Section: Having stated the permissibility of wiping a portion [of the head], from whatever place one wipes it is sufficient, because the entire head is the head. However, wiping the ears does not suffice for the head because they are appendages, and they do not suffice in place of the original [part]. The manifest view from Abu Abd Allah is that wiping them is not obligatory, even if encompassing the [entire] head is obligatory, because the head, when the term is used absolutely, only encompasses that which has hair upon it.

Our companions differed regarding the amount of the portion that is sufficient. The Qadi said: The amount of the forelock, based on the hadith of al-Mughirah that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wiped his forelock. Abu al-Khattab and some of the companions of al-Shafi'i narrated from Ahmad that nothing is sufficient except wiping the majority of it, because the term 'the thing' in its complete sense applies to the majority. Abu Hanifah said: Wiping a quarter of it is sufficient. Al-Shafi'i said: Wiping what the name applies to is sufficient, and the minimum of that is three hairs. It was narrated from him: if one wipes three hairs, and it was narrated from him: if one wipes one hair, it suffices him, because the name applies to it. The reasoning of what the Qadi said is that the action of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) serves as an explanation for what he commanded, so it is interpreted accordingly.

Section: It is recommended in wiping the head to moisten one's hands, then place the tip of one of the forefingers upon the tip of the other and place them on the front of the head, and place the thumbs on the temples, then pass the hands to the nape of the neck, then return them to the place from which one started. Just as Abd Allah ibn Zayd narrated in the description of the wudu of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he said: He wiped his head with his hands, bringing them forward and backward, starting from the front of his head until he took them to his nape, then he returned them to the place from which he started. Agreed upon (9). Similarly, al-Miqdam ibn Ma'dikarib described it, narrated by Abu Dawud (10). If he has hair and fears it will become disheveled by returning his hands, he does not return them. Ahmad explicitly stated this; for it was said to him: A person who has hair reaching his shoulders, how does he wipe it during wudu? Ahmad moved his hands over his head once and said: Like this, disliking that his hair should become disheveled. He means that he wipes to his nape and does not return his hands. Ahmad said: The hadith of Ali is like this. And if he wishes, he may wipe, as was narrated from al-Rubayyi', that the Messenger of Allah...