How is the wudu with chronic issues? How is the ablution with chronic issues? How do sick people make wudu?
Chronic issues that constantly invalidate wudu such as chronic and constant nose bleeding, urinary incontinence, constant vomiting, constant bleeding from a wound, chronic diarrhea, frequent passing gas, and the women’s prolonged bleeding are called “excuses constantly invalidating wudu”, and such people are called “people with excuses constantly invalidating wuḍū (ṣāḥibu ‘uẓr)”.
The religion of Islam has set certain times for acts of worship. Their timely fulfillment is both a duty and a right. Islam does not impose a burden on a person beyond his/her strength and the principle of facility comes into play in every instance when one encounters difficulty. Accordingly, special provisions have been made for the people with excuses constantly invalidating their wuḍū, and they have been given the opportunity to perform their worship in due time.
There is a period of time for chronic issues to be considered a valid reason that constantly invalidates the ablution. According to the Ḥanafis, if an excuse continues for a full prayer time without interruption during sufficient time to perform ablution and pray, and then repeats again at least once, in each prayer time, the person with such an excuse is deemed to be a ṣāḥibu ‘uẓr. However, if the excuse does not appear even once in a full prayer time, it is no longer a valid ‘uẓr and its owner is no longer a ṣāḥibu ‘uẓr.
For example, if a person’s nose continues to bleed from the beginning of the noon prayer until the time of the late afternoon prayer, that is, for a period of time that one can perform the ablution and pray, and after that, if his nose bleeds once in every prayer time, that person is considered ṣāḥibu ‘uẓr.
The Shafiʿis look for five conditions for the validity of an excuse.
1. The person must perform abstersion (istinjā) prior to his ablutions.
2. The person with excuse must perform abstersion, the necessary binding of the relevant opening, and ablutions in immediate succession. In other words, immediately after performing abstersion, the person should bind the site from which the impurity is secreted, be it urine, stool, or whatever else, with a clean cloth or the like.
3. The same immediate succession should be maintained when performing the actions involved in the ablutions themselves, so that one washes the face first, then washes the hands without delay.
4. The person should avoid initiating any activities between completing his ablutions and praying since otherwise, his ablutions will be invalidated.
5. Finally All of the aforementioned actions must be performed after the beginning of the time period for the prayer one intends to pray; if they are performed before this, they will have no validity.
According to the Ḥanbalis, if someone suffers from an excuse invalidating his ablution, his ablutions will not be invalidated by such excuse provided three conditions are maintained:
1. The person must wash the site of the secretion and bind it with a cloth or something similar, or stuff the opening with cotton or some other material that will prevent the flow to the greatest extent possible.
2. The flow of the impurity must be chronic in the sense that it does not stop long enough during the time period for any of the daily prayers for the person to purify himself and pray. Hence, if it is customary for the flow to stop long enough for one to perform ritual ablutions and pray, he is obliged to do so during this period of time.
3. The time period for the prayer one intends to pray must have begun.
As for the Malikis, if the excuse continues for at least half of the time period for a given prayer and if the person cannot control and overcome it, that person is accepted as a person with a constant excuse.
According to the Ḥanafis, the person with such an excuse performs wuḍū at every obligatory prayer time, assuming that this excuse does not invalidate his wuḍū, he may pray as many obligatory and supererogatory prayers as he wishes without having to repeat his ablutions for each one. He can circumambulate the Ka’ba and touch the Qur’an. When the next prayer time comes, the state of ablution of the disabled person is invalidated. The evidence is the following hadith: “A woman who sees prolonged bleeding (mustahādha) performs ablution for each prayer time.”[1] People with other types of excuses have also been compared to this. Apart from this specific excuse, the wudu is invalidated if another situation that invalidates the wuḍū occurs.
If a person with a constant excuse performs wudu just in time for the Dawn prayer, this ablution will continue until the time for the Dawn prayer ends. In other words, it ends with the rising of the sun. He or she can no longer perform another prayer with this wuḍū. However, if he or she performs wuḍū at a time when his or her excuse has been temporarily stopped, and the prayer time ends before his or her excuse occurs again or any other causes that invalidate the wuḍū happens, then this wuḍū will not be invalidated just because of the end of the prayer time.
However, if the person with a constant excuse performs ablution after the sun has risen, he or she can perform any prayer he or she wishes until the end of the noon prayer time unless something takes place that invalidates the wudu. That is because the arrival of the noontime does not invalidate the wuḍū. Likewise, the time of the Eid prayer does not nullify the ablution of the person with a constant excuse because this is not a prescribed time for an obligatory prayer.
According to Abu Ḥanīfa, the ablution of the person with a constant excuse is invalidated by the end of the prayer time, and according to Abu Yusuf, it is invalidated both when the prayer time starts and when it ends. In this case, the invalidation of wudu concerning time is only applicable to the entry of noontime.
According to Imam Shafiʿi, the person with a constant excuse must perform ablution for each obligatory prayer. His or her wuḍū is invalidated when the prayer he or she has performed is over. As for supererogatory prayers (nawāfil), he or she may pray as many as he or she wishes.
If the excuse of a person with a constant excuse performs ablution ends, and she performs ablution due to another condition that invalidates her ablution, and later on, her excuse reoccurs, her ablution will be invalidated and she will have to perform wudu again. This is because her previous wudu was not due to her excuse. However, if the excuse of a person stops and if he performs wudu due to his excuse or any other condition that invalidates his wuḍū within the prescribed time limits of prayer, and his excuse occurs again within that time, his wudu will not be invalidated. This is because this wudu is considered to have been performed for both his excuse and another state that invalidates that wudu.
A person with a constant excuse can halt his excuse in any way such as by sitting, performing the prayer through gestures, or enfolding the part of the body in question, and such a person is no longer accepted as a valid ṣāḥibu ‘uẓr.
Liquids such as blood, pus, and urine that come out of the person with a constant excuse and smears his clothes do not interfere with the validity of his prayer as long as his excuse continues. The fact that solid impurities become more than one dirham and that the liquid spreads over an area wider than the palm do not change the result at all. However, if these liquids stop then they must be washed.[2]
In conclusion, Islam is a religion of ease. It calls for the elimination of undue hardship and difficulty from people’s lives. It shows all kinds of convenience to people that have constant and chronic hardship. Wiping over the bandages and khuffs and allowing the performance of dry ablution for those who cannot find water are among such facilities.
[1] Al-Zaylaī, ibid, I, 204
[2] Ibn al-Humām ibid, I, 124 ff.; Ibn Abidīn, ibid, I, 139, 281-283; al-Shrunbulālī, Marāq al-Falāḥ, p. 25; al-Zuhaylī, ibid, I, 288 ff.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ilmiḥal) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications