Al-Athram said: I asked Abu Abd Allah, "Is Tayammum a single strike?" He replied, "Yes, a strike for the face and the palms. As for whoever says two strikes, it is merely something they have added." Al-Tirmidhi said: This is the view of more than one of the scholars among the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and others, including: Ali, Ammar, Ibn Abbas, Ata', al-Sha'bi, Makhul, al-Awza'i, Malik, and Ishaq. Al-Shafi'i said: Tayammum is not valid except with two strikes, for the face and for the hands up to the elbows. This is also narrated from Ibn Umar, his son Salim, al-Hasan, al-Thawri, and the scholars of opinion, based on what Ibn al-Simmah narrated: that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, performed Tayammum and wiped his face and his forearms. Ibn Umar, Jabir, and Abu Umamah also narrated that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Tayammum is a strike for the face and a strike for the hands up to the elbows." Furthermore, it is a substitute that is brought forth in the place of that which it replaces, so its limit from them is one, like the face. Our evidence is what Ammar narrated, saying: "The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, sent me on an errand, and I became in a state of ritual impurity (janabah) and found no water. So, I rolled in the soil as an animal rolls, then I came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and mentioned that to him. He said: 'It would have sufficed you to say with your hands like this,' then he struck the ground with his hands a single strike, then wiped his left over his right, and the backs of his palms and his face."
(1) Aridat al-Ahwadhi 1/240. (2) Abu Umar Salim ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab, one of the jurists (Fuqaha) among the Successors (Tabi'in) in Medina. Authority was held by him after Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib. He died in the year one hundred and six. Tabaqat al-Fuqaha, by al-Shirazi, 62. (3) He is Abu al-Juhaym ibn al-Harith ibn al-Simmah al-Ansari, the Companion. His father was among the senior Companions. Usd al-Ghaba 6/59, 60. (4) Recorded by al-Bukhari in: The Chapter on Tayammum in residence when one does not find water and fears the prayer time will pass, from the Book of Tayammum. Sahih al-Bukhari 1/92. And Muslim in: The Chapter on Tayammum, from the Book of Menstruation (Hayd). Sahih Muslim 1/281. And Abu Dawud in: The Chapter on Tayammum in residence, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/79. And al-Daraqutni in: The Chapter on Tayammum, from the Book of Purification. Sunan al-Daraqutni 1/176, 177. And al-Bayhaqi in: The Chapter on How to Perform Tayammum, from the Book of Purification. Al-Sunan al-Kubra 1/205. And Imam Ahmad in: Al-Musnad 4/169. (5) The hadith of Ibn Umar was recorded by al-Hakim in: The Book of Purification. Al-Mustadrak 1/179, 180. And al-Daraqutni in: The Chapter on Tayammum, from the Book of Purification. Sunan al-Daraqutni 1/180-182. And al-Bayhaqi in: The Chapter on How to Perform Tayammum, from the Book of Purification. Sunan al-Bayhaqi 1/207. The aforementioned three authors also recorded the hadith of Jabir in the preceding locations: Al-Mustadrak 1/180, Sunan al-Daraqutni 1/181, 182, and Sunan al-Bayhaqi 1/207. Al-Daraqutni also recorded from Ali: "A strike for the face and a strike for the forearms." Sunan al-Daraqutni 1/182. As for the hadith of Abu Umamah, no one among those whose books we reviewed mentioned it; al-Zayla'i mentioned in Nasb al-Rayah 1/151 in its place the hadith of Aisha and said: Al-Bazzar recorded it in his Musnad. See: The Chapter on what has been narrated regarding Tayammum, from the chapters of purification in Sunan al-Tirmidhi. Aridat al-Ahwadhi 1/240. And the Chapter on Tayammum in residence, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/79.
