Authoritativeness of the Book and the Sunna

9. [9/-] Tafsir Al-Ayyashi: From Safwan who said: I asked Aba al-Hasan al-Rida عليه السلام about the words of Allah: “so wash your faces and your hands with the elbows and wipe part of your head and feet to the ankles” (5:6) – he said: a man asked Aba al-Hasan (al-Kadhim) عليه السلام about this so he said: Surat al-Maida is enough for you – meaning – wiping the head and the two feet …

I said to Abi Ja’far عليه السلام: will you not inform me how you knew and ruled that the wiping should only be limited to a part of the head and a part of the feet, so he laughed and then said: O Zurara – the messenger of Allah ruled it to be so and the Book from Allah descended with it – because Allah Mighty and Majestic says: “wash your faces” so we understood that the whole face … then he said: “and wipe part of your head” so we understood when He said بِرُءُوسِكُمْ that the wiping is limited to part of the head because of the (letter) ‘ب’ (Ba) …