Uncertainty in Wudhu

Query1:

Mufti sahb, help me. I’m in a dire situation. I’ve some questions regarding salah, wudhu, and ghusl; and some of them have bothered me to the level that I feel like I may just go crazy. I’m going to describe my problem as precisely as I can.

1) I’ve been having trouble with wudhu, salah and ghusl. In my country, in summer, mostly fans are used to
keep the mosque airy. In the beginning, I used to consider the little feeling near/on my  anus as mere
feelings while being near or right under a running fan, praying. But, one night, while I was praying Isha
fardh alone in a friend’s house in a room where there was no air current, th e same ‘feeling’ came. I
ignored it, but then I felt like I smelled something. After the fardh prayer, I had another ‘feeling’ and
this time, I could smell it for sure. Since then, I’ve been stressed as whether the other feelings were
also with stink because, usually , due to the running fans, the air current would take the stink away or
the fart has less or undetectable stink; but I’m sure that those feelings were identical to the ones I
ignored before. Now, three of these cases happen with me near/on time of any salah/wudhu/ghusl:

    (i)  I have no feeling after wudhu/ghusl, or dur ing wudhu/ghusl, or during salah.
   
    (ii) I get feelings but no strong feeling (i.e. these are the same feelings I used to ignore) of wind
    passing after wudhu/ghusl, or during wudhu/ghusl, or during salah (or any combination of these 3
    scenarios).
   
    (iii)I get feelings like something got out from my anus(fairly strong feeling or sure wind passing,
    with/without sound/smell) after wudhu/ghusl, or during wudhu/ghusl, or during salah (or any
    combination of t hese 3 scenarios).
   
    Case (i) happens for at least 0 salahs per day and at most 3 salahs per day (this scenario of 3 salahs
    per day is infrequent), and I have no way to predict which case is going to be for which salah on what
    day after eating what sort of food. And, case (ii) and (iii) often happen multiple times and rarely
    for just a single time, for any salah/wudhu/ghusl. In case of wudhu and ghusl, I’d just restart them
    upon case (ii) and (iii), again and again, but they kept on coming i.e. during my wudhu/ghusl after
    breakage of the previous one, I’d again have case (ii) or case (iii) (mostly multiple times) and would
    end up just restarting wudhu/ghusl again and again but the cases don’t go away during those
    wudhus/ghusls; or I’d just ignore them as I thought that they’re just going to appear multiple
    times(and they often did). Some foods did boost-up/enforce case (iii) or add stink to case (ii)
    though (which was also eaten that night when I was at my friend’s house, that time it was chicken), but      the  overall situation remained as problematic as described. And, whether I relieved myself
    before every salah or not, didn’t make any difference, in fact, case (ii) and (iii) ((iii) being
    slightly less likely) were more likely to come if I relieved myself before salah/wudhu/ghusl. All this
    happens exactly around salah/wudhu/ghusl. Whether I perform salah at some exact timing or just right
    before the time was over or in between, didn’t make any difference (except maybe sometimes for Isha as
    it has quite a long time, roundabout 6+ hours at least). Praying alone resulted in somewhat less
    occurrenc es of case (ii) and (iii) (perhaps due to the freedom of movement, unlike in congregation).
    And, the timings of case(ii) and (iii) may vary during wudhu/salah/ghusl from beginning wudhu to the
    end of the salah, even being in first two rakat or later(I’m not sure which is more frequent of the
    two scenarios i.e. in first two rakats or after them; maybe more in the first two rakats).
   
    I also have a few fears:
                1)not being able to do anything due to just doing wudhus and salahs all day.
                2)not performing acceptable salahs.
    I don’t know whether they may be linked to my problem though, and nor could I find some consistent
    pattern with respect to my diet.
   
    Its like the moment I start doing wudhu, there is something just ready to emit out with varying time
    of emission (i.e. case (ii) and (iii)), and I suspect that its due to the postures during wudhu (I’ve
    tried performing wudhu while standing, sitting etc, but no considerab le results) as they strech the
    body, including the hip muscles and consequently anus.
   
    I thought of myself as ma’zur so I didn’t pay attention to them until I read fatwa # 16687 on your
    website; since I thought that I may fall under it as my chances of attempting error-free somewhat
    increase praying alone, so, I started to do so. But then, during a fardh Isha prayer in congregation,
    I clearly felt something moveing out from my anus, a sure fart, so, I redid my wudhu and then
    rejoined, after just a little while of which, I again sensed that sort of thing leaving my anus (twice
    this time with interval of a few seconds), but, I didn’t go to repeat wudhu this time and continued.
    After the congregational prayer ended, I went to redo wudhu for Witr and then I’d just keep on
    smelling my fart during my wudhus and would just restart until I got fed up and performed one and
    prayed Witr and came back home.
   
