Should I Wipe Every Hair in Wudu?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

How to wipe head in wudu and should we wipe every hair?

Answer

One does not have to wipe every hair of the head in wudu. One has to just estimate a fourth of the head by following the obligation (fard), and to remove any doubt, just follow the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and leave it to that.

The obligation of wudu is to wipe a fourth of the head. The legal definition of wiping (mash’) is placing the wet hand onto the limb, or more specifically, wetness touching the area

[Shurunbulali; Maraqi al-Falah. Ibn ’Abidin]

The emphasized sunna of wiping the head is wiping the entire head once.

[Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

I would like to humbly advise you, when a person starts committing himself to the religion, shaytan plays on a person’s commitment in his matters of faith, purity and prayer, and incites him in every way. So, follow the sunna of the Prophet, make constant duas and try to ignore the misgivings, this is often the best cure. Also, try to perform all your fard prayers in congregation, ideally in a masjid, or with others when at work or when cannot make it to the masjid. This will bring about ease in sha’ Allah.

May Allah (Most High) ease all of our affairs and save us from the trickery of the shaytan, amin.

I would like you to go through the Reader below, it will help you in every way.

A Reader on OCD and Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings) (seekersguidance.org)

I pray this helps in your questions.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.

He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.

He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.

He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.