Constant urine leakage, bleeding or wind in the Hanafi school: how to make wudu and pray

A person with a constant medical condition (ma'dhur, meaning "excused") is someone whose urine drips without control, who cannot hold wind, whose nose or a wound keeps bleeding, or who has a constant discharge. In the Hanafi school, the excuse is established when this lasts for a full prayer time with no gap long enough to make wudu (ablution) and pray the obligatory (fard) prayer. After that you make a fresh wudu once in each prayer time and pray with it, even while the condition carries on. Your own condition no longer breaks the wudu. Only the end of the prayer time, or something else, does.

Who counts as an excused person (ma'dhur), and what is the proof?

Normally, anything that comes out of the private parts, or flowing blood from the body, breaks wudu. Our guide on what breaks wudu lists these. But some people have a medical condition that makes this happen again and again, and they cannot stop it. Islam does not ask for the impossible. Allah says: "Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity" (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:286), and "He has not placed any difficulty for you in the religion" (Surah Al-Hajj, 22:78).

The Hanafi books count these as the usual conditions:

• Dripping urine that you cannot hold back, for example after an operation, with an enlarged prostate, or because of weak bladder muscles.
• Constant wind that you cannot hold.
• A nosebleed or a wound that keeps bleeding, or a wound that keeps leaking pus or fluid.
• A constant discharge from the private parts, or from an ear, eye or other part, that is the kind that breaks wudu.
• Looseness of the bowels that you cannot control, if it truly never stops for a full prayer time.

The proof is the case of Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh (may Allah be pleased with her), who had continuous bleeding and asked the Prophet ﷺ how to pray. She was told that this was not her period, and to pray (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Hayd). Some narrations also tell her to make wudu for each prayer (Sunan Abi Dawud and Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Taharah). The Hanafi school understands this to mean each prayer time. It is also reported that 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) kept praying while his wound was bleeding, after he was stabbed (Muwatta Imam Malik). This shows that a flowing wound does not stop a person from praying.

A woman with irregular bleeding (istihadah) is one of the cases of this ruling, and it is explained in our guide on what to do when your period starts. This article is about every other kind of constant condition.

How does the excuse start, and how do you keep it?

This is the part that most people miss. A leak that happens now and then does not make you excused. You have to meet a clear test.

• To begin. The condition must continue through a whole prayer time, from its start to its end, with no gap long enough to make wudu and pray the obligatory prayer of that time. This is the position given in Radd al-Muhtar and Bahishti Zewar.
• The first time. Until a whole prayer time has passed like this, you are not yet excused. If it happens in the middle of your first prayer, wudu is broken and you must repeat it as normal. Once a full time has passed, the excuse begins from the next prayer time.
• To keep it. After it is established, it stays as long as the condition happens at least once in every full prayer time that follows. The condition does not need to flow all day. One leak in a prayer time is enough to keep your status.
• If there is a long enough gap. If, in one prayer time, you are clean for long enough to make wudu and pray the obligatory prayer, you are not excused for that time. You make wudu in the gap and pray in it.

So the test is always about the length of the gap. If your urine only drips when you walk, but you can sit still for ten minutes and it stops, you may have a gap. Use it. Pray at the start of the time, when you have the best chance of being clean.

How do I make wudu and pray with constant urine leakage?

Once you are excused, the practice is simple.

• 1. Wait until the prayer time has begun. Make wudu after the time starts, not before. Then your wudu belongs to this time.
• 2. Clean the area first. Wash or wipe away the discharge from your body, and change the pad, tissue or cloth if there is one. Then make wudu as usual. The steps are in our wudu sheet and the step-by-step wudu guide.
• 3. Pray straight away. There is no need to rush, but do not delay without need. The longer you wait, the more likely your clothes are to be soiled.
• 4. Keep praying even if it drips. If the condition happens during the prayer, carry on. Your prayer and your wudu stay valid.
• 5. Make wudu again when the next prayer time starts. That is for each of the five times: Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib and Isha.

With one wudu, made after the prayer time begins, you may pray inside that time:

• The obligatory prayer of that time, and its recommended (sunnah) prayers.
• Make-up prayers (qaza), and extra (nafl) prayers.
• Witr, if you pray it in Isha time.
• Touching and reciting from the Qur'an.

This is the Hanafi position in Mukhtasar al-Quduri and al-Hidayah: the person with constant urine or similar conditions "makes wudu for the time of each prayer", and prays with that wudu as many obligatory and extra prayers as he wishes. The Shafi'i school differs, and asks for a new wudu for every obligatory prayer. The Hanafi school does not.

Take two points that confuse people. First, Fajr: its time ends at sunrise, so the wudu you made for Fajr ends at sunrise too. Second, Jumu'ah: it falls in Zuhr time, so one wudu made after Zuhr begins covers it, and you do not need a separate wudu.

What breaks the wudu of an excused person?

Two things break it.

• 1. Anything other than your own condition. If your condition is dripping urine and you then pass wind, fall asleep lying down, or vomit a mouthful, wudu is broken. Make it again, even within the same prayer time. Your own kind of discharge is excused. Another kind is not.
• 2. The end of the prayer time. When the time ends, the wudu ends with it, and you make a new one for the next time.

