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Tayammum due to sickness

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Fatwa.org.au
My question is regarding a sick person who has trouble touching water because he/she catches serious cold due to prior health condition. Would it be ok for him/her to make tayammum even though water is available at home?

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

If a person knows (through experience or because a competent Muslim doctor told him) that he will most probably get sick (or his sickness will get worse or it will be prolonged) if he uses water, it will be permissible for him to do tayammum (even though water is available). However, if only cold water is harmful to him but not warm water, he should use warm water; he should not do tayammum in this case. Similarly, if doing ghusl is harmful to him but not wudu, he can do tayammum in the place of ghusl but not in the place of wudu.

(Raddul Muhtaar: 1/232 Saeed; Fatawa Mahmudiya)

And Allah knows best.

Mufti Faizal Riza
23/9/2011

This answer was collected from Fatwa.org.au, which is connected to Darul Ifta Australia, based in Melbourne, Australia.
It is operated by Mufti Faizal Riza, a student of Mufti Ebrahim Desai from South Africa.

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