Step 4 of 12
Rinsing the Mouth and Nose
Take water in your right hand and rinse your mouth, moving it around (madmadah). Then draw water into your nose (istinshaq) and blow it out, helping with your left hand (istinthar).
Do this three times. You may rinse the mouth and nose from the same handful each time, as 'Abdullah ibn Zayd described, or take separate water for each.
Draw the water in well unless you are fasting, in which case be gentle so that it does not go down your throat.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
Are rinsing the mouth and nose obligatory in wudu?
3 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanbali.
Show each school
- SunnahHanafi · Maliki · Shafi'i
- Obligatory (fard)Hanbali
- Hanafi
- They are sunnahs of wudu; in the ritual bath (ghusl), however, the Hanafis hold them to be obligatory.
- Maliki
- Rinsing the mouth, drawing water into the nose and blowing it out are each a sunnah of wudu.
- Shafi'i
- They are sunnahs of wudu and of ghusl; the wudu is valid without them.
- Hanbali
- The mouth and nose count as part of the face, so rinsing them is part of washing the face, in wudu and in ghusl.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 186 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 162 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 237Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
The positions of the four schools are summarised from their standard references and are pending review by a qualified scholar. Follow the school you were taught, and for your own situation, ask a scholar.
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