Step 3 of 12
Washing the Hands
Wash both hands up to the wrists three times, rubbing them together and running water between the fingers. If you have a ring that is tight, move it so the water reaches under it.
This is how 'Uthman and 'Abdullah ibn Zayd began when they showed people the Prophet's wudu ﷺ: they poured water over their hands and washed them before putting a hand into the vessel.
The Prophet ﷺ also said that whoever wakes from sleep should wash his hands before putting them into the water, because he does not know where his hand spent the night.
The four schools differ on some details. Show them
Each school's ruling, with the schools that share it named together.
Is washing the hands three times obligatory after waking from night sleep?
3 of 4 schools agree. Differing: Hanbali.
Show each school
- SunnahHanafi · Maliki · Shafi'i
- Obligatory (wajib)Hanbali
- Hanafi
- Washing the hands at the start of wudu is a sunnah, and it is stressed after waking.
- Maliki
- Washing the hands before putting them in the vessel is one of the sunnahs of wudu, whether or not one has slept.
- Shafi'i
- It is a sunnah, and dipping the hand into a small amount of water before washing it is disliked for one who is unsure whether it is clean.
- Hanbali
- After sleep at night that breaks wudu, washing the hands three times is obligatory, following the command in the hadith; at other times it is a sunnah.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 159 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 186 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 162 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih Muslim 278Sahih · 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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