (tartīb) & continuity (muwālāt) obligatory?
Hanafi: Neither is obligatory — both are sunnah. Washing the four members is what validity requires.
Other schools
Maliki: Continuity (muwālāt / fawr) is obligatory when able; order (tartīb) is a strongly-emphasized sunnah.
Shāfiʿī: Order (tartīb) is obligatory; continuity (muwālāt) is sunnah.
Hanbali: Both order (tartīb) and continuity (muwālāt) are obligatory.
Wudūʾ verse follows the Qurʾānic sequence (5:6). al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya.
Wudūʾ
Does touching the opposite gender (incl. spouse) break wudūʾ?
Hanafi: Mere skin contact does not break wudūʾ; only an emission does. Practical relief in crowds.
Other schools
Maliki: Breaks wudūʾ when it is with desire or pleasure; incidental contact without pleasure does not.
Shāfiʿī: Direct skin-to-skin contact between an adult man and a marriageable (non-maḥram) woman — including one’s spouse — breaks wudūʾ, whether or not there is desire.
Hanbali: Breaks wudūʾ if with desire; contact without desire does not.
Difference over "aw lāmastum al-nisāʾ" (Qurʾān 4:43, 5:6) — whether "touch" means contact or intercourse. Nawāqiḍ al-wuḍūʾ — al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya.
Wudūʾ
Does touching one’s private part break wudūʾ?
Hanafi: No — touching one’s own private part does not break wudūʾ (ḥadīth of Ṭalq b. ʿAlī).
Other schools
Maliki: Yes — touching the penis directly with the inside of the hand, without a barrier and (per the school) with intention/pleasure, breaks wudūʾ.
Shāfiʿī: Yes — touching the private part with the palm or inner fingers breaks wudūʾ.
Hanbali: Yes — touching the private part directly breaks wudūʾ.
Ḥadīth of Busra bint Ṣafwān ("whoever touches his penis, let him make wudūʾ"), Abū Dāwūd 181 / Tirmidhī 82 — graded ṣaḥīḥ. Ḥanafī evidence: Ṭalq b. ʿAlī, Abū Dāwūd 182.
Wudūʾ
Does eating camel meat break wudūʾ?
Hanafi: No — eating camel meat does not break wudūʾ. The hadith is understood as recommending renewal, or as abrogated by "wudūʾ is from what comes out, not what goes in."
Other schools
Maliki: No — it does not break wudūʾ.
Shāfiʿī: No — it does not break wudūʾ (the relied-upon view of the school).
Hanbali: Yes — eating camel meat breaks wudūʾ, acting on the explicit ḥadīth. This is the well-known Ḥanbalī position.
Ḥadīth of Jābir b. Samura, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 360 ("perform wudūʾ from camel meat"). See Nawāqiḍ al-wuḍūʾ — al-Mawsūʿa al-Fiqhiyya.
Classical references
Hanafi: al-Hidāya · Radd al-Muḥtār (Ibn ʿĀbidīn) · Mukhtaṣar al-Qudūrī
Maliki: al-Mudawwana · Mukhtaṣar Khalīl
Shāfiʿī: Minhāj al-Ṭālibīn (al-Nawawī) · al-Umm (al-Shāfiʿī)
Hanbali: al-Mughnī (Ibn Qudāma) · Zād al-Mustaqniʿ
Learn more
When is wudūʾ required? For ṣalāh (obligatory and voluntary), for ṭawāf, and — in the majority view — for touching the muṣḥaf. It is recommended (not required) for reciting Qurʾān from memory, dhikr, before sleep, and simply to remain in a state of purity. Wiping over footwear (al-mash ʿalā al-khuffayn): once you make wudūʾ and put on leather socks (khuffayn), you may — instead of washing the feet — wipe over them at the next wudūʾ: up to 24 hours for a resident and 72 hours for a traveller. This is an established sunnah and a mercy, especially in cold or travel. Renewing wudūʾ while still in a valid state is a virtue, and combining acts of worship upon one wudūʾ is fine. If you are unsure whether your wudūʾ broke, the default is that it remains — certainty is not removed by doubt.
Content is being reviewed for authenticity by a qualified scholar. Follow your local scholars for personal rulings.