The Law of Feet According to the Shiite and Sunnite Schools in the Light of the Verse of Ablution

The discrepancy between the Shiite and Sunnite in how-performing the feetablution spins over three pivots: the Qur’anic survey, the study of traditions and hadiths, and a historical research. The Shiite scholars believe that when making minor ablution, according to the ablution verse (al-Ma’ida: 6), Muslims are to wipe their feet, because " "أرجلكم follows the grammatical position of " أمسحو ا " whether in Nasb (accusative) ending or Jarr (genitive) ending. The Sunnite scholars, however, hold that they should wash their feet for ablution, because the related washing-suggesting traditions, they say, take priority over the verse of Qur’an and because " أرجلكم " follows the grammatical position of ". "فأغسلوا The related washing-suggesting traditions, the Shiites argue, goes contrary to the Qur’an from one side and to the related wiping-suggesting traditions from nother, thus the former traditions remains invalid. Because they comply with the Qur’an, the latter traditions remain with the Qur’an and valid. Washing the feet was for the first time innovated at the time of Uthman, the third caliph, and promoted in the Islamic territories by force during the Umayyad dynasty particularly by Hajjaj of Thaqif tribe.