‘Uthman said that God’s messenger performed each detail of ablution three times and then said, “This is how I perform ablution, how the prophets before me performed it, and how Abraham performed it.”
Razin transmitted these two traditions, but in his commentary on Muslim Nawawi declared the second to be weak.
Anas said that God’s messenger used to perform ablution for every prayer, but that they made the ablution serve as long as they did nothing which broke the state of ceremonial purity.
Thabit b. Abu Safiya said that he asked Abu Ja'far, i.e. Muhammad al-Baqir, whether Jabir had told him that the Prophet performed the details of ablution sometimes once each, sometimes twice, and sometimes thrice, and he replied that he had.
