Is it obligatory to make an intention (niyyah) when performing wudu (ablution)?

According to the Hanafi school, making an intention (niyyah) when performing wudu is considered sunnah, while it is obligatory (fard) according to the other three schools. The Hanafis base their view on the fact that intention is not mentioned among the acts commanded in the verse known as the verse of wudu (al-Ma'idah, 5/6). Furthermore, the fact that intention is not required for other prerequisites of prayer, such as purification from impurity (taharah from najasah) and covering the awrah, and that wudu serves as a means to certain acts of worship rather than being an independent act of worship itself, also indicate to the Hanafis that intention is not obligatory in wudu. (Kâsânî, Bedâ’i, 1/19-20; Marghinani, al-Hidaya, 1/16; Aliyy al-Qari, Fath Bab al-‘Inaya, 1/55-56)

The other schools, however, argue that intention is obligatory in wudu as it is in all acts of worship, based on the verse: “Yet they were only commanded to worship Allah, making the religion sincerely His, as upright men, and to establish prayer and give zakat.” (al-Bayyina, 98/5) and the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): “Actions are but by intentions…” (Bukhari, Bad’ al-Wahy, 1 [1]; Muslim, Imara, 155 [1907]). (Shirbini, Mughni al-Muhtaj, 1/167; Ibn Rushd, Bidayat al-Mujtahid, 1/15; Ibn Qudamah, al-Mughni, 1/82)

Source: T.C. Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, Din İşleri Yüksek Kurulu