Answered by Shaykh Sohail Hanif, SunniPath Academy Teacher
I have a serious problem in that I tend to release wind often. After I have been to toilet for number 2, then for about the next 3 or 4 hours I don’t have problem, but after that it comes back, even though I don’t need to go to the toilet for a number 2 I very often have to try quite hard to hold back the wind. So because of this I would like to know
Assalamu alaykum
The principle one has to keep in mind for this is a simple one; namely that a certainty can never be replaced by a doubt. If you are certain that you have performed the ritual ablution (wudu) and are doubtful of whether or not it has been nullified as in the scenarios mentioned in 1. above, then you assume that you still have ritual ablution and may continue to pray. Sometimes it helps to look to the pious and how they approach such problems. A friend of mine, one of the salihin, has an identical problem and he often repeats his wudu a few times during the course of a prayer. He patiently goes back to repeat his wudu and mentions the hadith in Sahih Muslim in which the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to his companions, “Should I not guide you to that by means of which Allah wipes away sins and raises one by whole degrees?” The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) then enumerated three great acts of worship the first of which was completing the ablution despite unpleasant circumstances’. Of these unpleasant circumstances, Imam al-Nawawi mentions, quoting Qadi Iyad in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, is performing the ablution when the water is extremely cold and when it causes physical pain. (Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi, 3:141, al-Matba’a al-Misriyya wa Maktabatuha) A situation like that described in the question is also quite clearly an unpleasant circumstance’ patience regarding which is of the greatest of acts.
The ablution is seen by the Awliya as an act of worship in and of itself, not merely something that must be done in order to pray. The first etiquette of the etiquettes of the Sufis regarding the ablution as mentioned by al-Suhrawardi in his Awarif al-Ma’arif is presence of heart adding that he heard one of the righteous saying, “If the heart is present in the ablution it will be present in the prayer, and if heedlessness enters into it then misgivings (waswasa) enter into the prayer.” He mentions also that the ablution is the silah (weapon or armour) of the believer and that so long as the believer is in the protective sphere of the ablution the devil is hard pressed to get to him. He relates from Anas ibn Malik that if one dies on ablution one is granted martyrdom. This being the case one finds many of the righteous taking great pains to remain on a perpetual state of ritual purity even if it meant performing the ablution many times during the night. (Awarif al-Ma’arif, 297, Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi)
In conclusion, the circumstances described in the question might well be sufficient to leave the confirmed sunna prayers but the superior course of action is to patiently put up with one’s circumstances and to endeavour to perform these sunna prayers anyway.
If one’s ablution is nullified during the course of the prayer so too is the prayer itself, so there is no meaning to keep on praying in such a state. One should leave the prayer and renew one’s ablution. There is no sin upon one if one walks directly in front of other people praying in the group prayer as one is permitted to walk in front of people praying behind an imam and it is only the imam in such a case that one may not walk in front of. If this appears to be an arduous task due to a large crowd in the mosque then one may sit and wait until the prayer is completed. It is prohibitively disliked (makruh tahriman) to pray whilst suppressing the urge to relieve oneself or to pass wind. One must, in such a case, cut the prayer, relieve oneself, and then recommence the prayer. Such a course of action, however, is clearly difficult if one has a constant problem as is described in the question. In such an instance, as mentioned by Mufti Mahmud al-Uthmani, one may pray whilst suppressing the urge to pass wind due the frequent recurrence of such a problem and the inability of the one praying to avoid it.
As for outside of the prayer then there is no direct fiqh ruling related to suppressing one’s urge to pass wind. One should bear in mind, however, that it could have adverse effects on one’s health to habitually do so.
May Allah Most high accept our works and grant us patience in the adverse situations that we find ourselves in.
Sohail Hanif