On the second point, Radd al-Muhtar explains that the wudu is cancelled by the end of the time only if your condition happened at least once after you made the wudu. If you made wudu, and nothing came out for the rest of that time, you are still clean when the time ends. This is the view widely given in fatwa. The earlier Hanafi scholars differ on the details, for example whether the time starting also cancels the wudu, so make your wudu once the time has begun, as above.

What about clothes, pads, catheters and bags?

This is where excused people face the most daily trouble. Our guide on impure things (najasah) gives the palm-size rule. Here is how it applies to you.

• If your clothes are soiled and you can pray before they are soiled again, and the amount is more than the hollow of your palm, wash them or change them before you pray.
• If it will be soiled again before you finish the prayer, you do not have to wash the clothes for that prayer. This is excused because of the hardship. Wash them when you are able.
• Always wash the area of your body as far as you can before wudu.
• Use a pad or cloth to protect your clothes and change it as often as you can. Fold a used pad and bin it. If a pad stops the discharge from coming through, it keeps your clothes clean. That is a good thing and no one should avoid it.
• If you can stop the flow, for example by tying a cloth over a wound, you should. The excuse covers what you cannot stop.
• A wound that is bandaged: if washing the area would harm it, wipe over the bandage instead of washing under it.
• A catheter and urine bag. With a catheter, urine flows out of the body into a bag, so the person is treated as excused. Make a fresh wudu once in each prayer time, keep the outside clean, and empty the bag when it is full.

One more rule applies to prayer in a group. In the Hanafi school, a person without an excuse should not pray behind an excused imam, because the imam's wudu is not as strong as theirs. Excused people may pray behind an imam with the same excuse. This is the view in the Hanafi books, so an excused person should not lead a congregation of people without an excuse.

When does the excuse end, and what then?

The excuse ends when one whole prayer time passes with no discharge at all, from its start to its end. After that you are a normal person again, and any discharge breaks your wudu. A short pause of a few hours is not enough, since the test is a full prayer time.

• If it returns later, the test starts again. It must continue for a full prayer time before you are excused once more.
• If you recover after treatment, make wudu as normal for each prayer. You no longer need to renew it by the clock.
• If your condition changes kind (say urine to wind), the same test applies to the new one.

If you can reduce your condition with treatment, the Hanafi books do not ask you to do something that would harm you. Use medicine and treatment when they are sensible, as the Prophet ﷺ encouraged medical care. Staying excused is not something to aim for, and if you are cured, the normal rules return.

What does this look like in real life, with examples?

Here are five situations with the Hanafi answer.

• Example 1: Dripping urine. Ahmad's urine has dripped since an operation, all day and all night. Zuhr starts. He cleans, makes wudu and prays Zuhr with its sunnah prayers. He drips during the prayer, but his prayer is valid. He also prays a missed Fajr before Asr starts, with the same wudu. When Asr time starts, the wudu is finished. He cleans up and makes wudu again.
• Example 2: Your first day. Yusuf's urine starts to drip at the start of Zuhr and does not stop until after Asr starts. He made wudu twice in Zuhr and it broke each time, because he was not yet excused. At Asr, the full Zuhr time has passed with the condition. He is now excused, and from Asr he makes wudu once each time.
• Example 3: A wound. Maryam has a wound that bleeds all the time. She makes wudu for Fajr and prays. At sunrise, the Fajr time ends, so her wudu ends. For Zuhr she makes a new wudu, even if the wound did not bleed in between.
• Example 4: Something else breaks it. Omar has constant dripping. He makes wudu for Isha and prays Isha. While waiting to pray Witr, he falls asleep lying down. His wudu is broken, because sleep is not his condition. He makes wudu again, then prays Witr.
• Example 5: Getting better. Hasan's nosebleeds were constant for months. Treatment stops them, and for one whole prayer time, from its start to its end, no blood comes at all. His excuse is ended. After this, a nosebleed breaks his wudu like anyone else's.

If you wish to learn these rules with a teacher and ask about your own situation, see our courses.

Sources

1. The Qur'an: Surah Al-Baqarah (2), verse 286; Surah Al-Hajj (22), verse 78.
2. Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Hayd: Fatimah bint Abi Hubaysh and her continuous bleeding; Sunan Abi Dawud and Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Taharah: the narrations about wudu for each prayer.
3. Muwatta Imam Malik: the report of 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) praying while his wound was bleeding.
4. Mukhtasar al-Quduri, Kitab al-Taharah: the chapter on the woman with irregular bleeding and the one who has constant urine, wind or bleeding.
5. Al-Hidayah of al-Marghinani, Kitab al-Taharah: the chapter on the excused person and wudu for the time of each prayer.
6. Ibn 'Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Taharah: the conditions for the excuse to begin, remain and end, and what cancels the wudu of the excused person.
7. Maraqi al-Falah, Kitab al-Taharah: the chapter on the excused person.
8. Al-Fatawa al-Hindiyyah, Kitab al-Taharah, Bab al-Hayd and the section on the ma'dhur: constant urine, wind and bleeding.
9. Bahishti Zewar, Part 1: the rules for the excused person.