A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked, "Messenger of Allah, how is the ablution performed?"He called for water in a vessel, then washed his hands three times, then washed his face three times, then washed his forearms three times. He wiped his head, inserted his two index fingers into his ears, wiped the outer surface of his ears with his thumbs and the inner surface with his index fingers, then washed each of his feet three times.Then he said, "This is how ablution is done. Whoever adds to this or falls short of it has done wrong and transgressed," or "has transgressed and done wrong."
أن رجلا أتى النبي ﷺ فقال: يا رسول الله! كيف الطهور؟ فدعا بماء في إناء، فغسل كفيه ثلاثا، ثم غسل وجهه ثلاثا، ثم غسل ذراعيه ثلاثا، ثم مسح برأسه؛ فأدخل إصبعيه السباحتين في أذنيه، ومسح بإبهاميه على ظاهر أذنيه، وبالسباحتين باطن أذنيه، ثم غسل رجليه ثلاثا ثلاثا، ثم قال: هكذا الوضوء؛ فمن زاد على هذا أو نقص فقد أساء وظلم، أو ظلم وأساء.
It was narrated by Abu Dawud (135) - and this is his wording - and Nasai (140) and Ibn Majah (422), all of them through Musa bin Abu Ayesha, from Amr bin Shuayb, from his father, from his grandfather, who said, then he mentioned it. In the version of Nasai and Ibn Majah the wording is, "So he showed him the wudu three times each, then said, 'This is how the wudu is done, so whoever adds to this has done wrong, transgressed, and wronged himself.'" Its chain is hasan, because of Amr, for he is truthful.His saying, "So whoever adds to this..." means the number of times. This is how Ibn Khuzayma (174) titled it, saying, "Chapter on the severity of washing the limbs of wudu more than three times, and the evidence that whoever does so has done wrong and wronged himself, or has transgressed and wronged himself." Then he mentioned the hadith.Otherwise, it has been established from the hadith of Abu Hurairah that washing extends to the shoulders and the lower legs, in the hadith about the Ghurr al-Muhajjalin.As for what appears in the version of Abu Dawud, "or fell short," he alone transmitted this addition, so it is munkar, since performing wudu once or twice is permissible.