Why isn't wudu a pillar? The precision of Islamic law
Pillars vs. Obligations in Wudu: Understanding Islamic Jurisprudential Terminology and the Six Obligations of Ablution
Summary
This lecture discusses the Islamic jurisprudential distinction between pillars (arkan) and obligations (wajibat) in the context of ablution (wudu). The scholar explains why wudu components are categorized as obligations rather than pillars, using the example that certain parts of wudu can be omitted based on a person's physical circumstances (such as missing limbs or injuries), whereas pillars of other acts of worship like prayer must always be performed regardless of circumstances. The lecture emphasizes how categorization critically impacts Islamic legal rulings and treatments of religious obligations. Sh. Ali Mashhour then details the six obligations of wudu: washing the face including mouth and nose, washing the hands and arms to the elbows, wiping the head including the ears, washing the feet to the ankles, performing these actions successively, and performing them in the correct order.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Abdi.
[Silence]
Alhamdulillah. Yesterday we had begun a very interesting point and that is the difference between a pillar and an obligation in the terminology in the language of the fukah. And we mentioned something very curious. That thing is that when it comes to wudoo specifically, the scholars do not mention them as pillars. They mention them as obligations. Thank you. They mention them as obligations, not as pillars. So they say conditions and obligations not conditions and pillars. This is interesting. This is unique. Why is this? We mentioned yesterday that a pillar is something that cannot be skipped. No matter what, a person cannot perform an act of worship and leave out one of its pillars. Whether that is forgetfully, purposefully, whether that is because the person is unable, the person must fulfill the pillar. So for instance, fasting, fasting has two pillars. One of the pillars is that a person have the intention. Second pillar is that a person refrain from anything that breaks his his his fast. So why not name these things pillars meaning the hands, the arms, the face, the different places that a person washes during mud? The answer is and this shows us really the precision of the scholars that when they place a particular terminology or a particular condition, it comes from a place of immense knowledge and that is that not everyone is obligated to make every part of wudul based on the person's condition. For instance, let's say a person is missing an arm. Well, one of the pillars of wudul is that a person wash both of his arms to the elbow. Well, what if a person is missing one of his arms? He can't do that. Then he doesn't do it. Therefore, it's not really a pillar then, is it? It is a an obligation. Let's say a person has some kind of cut or some kind of injury. And they have a cast on. Do they wash it? No, they do not. They skip it purposely. So this is not a pillar. This is a this is an an obligation. This is why the scholars frame it in this way. Contrary to something for instance, rur is a pillar of salah. Well, what if a person can't make rur? They still go through the motion of rur as best as they can given their circumstance. Even if they are on their back and they can only move their finger, they make with their finger. Even if they can't even move their finger, they make with their eyes. Right? So it is not something that is skipped purposely. It is something that is always done no matter what. However, when it comes to wool, there are things which are entirely skipped based on a person's what? Circumstances. Do we understand that? This is why they categorize it as conditions and obligations. They don't categorize it as conditions and pillars because if they can if they categorized it as pillars this will take us into other territories. And this is very important because the way that we categorize something this is going to tell us how we treat that thing. So for instance I'll give you an example the in the hafi medab they categorize or in the hafiab the very well-known opinion is that they will categorize as a condition not as a pillar. The first of categorize it as a as a condition. Well, this is very curious. But what ramifications ensue as a result of this categorization? Well, they say look being that it is a condition and a person can make more than one salah on one condition. If a person were to be making me let's say a person were to be making the two for some reason and they stood up for a third forgetfully continue add two more to it and they're counted as two and two. Why? Because just you can make more than one salah on the same wudoo and wudoo is a condition of salah. You can make more than one salah on what? On. The point here is to articulate how it critical it is when we categorize things because categorization changes the entire way that that thing is treated. Anytime we ask and we mentioned this yesterday, if we were to go and ask the greatest MUI on the earth, the greatest scholar on the earth, a fetwa, they are going to reach back to the categorization that they first arrived at and that they've settled on in order to produce that that fetwa. And so this is why categorization is so important. The author here he mentions three conditions for woo and we mentioned that this is less popular and that is that he mentions a nia intention which is correct. Then he mentions a tesmah which is contested. However, a person should always say because some scholars have obligated it due to the narration. And then he mentions which really is one of the of and not one of the conditions. It's one of the meaning one of the obligations of so we will mention that at the end. For.
[Silence]
Deep mah. So if we were to really quantify how many obligations for wudoo, we say six. What are the six obligations of wudoo? Number one, washing the face to include the mouth and nose because the Quran says what? So every single time we see the prophets will do mention saiam it includes the mouth and nose every time. Why? Because he understood that the mouth and nose are part of the face. Right? So it is incorrect to say that it's not mentioned in the Quran. It is mentioned in the Quran when Allah tells us to wash our faces and our mouth and nose is where our face. Okay, so that's one. Number two, to wash the hands and arms to include the elbows. Three, to wipe over the head and that includes the ears. The same thing is said for the ears that is said for the mouth and nose with respect to the face. The ears are on your face or on your head. They're on a person's head. And so when Allah says wipe over your heads, it is to include the ears. This is why we never find an narration where he made wudoo and skipped the the ears. As a matter of fact, we will hear that he says that the two ears are part of the head. The fourth obligation of udu is washing the feet from the toes all the way to include the ankles. Number five is alah successively be done. That this woo be made successively. Successively meaning altogether. And number six that this woo be made in exactly this order. that this wool be made exactly in this order. Meaning it be made face then arms then head then feet successively together in this order. These are what the six pillars or obligations of woodoo obligations. These are the six obligations of wudoo. So woo has as mentioned here by the author two conditions and that is intention and a tesm right bismillah which is contested but we should always do it because there is an irration mentioning it and so we can say and that is saying once a person hears when a person remembers if a person forgets the woo is correct and then six obligations. The face to include the mouth and nose, the hands and arms to include the elbows, the head to include the ears, the feet to include the ankles, that they that this all be made successively, and that this all be made in order. These are the obligations of.
[Silence]
How are you? I'm good. How are you?