Step 10 of 12
Order and Continuity
Wash the limbs in the order Allah mentions them: the face, then the arms, then wipe the head, then wash the feet. This order is called tartib.
Do the steps one after another without a long break, so that you do not leave a limb to dry before washing the next one in normal conditions. This continuity is called muwalat.
The Prophet ﷺ always made wudu in this order and without interruption. When he saw a man who had left a spot the size of a nail unwashed on his foot, he told him to go back and make his wudu well.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
Is keeping the order of the limbs (tartib) obligatory?
The schools are split two and two.
Show each school
- SunnahHanafi · Maliki
- Obligatory (fard)Shafi'i · Hanbali
- Hanafi
- The verse joins the limbs with "and", which does not require a sequence, so the order is a sunnah.
- Maliki
- In the relied-upon view the order is a sunnah, so wudu done out of order is still valid.
- Shafi'i
- The order is a pillar of wudu, because the verse places the wiped head between the washed limbs and the Prophet ﷺ always kept this order.
- Hanbali
- The order is one of the obligations of wudu, for the same reasons.
Is continuity between the limbs (muwalat) obligatory?
2 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Maliki, Hanbali.
Show each school
- SunnahHanafi · Shafi'i
- Obligatory (wajib) when rememberedMaliki
- Obligatory (fard)Hanbali
- Hanafi
- Continuity is a sunnah; the wudu stays valid even after a long break.
- Maliki
- Continuity is obligatory for one who remembers and is able; one who forgets, or is held up by something outside his control, builds on what he has already washed.
- Shafi'i
- In the school's later (new) view continuity is a sunnah; the earlier (old) view held it to be obligatory.
- Hanbali
- Continuity is an obligation: one should not delay a limb until the one before it has dried in normal weather.
- Qur'an 5:6
- Sahih Muslim 226Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 243Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sunan Abi Dawud 175Graded by Al-Albani: Sahih · Muhammad Muhyi Al-Din Abdul Hamid: Sahih · Shuaib Al Arnaut: Sahih Lighairihi · Zubair Ali Zai: SahihSahih
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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