Section: All of these types of hair, if they are thick and do not reveal the skin, it is sufficient to wash their outer parts. If they reveal the skin, it is obligatory to wash the skin along with them. If some of it is thick and some is thin, it is obligatory to wash the skin of the thin part along with it, as well as the outer surface of the thick part. Ahmad, may Allah the Almighty have mercy on him, alluded to this.

Some of our companions mentioned another view regarding the mustache, the anfaqah, the eyebrows, the eyelashes, and a woman's beard, asserting that it is obligatory to wash the skin beneath them even if they are thick, because they do not habitually cover what is underneath them, and if that were to occur, it would be rare and thus no legal ruling would be attached to it. This is the school of al-Shafi'i. However, our position is that it is hair that covers what is beneath it, so it resembles a man's beard, and the claim of rarity regarding the eyebrows, mustache, and anfaqah is not accepted; rather, the standard practice is that they do cover.

Section: Whenever one washes these types of hair, and then they fall off, or a piece of skin from his body is detached (20), or he cuts his nail or it is detached, it does not affect his purification. Yunus ibn 'Ubayd (21) said: "That only increases his purification." This is the position of the majority of scholars. It was narrated from Ibn Jarir (22) that the appearance of the face skin after washing the hair upon it necessitates washing that skin, by analogy to the appearance of the foot of one who wipes over the khuff (leather sock). This is incorrect, because the obligatory act was transferred to the hair in principle, evidenced by the fact that if he were to wash the skin without the hair, it would not suffice for him, unlike the khuffayn (two leather socks), for they are a substitute, and washing the feet alone without them would suffice. [Thus, since it is a principle, it resembles the case if the skin were exposed on the face after washing it] (23).

Section: It is obligatory to wash the part of the beard that hangs down below the chin. Abu Hanifa and al-Shafi'i in one of his two sayings said: It is not obligatory to wash the part that descends from it beyond the limit of the face in length and width, because it is hair.