Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, said: The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: "If you perform wudu', begin with your right sides." Narrated by Ibn Majah (3). Uthman and Ali, may Allah be pleased with them both, described the wudu' of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and he began with the right before the left. Both were narrated by Abu Dawud (4). This is not obligatory because the two hands are in the position of a single limb, and likewise the two feet; for Allah the Almighty said: {and your hands} [and] {and your feet} (5), and He did not specify [an order]. The jurists call the limbs of wudu' four; they consider the two hands as one limb and the two feet as one limb, and sequence is not obligatory within a single limb.
(3) In: Chapter on Beginning with the Right in Wudu', from the Book of Purification. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/141. It was also recorded by Abu Dawud, in: Chapter on Putting on Shoes, from the Book of Clothing. Sunan Abi Dawud 2/390. (4) In: Chapter on the Description of the Wudu' of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/24-26. (5) Surah Al-Ma'idah, 6.
