Is Wiping Three Times Considered Washing?

Question: Assalamu aleykum
Is it fine if I wet my hands and go through my feet three times to validate my ablution, or does it require letting water flow over my feet?

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate

walaikum Assalam,

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah.

If the repeated wiping of the feet left your entire foot dripping wet, this would fulfill the condition of washing your feet. If the feet weren’t entirely dripping wet, it wouldn’t be sufficient.

Washing (ghasl) is for water to flow over the limb. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah] Allah Most High has specifically commanded us to “wash” our faces, arms, and feet. [Quran, 5.6]

Wiping (mash) doesn’t fulfill the condition of washing, even if the wiping is repeated.

The exception would be if one repeatedly wiped with a dripping wet hand, such that the feet ended up dripping wet—which is a sign of them being washed. [Shurunbulali, Imdad al-Fattah; Fatawa Hindiyya; other]

And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.

[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus and Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), and his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.