Question:
salam alaikum,
1. I have heard from Hanbali Scholar one should use miswak with left hands. Is this also the case in Shafi`i School?
2. While washing arms in wudu should one begin with elbows or with the hands according to correct Shafi´i opinion?
slm
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
1. There is a difference of opinion in the Hanbali school and many consider the right hand the more correct use. See Mardawi’s Insaf, Shinqiti’s Sharh Zad al-Mustaqni`. Majd al-Din Ibn Taymiyya (the grandfather) said it is Sunnah to use the right, but as for those who said to use the left no one said it is a Sunnah. As for the Shafi`i madhhab the consensus is that the Sunnah is the right hand.
2. When one pours the water on oneself in wudu‘ one begins with the hand (and toes) and ends up with the elbow (and heel), otherwise vice versa, when under a tap or when someone else pours the water then one begins with the elbow first.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
