Suffering From Wind Incontinence
Fatwa No: 380521

Question

Assalaamu'alaikum,Please don't refer me to any other fatwas as I have read many fatwas over and over again regarding my issue.I want an answer specific to my question.I request you to reply me soon as I am suffering from extreme hardship regarding prayers.I suffer from wind incontinence.now my problem is I don't understand as to whether I am eligible to apply the ruling of istihaada or not.so I repeat prayers over and over again which has resulted in strong resentment in my heart for salaah due to extreme hardship it causes and sometimes thoughts of leaving this deen cone to my mind altogether and then I literally have to put in a great effort to ward them offPlease Tell me , if a person knows that he can maintain his wudu for the time he can pray four rakas ,can he apply the ruling of incontinence so e.g he has to pray dhuhr ,will he have to do wide thrice, one for sunnahs before fard and then for fard and then third time for sunnah after fard? Or is it enough if he does wudu once and pray the entire prayer with it? This is the best case scenario,usually praying even two raka's is difficult.Similarly how a person who can maintain wudu for the period of four rakas will pray taraweeh?Secondly is it a must that I go to washroom to relieve myself of bloating every time I hace to make wudu in hope that situation might become better or I can just judge my condition according to the best of my ability without doing so when time of a prayer starts and act accordingly ?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Thanks to Allah, Islam is a facilitated religion that has no difficulties in it. Allah is Merciful with His slaves and does not burden them with something beyond their capacity, so beware of these satanic thoughts.

If the nullifying your Wudhoo’ (ablution) does not stop for a sufficient period for you to ritually purify yourself and perform your prayers, or it was inconsistent by sometimes happening earlier and other times happening later or that its duration is long at times and short at other; in such a case you are considered to be suffering from incontinence.

The opinion of majority of the scholars is that people who suffer from incontinence should perform Wudhoo’ once the prescribed time of the prayer starts then they should perform Wudhoo’ and offer all the prayers, obligatory and optional ones, within the duration of the time of the given prayer.

However, the Maaliki school of jurisprudence states that if you perform Wudhoo' and then later nullify your Wudhoo’ (due to passing wind) for more than half of the time (of a given prayer), then you do not have to perform Wudhoo’ again, as you are given the same ruling of those suffering from incontinence and women who bleed outside their menses. You can act according to this opinion if it makes things easier for you and facilitates your affairs. You need to thank Allah for the bounty of Islam and that He has guided you to the truth.

We advise you to ask knowledgeable people in your area whenever you come across a matter that confuses you, so that they can clarify things and remove the hardship that can result from such confusions.

Allah knows best.

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