Does wiping over a dry spot with wet hands suffice for washing in wudu?

Question Summary

Does wiping over a dry spot with wet hands suffice for washing in wudu?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Wiping a wet hand over a dry spot does not suffice the commandment of washing in wudu. [Jassas, Ahkam al-Quran]

Allah Most Highs says, “O believers! When you rise for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, wipe your heads, and wash your feet to the ankles…” [Qur’an; 05:06]

The word washing in the above verse is different than the word wiping. Washing entails pouring water over a limb. Thus if one merely touches the limb with a wet hand, they have not washed, and the wudu is incomplete.

The exception to this is if one’s hand was dripping wet; in such case, the dry spot is considered washed, not wiped. Jassas, Ahkam al-Quran]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.