hangs down from the beard and working water through it, these correspond to incidental matters. The beard is something that supervenes upon the face. It is not part of the face or included in its definition. It is like questions outside your own essence that arise for you, in which you are subject to the ruling of the circumstance that has arisen.
If you are personally obliged to purify yourself from that circumstance, this is the inward application of the view that washing it is obligatory. If purifying it is not required of you, you may purify it as a recommended act or leave it because it was not required of you, though that is a deficiency in a general sense. This corresponds to those who say it is not obligatory, which is the position of the other group.
In earlier chapters of this kind we have made clear that the inward ruling differs from the outward ruling in these matters, where there is a basis for obligation and a basis for treating something as Sunnah or recommended. What is obligatory necessarily calls for compliance, whether by doing or leaving something. With what is not obligatory, the better course is to give it the status of the obligatory in your compliance, whether by doing or leaving something. This holds throughout the acts of worship.
Section on Washing the Hands and Forearms up to the Elbows in Ablution
The scholars of the revealed Law agree that the hands and forearms are to be washed with water in ablution. They disagree about including the elbows in the washing. Our position is to act in a manner that attains the area of agreement in practice, for agreement on the ruling is inconceivable.
Notlar
Translator’s note TN1373-1: The author distinguishes agreement on the action one performs from agreement on whether each part of it is obligatory. Including the elbows satisfies both positions described here and on the next page.
