What should a person whose wudu is invalidated while performing a grayer individually or in congregation do?

- What should a person who notices that his finger bleeds while performing the fard of the Friday prayer do?
- It is not very much but it looks as if it has spread around a bit. He can perform the noon prayer later but he cannot perform the Friday prayer. Will he miss the thawab of Friday prayer?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Our religion provides some ease regarding the issue. There are two alternatives for a person whose wudu is invalidated while performing a prayer:

If he wishes, he makes wudu with water that is close to the place where he is performing the prayer without doing anything that is contrary to prayer and resumes his prayer. If he wishes, he can perform that prayer again after making wudu. It is the same for both men and women. This is valid for those who pray individually in general. 

It is more appropriate for a person who is performing a prayer in congregation to resume his prayer. For, obtaining the virtue of congregation is in question. This is the sound view. (al-Jawhara an-Nayyira)

However, there are some conditions for the permissibility of resuming the prayer:

a) The thing that comes out must necessitate wudu,

b) It must not be something rare,

c) The thing that comes out must not occur voluntarily; that is, it must not take place deliberately, (Bahr ar-Raiq / Ibn Nujaym)

In that case, if a person lets urine or feces come out deliberately, passes wind deliberately or does something like those deliberately, he has to perform that prayer again; he cannot resume it. For, breaking wudu deliberately invalidates prayer.

If the thing that comes out necessitates ghusl though it is not deliberate, the prayer is invalidated; he has to perform it again.

If something like that occurs due to the deed of somebody else, he has to perform that prayer again. Abu Yusuf opposes this view. According to him, such a person can resume the prayer. For, it has occurred due to the deed of somebody else, not his own deed.  

If a person vomits mouthful unintentionally, he makes wudu and resumes his prayer. However, he must not speak in the meantime. 

Examples of things that invalidate wudu while performing a prayer due to the deeds of others:

- If a stone hits a person’s head and causes bleeding or if somebody touches the wound on his face and causes pus to come out, his prayer is invalidated. He has to make wudu and perform it again. This is the view of Imam Abu Hanifa and Imam Muhammad. (Sharhu Tahawi)

- If a stone falls from a roof, hits the head of a person performing a prayer and causes bleeding, he has to perform that prayer again if it falls due to the movement of a person. If the stone falls spontaneously, he can make wudu and resume his prayer.  

- Similarly, if a fruit falls off a tree and causes bleeding in a person performing a prayer under the tree, he can make wudu and resume his prayer. If he wishes, he can perform it again. 

- However, if blood comes out due to a thorn pricking one’s foot or a sharp stone, or a thorn cutting his forehead while prostrating necessitates performing the prayer again even if one does not do it deliberately. For, he should have checked the place where he would perform a prayer. Blood coming out due to a mosquito or another insect bite invalidates both wudu and prayer; it has to be performed again.

- If a person passes wind in prayer due to sneezing or coughing both his wudu and prayer are invalidated; he has to perform it again after making wudu. This is the sound view. (Fatawa al-Hindiyya)

- If the cloth that a woman places in her genital organ falls in a wet state spontaneously while performing a prayer, she can make wudu and resume her prayer according to the unanimous view of imams. However, if she herself causes the cloth to fall, she has to perform that prayer again. According to Abu Yusuf, she can resume it. (at-Tabyin / Zaylai)

- If a bloody carbuncle bursts and blood or pus comes out while performing a prayer, one can make wudu and resume his prayer.

- If a person squeezes a carbuncle on his body or if the carbuncle on his knee bursts when he bows down in prayer and blood comes out, he has to make wudu and perform the prayer again. (al-Muhit / Radiyuddin Sarakhsi)

- If a person faints, goes off his head, or laughs aloud in prayer, he has to make wudu and perform the prayer again. Similarly, if he sleeps in prayer or ejaculates, he has to make wudu and perform the prayer again. This is a decree of istihsan.

- If urine of about a dirham is sprinkled on a person’s clothes while performing a prayer, he has to make wudu and perform the prayer again. This is zahir narration.  (Sharhu Tahawi)

d) One of the conditions is to leave the prayer as soon as his wudu is invalidated.

Otherwise, if he waits as long as a rukn or performs a rukn and leaves the prayer, his prayer is invalidated. He has to perform it again.

In such a situation, if a person reads some verses from the Quran while going to or returning from wudu, his prayer is invalidated; it becomes wajib to perform it again. This is the sound view. (Fatawa al-Hindiyya)

If he utters tasbihat while going to or returning from wudu, his prayer is not invalidated; he can resume the prayer. This is the soundest view and ijtihad. (at-Tabyin / Zaylai)
...

If the wudu of the imam is invalidated in ruku’ while he is leading a prayer and if he utters “Samiallahu liman hamidahu” and raises his head, or if his wudu is invalidated in sajdah and he utters Allahu Akbar, raising his head by wishing to perform a rukn, both his prayer and the congregation’s prayer are invalidated. However, if he does so without wishing to perform a rukn, there are two different views. (al-Kafi / al-Marwazi)

If the wudu of imam is invalidated in sajdah and he raises his head by saying Allahu Akbar, his prayer is invalidated. If he raises his head without uttering takbir, he chooses somebody to replace him and to complete prayer. (Fatawa al-Hindiyya)

If he doses off and invalidates his wudu, he makes wudu and resumes his prayer. However, if he waits for a while even though a little, his prayer is invalidated. He has to perform it again. (Mi'raj ad-Diraya)

e) One of the conditions is not to do any deeds that are contrary to prayer after wudu is invalidated.

