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Fatwa CenterHow to wipe the ears in Wudhoo'
Question
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh My question is about wiping the ears whilst doing wudu. Must the whole ear be wiped or is it only part of the ears that are wiped? Because I read that the back of the ears should be wiped with the thumb and the front with the index fingers, tracing them around its contours. But how about the actual contours and the parts of the ear where people get it pierced (the soft part at the bottom and also the hard part at the top and what is in between them) and the edge where the back and the front of the ear meet and also the part that if pushed down covers the hole of inside the ear?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His Slave and Messenger.
First of all, we say that wiping the ears is a Sunnah according to the view of the majority of the scholars. An-Nawawi quoted Ibn Jareer as saying that there is a consensus that wiping the ears is not an obligation. Even the Hanbali School of jurisprudence which is of the view that wiping the ears is an obligation, held that if someone deliberately does not wipe the ears, his ablution is still valid. Ibn Qudaamah stated in Al-Mughni that if someone fails to wipe the ears, whether deliberately or out of forgetfulness, his ablution is valid. He said: “The ears are part of the head. According to our School, it is an obligation to wipe over them when wiping over the head. Al-Khallaal said that it is unanimously reported that Abu Abdillaah [Imam Ahmad] said that if a person does not wipe the ears, whether deliberately or out of forgetfulness, his ablution is sufficient, as the ears are part of the head.”
As for how to wipe the ears and whether the contours of the ears should be wiped, then the answer is yes - the contours of the ears and anything that is included in the word 'ear' should be wiped, including the outer part of the ear which if turned downwards as you said, it covers the opening of the inner ear, and the soft part at the bottom and the hard part at the top because it is all part of the ear. An-Nawawi said: “With regard to how to wipe over the ears, 'Imaam Al-Haramayn', Imaam Al-Ghazaali and groups of scholars said that one should take water with his hands and insert his index fingers into the opening and pass the them over the contours of the ears, and pass the thumbs over the area behind the ears. Shaykh Abu Muhammad Al-Juwayni and others said that one should then put the palms of his wet hands flat over the ears so the water spreads over the entire ear. Al-Fooraani, Al-Mutawalli and others said that one should use the thumb to wipe the back of the ear and the index fingers to wipe the interior part of it. One should pass the tips of the fingers over the contours of the ears and insert the pinky finger into the opening of the ears. Al-Fooraani said that one should put the thumbs on the back of the ears and pass them over to the upper part.” [End of quote]
Moreover, ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Muhammad Awadh Al-Jazeeri, says in his book, Al-Fiqh ‘ala Al-Mathaahib al-Arba’ah (Fiqh According to the Four Schools of Jurisprudence): “The best manner of wiping according to them [scholars of the four Schools] is to insert the tips of the index fingers into the ears and place the thumbs behind them, and move around the index fingers and thumbs until the entire inside and outside of the ears are wiped. If one wipes them in any other manner, it is sufficient.”
For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 83164 and 87800.
Allaah Knows best.
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