and the wudu of the messengers before me." Narrated by Ibn Majah (16). Furthermore, the head is a foundation in purification, so it is Sunnah to repeat it, just like the face. Our evidence is that Abd Allah ibn Zayd described the wudu of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: "He wiped his head once." This is agreed upon (17). It was also narrated from Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that he performed wudu and wiped his head once, saying: "This is the wudu of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Whoever wishes to see the purification of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) should look at this." Al-Tirmidhi said: "This is a hasan sahih hadith" (18). Similarly, Abd Allah ibn Abi Awfa, Ibn Abbas (19), Salamah ibn al-Akwa', and al-Rubayyi' all described it, saying: "And he wiped his head once." Their accounts of the wudu of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) are reports of his regular practice, and one does not adhere to anything but the most excellent and complete way. The hadith of Ibn Abbas is an account of the wudu of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) at night while he was in private, and in that state, he would only perform what is most excellent. Furthermore, it is a wiping in the context of purification, so its repetition is not Sunnah, like wiping in tayammum, wiping over a splint, and all other forms of wiping; and there is no authentic, explicit hadith from them to the contrary. Abu Dawud (20) said: "All the authentic hadiths of Uthman indicate that wiping the head is done once; for they mentioned wudu performed three times each, and said in them: 'And he wiped his head' (21), without mentioning a number, as they did for the other parts. As for the hadith in which it was mentioned: 'He wiped,'