    Last night, during wudhu, I felt like I smelled stink, but ignored it and continued. Later on, after
    completing fardh salah in congregation, when I was doing Witr salah, in first rakat, I felt again like
    I smelled something, then in second, I smelled it for sure, and terminated salah and went to repeat
    wudhu. I did 2 or 3 wudhus, all of which, in between I felt the smell. Then, I came home and waited
    for a time when I could think to perform wudhu and salah to be safe. I kept myself awake most part of
    the night, slept for about an hour, and then offered Isha salah when its time was about to run out,
    even then, I had case(ii), and I just performed salah, and then, had ghusl, twice since I had case
    (ii) in between it, and right after I completed the second one, once again case(ii), but I thought I’m
    not able to do more than that as it may as well just end up repeating wudhu, and performed the
    congregational prayer.

Kindly guide me on all the situations covered by the description above.

Also, on your website, I’ve read two views about the validity of wudhu of a ma’zur:

1) It lasts as long as one doesn’t perform all the fardhs and waajibs of one salah. These are how I interpreted it:

I) One can offer only waajib and fardh salah of a particular salah, e.g. 4 fardh rakats in Duhr salah, 4 fardh rakats and 3 Witr wajib rakats in Isha salah, since there was no keyword ‘sunnah’ in it, I assumed that I can’t perform sunnah rakat with it.

II) e.g. that one can perform only fardh salah of Isha with one wudhu and that a separate would be required for the Witr wajib, and separate wudhu for sunnah rakats as well.

2) It lasts for a whole salah time. This is how I interpreted it:

I) e.g. if time for Asr salah is 4:00 to 5:30, then a wudhu made in that time interval would last for the whole time interval. (Does it include sunnah salahs and recitation of Holy Quran as well?)

II) When one does a wudhu, it will last as long as it will take one to complete one’s whole salah e.g. in case of Isha salah it being the time in which one can perform fardh salah( with/without sunnah salah) and Witr salah, in case of Duhr salah it being the time in which one can perform fardh salah(with/without sunnah salah).

Kindly guide me on this issue of wudhu validity of a ma’zur.

   
2) How much mani or wadi can one have on his clothes and would be allowe d to offer salah? And, is there need of repeatition of ghusl in case of delayed ejaculation (ghusl was performed earlier after waking up, but mani/mazi was discharged afterwards)?

Query2:

What is the proper and/or fardh way of performing masah during wudhu?

JazakAllah

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

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

1) We take note of your three situations, no feelings, weak feelings, and strong feelings. According to Shariah, your wudhu will be regarded as intact until you are certain that you have passed wind. Merely having feelings are not sufficient. The rule is;

اليقين لا يزول بالشك[1]

“Certainty cannot be removed through doubts.”

What you are experiencing is ‘waswasah’ (doubts created by Shaytaan). When you perform Wudhu, there is certainty that you have purity. Once you have certainty in a matter, it can only be removed by certainty.[2][3]

2) If a person is confirmed a Ma’zoor. When he makes wudhu, the wudhu will remain valid for the entire salah time. For example, if someone has extensive bleeding and the time for Zuhr commences at 12:30pm and the ending time for Zuhr is 4pm, the wudhu made at 12:30 will remain until 4pm. The bleeding in between will not invalidate his wudhu. In that time, he can read Zuhr salah, qaza salah, sunnats, Quran, etc. with the same wudhu.[4][5][6]  

3) Mani and wadi are najasat-e-ghaeezah (severe impurities). In principle, if a severe impurity is lesser than the area of a dirham or hollow of the plam which is approximately 5.94cm, then the salah will be valid but makruh if the impurity could be easily removed. If the severe impurity is equivalent to the size of a dirham or hollow of one’s palm or more, then the salah with such an impurity will be invalid.[7][8][9][10]

4) To answer this query, we must first explain the different types of seminal fluids;

a) Mani – Thick white fluid which emanates with force and passion after which the erection subsides.[11] 

b) Mazi – Thin fluid that comes out due to arousal.[12]

c) Wadi – Pre or post urinal emission.[13]

If mazi or wadi is discharged, only wudhu and removing the najaasah is necessary.

If mani is discharged whilst having an erection and being aroused, then ghusl will be fardh. If one does not have an erection and is not aroused, the emission of mani will not necessitate ghusl. However, mani is najaasat-e-ghaleezah which has to be removed.[14][15][16]

5) The fardh of masah is wiping one-fourth of the head.[17]

The Sunnah method of performing masah is that the hands should be placed on the forehead and drawn towards the back of the head in a manner that encompasses the entire head.[18]

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Saad Haque

Student Darul Iftaa
New Jersey, USA 

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.