If you take wudu, and say the Shahadah, and get ready for prayer, but then suddenly you remember that you forgot to wash the ears. What must I do? Retake wudu from begining or just go and wash the ears?.


Praise be to Allaah.

Wiping the ears in wudoo’ is something that the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) always did, and the scholars
differed concerning it as to whether it is obligatory or Sunnah. Some of
them said that it is obligatory, as is the view of the Hanbalis, because
of the report narrated by Ibn Maajah from ‘Abd-Allah ibn Zayd (may Allah
be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace
of Allah be upon him) said: “The ears are part of the head.” There is some
difference of opinion as to whether this hadeeth is saheeh; it was classed
as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah. 

If the ears are part of the head, then wiping them in wudoo’
is obligatory, as is wiping the head. 

But the majority are of the view that wiping the ears is
Sunnah and mustahabb, but is not obligatory. 

See: al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Hadeethiyyah, 43/364 

What is narrated from Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on
him) is that if a person omits to wipe his ears, his wudoo’ is still valid. 

Ibn Qudaamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said in
al-Mughni, 1/90: The ears are part of the head, so by analogy our view
is that it is obligatory to wipe them when wiping the head. Al-Khallaal
said: All of them narrated from Abu ‘Abd-Allah concerning the one who does
not wipe them, either deliberately or out of forgetfulness, that it is still
valid. That is because they belong to the head, but we do not understand
that the word head refers to the ears too, and they do not resemble any part
of the head. Hence wiping them does not count as wiping the head according
to those who say that wiping part of the head is sufficient. But it is
better to wipe them when wiping the head, because the Prophet (blessings and
peace of Allah be upon him) wiped them when he wiped his head. Al-Rubayyi‘
narrated that she saw the Prophet (Allah be upon him) wipe his head, front
and back, and his temples and ears once. Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased
with him) narrated that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) wiped his head and his ears, inside and out. Al-Tirmidhi said: The
hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas and the hadeeth of al-Rubayyi‘ are both saheeh. End
quote. 

Based on that, if a person forgets to wipe his ears, he is
fine and his wudoo’ is valid. 

And Allah knows best.