Jurisprudence

Fatwās of the Grand Ayatollah Khamenei (d.)

1-[In wuḍū’] after having wiped the head, one has to wipe back of the feet (from the tip of one toe until the bony protrusion before the ankle joint) with the moisture of wuḍū’ remaining on the hands. However, there is mustaḥabb caution to wipe them to the ankle.

1- One should wipe the back of the feet up to the ankles.

2- The face has, by obligatory caution, to be washed downwards and if it is washed upwards, wuḍū’ is void. The arms have to be washed from the elbows to the fingertips.

2- In wuḍū’, the face and arms have to be washed downwards. If they are washed upwards, wuḍū’ is void.

3- In wuḍū’, the first go of washing the face and arms is obligatory, the second go is permissible and further washes are ḥarām. If any of the mentioned parts is washed thoroughly with a single handful of water with the intention of performing wuḍū’, it is considered as one go no matter whether one intends it to be one go or not.

3- In wuḍū’, the first go of washing the face and arms is obligatory, the second is permissible and the further goes are ḥarām. Determining whether it is one go or more depends on the intention of the person performing wuḍū’. In other words, the face can be splashed with water more than once with the intention that it is the first go.

4- Having washed the two arms, one has to wipe on the top of the head with the moisture of wuḍū’ remaining on the hand. It is not necessary to wipe the head with the right hand or downwards.

4- The head and the feet have to be wiped with the moisture of wuḍū’ remaining on the hands. The head should¸ by caution, be wiped with the right hand but it is not necessary to wipe the head downwards.

5. If no moisture remains on the palms for wiping, one cannot moisten their hand with other than wuḍū’ water so they should take moisture from other wuḍū’ parts to wipe with it.

5. Question: Is it permissible to wipe with moisture that does not belong to wuḍū’? And is it a must to wipe the head with the right hand and in a downward direction?
Answer: Wiping the head and feet should be done using the wuḍū’ moisture which remained on the hand. If it is dried out, one has to take moisture from the eyebrows or beard to wipe with it. It is based on caution to wipe the head with the right hand but it is not a must to do it downwards.

6- If there is an exposed wound, a boil, or fracture in the face or on the arms and if splashing it with water causes harm, washing the surrounding area is enough. But if passing a wet hand over it is not harmful, then it is better to pass one’s wet hand over it and to put a piece of clean cloth over the injured area and to wipe the cloth with a wet hand. If this process is also harmful or the wound is najis and it cannot be washed with water, one should wash the surrounding area downwards in the same way mentioned in wuḍū’ and, according to the mustaḥabb caution, put a clean cloth on the area and pass a wet hand over it. If putting a cloth is also impossible, washing the wound's surroundings would suffice. In any case, performing tayammum is not necessary.

6- If there is an exposed wound or fracture in a wuḍū’ part, it must be washed unless water is harmful to it in which case the surrounding area must be washed. It is caution to wipe with a wet hand if wiping it with wet hand does not have a harmful effect.

7- If there is an exposed wound, a boil or fracture in the scalp or in the back of the feet and it cannot be wiped, then a piece of clean cloth must be placed on it and be wiped with the moisture of wuḍū’ remaining on the hand and, by mustaḥabb caution, tayammum should be done too. If it is impossible to place a piece of cloth on the area, he/she must do tayammum instead of wuḍū’ and it is preferable to do wuḍū’ without wiping, as well.

7- If there is a wound in the place to be wiped, and it cannot be wiped with a wet hand, one must do tayammum instead of wuḍū’. However, if it is possible to place a piece of cloth on the wound and pass one’s [wet] hand over the cloth, one performs, by caution, wuḍū’ as mentioned above and does tayammum as well.

8. It is ḥarām to use a golden or a silver vessel for eating, drinking and other uses like doing wuḍū’, ghusl, etc. But, keeping such vessels or using them for decoration purposes is not ḥarām.

8. To eat or drink from a dish made of gold or silver is ḥarām but keeping such a dish or using it for purposes other than eating and drinking is not ḥarām.