Question:

What do the scholars and experts of shari’ah say regarding a piece of equipment available for the washing of feet. A person places his foot on its pedestal and presses it. Water comes out of its outlet, washing the complete foot including the ankles. My question is, is it permissible to use such equipment for wudu?

Answer:

All perfect praise is for Allah ﷻ, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah ﷻ, and that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is His Messenger.

Using such equipment for washing your feet in wudu is permissible if water reaches those area which are fardh to be washed, in this case the entire foot including the ankles. It will also be a facilitation for those people who find it hard to wash their feet themselves (due to some injury etc).

If rubbing the feet is not possible then this will not be a problem since the flowing of water has been achieved. According to the majority of the fuqaha, rubbing the body part during wudu is a sunnah.

Imam Nawwawi says in ‘al-Majmu’a’ that “…it is not wajib to rub the face and other body parts in wudu or ghusl. According to us and most of the jurists it is mustahab. According to Imam Malik and Imam Muzani it is wajib.” (238/1, Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi):

And Allah ﷻ knows best.

This fatwa is written by Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Munir Al-Azhari