Thus, if a person does anything except walking and making wudu after his wudu is invalidated in prayer like speaking, laughing, eating or drinking, his prayer is invalidated. He has to perform it again after making wudu.

If his awrah places are opened while making wudu after his wudu is invalidated in prayer, his prayer is invalidated; he has to perform it again. (al-Badayi’ / Qasani)

However, if his awrah places are opened due to reasons beyond his control and if it is not possible to avoid it, his prayer is not invalidated; he can resume it according to Qadi Abu Ali an-Nasafi. (an-Nihaya - Fatawa al-Hindiyya)

As for a woman, when she rolls up her sleeves to make wudu after her wudu is invalidated in prayer, her prayer is invalidated because her arms are awrah. This is the sound view. 

If the well is near but the fountain is far, a person chooses the easier one for wudu. However, if he makes wudu by drawing water from the well, he has to perform his prayer again according to the sound view. This is also the preferred view. 

If a person does not go to his house, which is near, but goes to the fountain that is far, to make wudu after his wudu is invalidated, his prayer is invalidated; he has to perform it again. However, if there is a small distance that will cover two ranks in prayer between the fountain and his house, he can resume his prayer.

If he forgets that there is water in his house and goes to the fountain that is far, he can resume his prayer even if the distance is further than the distance mentioned above. (Fatawa al-Hindiyya)

If a person remembers after making wudu that he has not wiped (masah) his head while returning to the prayer place, he can return, wipe his head and resume his prayer. However, if he remembers it after starting the prayer, he wipes his head and performs that prayer again. (al-Khulasa - al-Mabsut / Sarakhsi)

If a person makes wudu and leaves and then remembers that he has left his garment there and if he returns to take it, his prayer becomes invalidated; he has to perform it again. (Tatarhaniyya)

If the wudu of a person is invalidated while performing a prayer in a mosque and if he makes wudu with the water in a receptacle in the mosque and if he carries that receptacle with one hand to the place where he performs the prayer, his prayer is not invalidated. However, if he carries it with two hands, his prayer becomes invalidated; he has to perform it again. (al-Muhit / Radiyuddin Sarakhsi)

If he unlocks the door of his house to make wudu and returns to complete his prayer after locking it fearing burglary, he can resume his prayer. However, if he locks it though there is no fear of burglary, his prayer becomes invalidated; he has to perform it again. (al-Jawhara an-Nayyira)

If as much impurity as enough to invalidate prayer touches the clothes of a person in prayer and if he washes it, he can resume his prayer if the impurity occurs from inside. If the impurity touches from outside, his prayer becomes invalidated; he has to perform it again. According to Imam Abu Yusuf, he can resume his prayer even if the impurity touches from outside.

If impurity touches a person’s clothes in prayer and if it is possible to change his clothes there, he can change them and resume his prayer. If he performs a little part of the prayer with the dirty clothes, his prayer is invalidated. If he abandons prayer and waits for a while like that, the decree is the same. (al-Muhit / Sarakhsi)

If a person leaves in order to make wudu because his wudu has been invalidated in prayer and if he does something that invalidates wudu deliberately in the meantime, his prayer becomes invalidated; he has to perform it again. (Fatawa Qadihan)

f) One of the conditions is that after a natural thing that invalidates wudu, something else that invalidates wudu must not occur.

An example for this condition is as follows:

If the wudu of a person wearing khuffs is invalidated while performing a prayer and if the time period for the khuffs end when he leaves to make wudu again, he has to perform that prayer again. This is the sound view. (Bahr ar-Raiq / Ibn Nujaym)

Similarly, if a person makes tayammum and leaves to make wudu because his wudu is invalidated in prayer sees water on the way, his prayer becomes invalidated; he has to perform it again. (al-Muhit / Sarakhsi)

g) One of the conditions is that if a person whose wudu is invalidated while following an imam in congregation, he needs to follow the imam when he makes wudu – if the imam has not finished the prayer. If the imam has finished the prayer, he does not have to return. If he returns to his previous place, his prayer becomes invalidated; he has to perform it again.

If the imam has not finished the prayer, the muqtadi does not have to return to his previous place; he follows the imam from the place where he is if there is no barrier between. (Bahr ar-Raiq / Ibn Nujaym)

A person who makes wudu again since his wudu is invalidated while praying individually completes his prayer in his house if he wishes or returns to the place where he has started the prayer. It is better for him to return there. (al-Kafi – Hakim ash-Shahid al-Marwazi)

The imam is like an individual person regarding this issue. When his wudu is invalidated, he chooses somebody to replace him; if the imam that has replaced him has finished the prayer when he returns, he does not return and completes his prayer where he is. If he has not finished, he returns and completes his prayer by following the imam. (Sharhu Wiaaya / Sadrush-Shari'a Ubaydullah)

h) The person must not remember a prayer that he has missed after his wudu is invalidated.

If the person whose wudu is invalidated in prayer is sahib at-tartib and if he remembers a prayer that he has missed when he makes wudu, the prayer that he has started is invalidated; if there is enough time, first he performs the prayer that he has missed; then, he performs that prayer again.  (Bahr ar-Raiq / Ibn Nujaym)

i) One of the conditions is that if the person whose wudu is invalidated is an imam, he must not choose a person who is not suitable for being an imam to replace him.

For instance, if he chooses a woman to replace him as the imam, his wudu is invalidated; therefore, he needs to perform that prayer again after making wudu. The prayer of the congregation becomes invalidated too. (Bahr ar-Raiq / Ibn Nujaym)

(Celal Yıldırım, Kaynaklarıyla İslam Fıkhı, Uysal Kitabevi: I / 326-332)

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