Udhn (the ear: newborn's call, injury and blood-money, the woman's nakedness, sacrifice and ablution)

The ear (udhn) is the organ of hearing, a meaning on which the jurists and the lexicographers agree. Hearing (sam') is the perception of sounds heard, and the two are far apart. ¹

For a newborn the adhan is called in the right ear and the iqama in the left, so that the adhan, with its pure declaration of God's unity, is the first thing to strike the child's hearing. The report that says so is given, and the jurists mention it mostly where the adhan is recommended, and some under the aqiqa. ¹ The jurists hold that listening to what is forbidden is not permitted, and that one must keep his hearing from it. If one passes a place where such things are heard and cannot avoid it, he puts his fingers in his ears, as Ibn Umar did when he heard a shepherd's pipe, turned from the road, and said that he had seen the Prophet ﷺ do the same. ¹ Because the ear is also a body part, an injury to one ear requires retaliation for a wilful wound and half the blood-money for an accidental one, even if hearing remains intact. If hearing is also lost by the same injury, no more than half the blood-money is due. The jurists treat this in the books on injuries and blood-money. ²

The jurists differ on whether the two ears belong to the head or the face. This affects whether wiping them in ablution is obligatory and whether wiping them with the water used for the head suffices, and they treat it in the chapter on ablution. ² They also differ on whether the inside of the ear counts as an inner cavity, and so on whether a fasting person breaks the fast by putting something into the inside of his ear without it reaching the throat; they treat this in the chapter on what breaks the fast. ²

The jurists agree that the ear is one organ of the body which does not stand for the whole, so if a man attributes zihar, divorce or manumission to his ear, it does not take effect. ² They agree that a woman's ear is part of her nakedness, which may not be shown to men outside her unlawful kin. An earring attached to it is an inner adornment, except for the view reported by al-Qurtubi from Ibn Abbas, al-Miswar ibn Makhrama (may God be pleased with him) and Qatada, that it is an outer adornment that may be shown. ² They agree that the ear is a place of adornment for a woman and not for a man, so they permit piercing a girl's ear to wear an earring. The jurists mention this in various places, including what a guardian may do for a minor in his charge. ^{2 3}

The jurists agree that an animal with a cut-off ear is not valid for sacrifice or offering, and they differ where the ear is badly defective, some allowing it and others not; the detail is in the chapter on sacrifices. ³ It is recommended for the muezzin to put his hands to his ears during the adhan, which the jurists mention in the chapter on the adhan. ³ Marking an animal for a lawful purpose is permitted, and the Shafi'is hold that the best place to mark a sheep is its ear, since there is little wool there. ³ Some jurists recommend raising the hands to the level of the ears at the opening takbir and at the takbirs of movement in prayer. ³ Discharge from the ear in illness is impure, and whether it breaks ablution is disputed, following the dispute over whether every impure discharge from the body breaks ablution. ³