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Fatwa CenterHow to wash ears in ablution
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu, Shaykh. I have questions related to ablution: 1. Before wiping the head in ablution, does one need to wash his hands or can one just wipe it without washing hands after having washed the arms? 2. How is one to wipe his ears; the inside is the inside part where one enters his finger in order to clean it, but which is the outside part of the ear? The part that is in the front, where a girl wears her earrings, or the backside of the ear? May Allaah reward you, Shaykh.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It is not obligatory to wash the hands before wiping the head in Wudhoo (ablution). Whenever the person finishes washing his arms up to the elbows, he wipes his head right away.
As for the ears, wiping them in any given manner is sufficient. The Sunnah is to wipe the inside with the index fingers and the outside with the thumbs. The outside includes the front and the back of the ears. He does not have to wipe the turns of the ear cartilages. Kashshaaf Al-Qinaa‘ reads:
"It is sufficient to wipe the ears in any manner, just like the case with wiping the head. The Sunnah manner of wiping the ears is to insert the index fingers into the ears and wipe the outside with the thumbs. The following was narrrated on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbaas 
: 'The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, wiped his head and ears, their inside with his index fingers, and their outside with his thumbs.' [An-Nasaa'i] It is not required to wipe the parts of the ear that are hidden (by cartilages) because when wiping the head – which is the main organ that is being wiped – it is not obligatory to wipe the surface of the skin that is covered by hair. It follows that it is even more appropriate to not have to do so for the ears..."
Allaah knows best.
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