Answered by Shaykh Sohail Hanif, SunniPath Academy Teacher
While praying I sometimes suffer from doubt regarding passing of gas. I hear a sound, yet I feel ABSOLUTELY NOTHING coming out, or I feel something coming out but hear nothing at all. Is this sufficient enough to conclude that wudu’ is broken?
Assalamu alaykum
What counts in matters such as this is simply whether one is certain that one’s ablution (wudu’) is nullified, in this case by passing wind. If one feels doubt regarding this then the ablution is not nullified.
One must, however, use one’s common sense. If one certainly felt some gas exit then it is irrelevant whether one heard a sound or not as one has felt it. Likewise, if one certainly heard the sound of some gas exiting one’s body then one need not worry about feeling it, as one has already heard it.
We may therefore summarize this by saying that one’s ablution is nullified as long as one is reasonably sure that the particular nullifying factor took place. Reasonable surety is attained either by a clear sign or by past experience, i.e. whenever one feels a particular feeling one knows that one has released gas.
And Allah knows best.
Sohail Hanif
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