to him, and 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." Agreed upon (6). Furthermore, it is a ruling predicated upon the absolute (general) term "hands," and thus the forearms do not enter into it, just like the cutting of the thief and the touching of the private parts. Ibn Abbas argued with this, saying: Allah the Exalted said regarding Tayammum, {Wipe your faces and your hands} (7), and He said, {As for the male thief and the female thief, cut off their hands} (8). The Sunnah regarding the cutting was from the palms. He means: the Tayammum is the face and the palms. As for their hadiths, they are weak. Al-Khallal said: The hadiths regarding that are very weak, and none of the authors of the Sunan narrated any of them except the hadith of Ibn Umar. Ahmad said: It is not authentic from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him; it is only from Ibn Umar, and it is considered by them a rejected (munkar) hadith. Al-Khattabi (9) said: Muhammad ibn Thabit narrates it, and he is weak (10). Ibn Abd al-Barr said: No one narrated it except Muhammad ibn Thabit, and through him it is known, and because of him it is considered weak (11) by them, and it is a rejected hadith (12). The hadith of Ibn al-Simmah is authentic, but in the agreed-upon narration, it only mentions: "He wiped his face and his hands." Thus, it serves as an argument for us, because that which is predicated on the absolute term "hands" does not encompass the forearms.
(6) Recorded by al-Bukhari in: The Chapter on Tayammum for the face and palms, from the Book of Tayammum. Sahih al-Bukhari 1/93. And Muslim in: The Chapter on Tayammum, from the Book of Menstruation (Hayd). Sahih Muslim 1/280. And Abu Dawud in: The Chapter on Tayammum, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Abi Dawud 1/77. And al-Nasa'i in: The Chapter on Tayammum in residence, the Chapter on another type of Tayammum, and the Chapter on the Tayammum of the person in a state of major ritual impurity, from the Book of Purification. Al-Mujtaba 1/35, 138, 139. And Ibn Majah in: The Chapter on what has been narrated regarding Tayammum with a single strike, from the Book of Purification. Sunan Ibn Majah 1/188. See also: The Chapter on what has been narrated regarding Tayammum, from the chapters of purification in Sunan al-Tirmidhi. Aridat al-Ahwadhi 1/239. (7) Surah al-Ma'idah 6. (8) Surah al-Ma'idah 38. In the original text: "regarding the thief," based on providing the evidence of His saying the Exalted: {Cut off their hands}. (9) Ma'alim al-Sunan 1/101. (10) The phrasing in Ma'alim al-Sunan is: They said: The hadith of Ibn Umar is not authentic because Muhammad ibn Thabit al-Abdi is very weak; his hadith is not to be used as evidence. (11) In manuscript M: "weakness." (12) We say: Ibn Abd al-Barr, despite this, advocated for Tayammum with two strikes, stating in al-Istidhkar 2/13: "When the reports regarding the manner of Tayammum differed and conflicted, the obligation in that matter was to return to the apparent meaning of the Quran, and it indicates two strikes: a strike for the face and a strike for the hands up to the elbows, by analogy to Wudu (ablution) and in following the practice of Umar, may Allah have mercy on him."
