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Holding in gas after ablution or during prayer does not break the ablution

Question

Assalaamu alaykum. I want to know if holding gas after ablution or during prayers breaks the ablution? I do not know if there are differences among the schools of thought, but I want to know what the Maliki madhhab and other schools of thought say about that.

Answer

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

Holding in gas does not break the ablution, nor does it invalidate the prayer. It has no effect as long as it is not released.

The majority of the Muslim scholars, including the Maalikis, held that the prayer of the one holding in either urine or stool or gas is valid and that it is disliked to initiate the prayer in such a state (while holding in urine or stool or gas) given the reported prohibition of the Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, regarding performing prayer when one is prompted by the call of nature, cited by Imaam Muslim  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him.

The Maalikis held that the prayer performed by someone holding in urine or stool or gas is valid as long as he does not hold it in to the extent that he cannot perform the obligations of the prayer properly or has to endure great hardship in order to perform them.

The Maaliki book of Fiqh ‘Haashiyat Al-ʻAdawi ʻala Al-Kharashi' reads, “...or if he performed the obligations of the prayer, yet not as due, as is the case when one holds his hips or thighs very close during the prayer (to hold in urine or stool or gas) and performs the prayer with great hardship ... If the praying person holds it in during the whole duration of the prayer, then it invalidates the prayer; however, if it is temporary (it comes and goes), then the person is not obliged to repeat the prayer...

Allaah knows best.

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