Performing wudu correctly

Question

Dear brother Salamualaikum,

My question is: when I performing wudu when I pass water over my head ones how does it work the head and hair need to be completely wet or symbolically just pass a wet hands over from front to back and back to front.

Answer 1

Walecum assalam,

there is no need to wet Whole of hair. just pass Wet hands all of your head to make hair wet (not every part of hair should be made wet).

More detailed description can be found here:

https://islamqa.info/en/11497

Answer 2

In (5:6) the fard/fraz parts of wudu are listed:

O you who have believed, when you rise to [perform] prayer, wash your faces and your forearms to the elbows and wipe over your heads and wash your feet to the ankles. ...

And the Verse clearly mention wiping and washing!

Wiping means that you must wet your hands and pass with them over the body part!

While washing means fill your hand with water and pour the water over a body part!

Scholars have different opinions on the fard/farz part when it comes to the head. While most agree that the sunna would be wiping over the head forth and back!

The point is that the Arabic letter ba' in

"وامسحوا برؤسكم

has linguistically two meanings either it is used to put emphasize on a part, this would mean that "and wipe over your heads" must be understood as "and wipe over -a part of- your heads". The other meaning is to pin the words in this case the words would mean that the act of wiping is "pinned on the following word the "head". This last meaning is the choice of the majority of scholars, some said Imam a-Shafi-'i has chosen the first meaning

So still scholars had different opinion.

• While Imam Malik has chosen the safest option which is wiping all the head, which seems to be the choice of Imam Ahmad.
• Imam a-Shafi-'i toke according to my reference the evidence (according both meanings) which is the minimum "surface" which can be understood as wiping for example the surface you put your wet hand on!
• Abu Hanifa instead supported his claim by a hadith which you may find in Sunan abi Dawod and here or Sunan a-Nasa-i where the forehead is quoted and from this abu Hanifa estimated the forehead as a quarter of the head.

My reference is this fatwa in Arabic.

And Allah knows best!