How should a person with constant discharge and bleeding make wudu and worship?

Can a woman who has had gynecological surgery perform her religious duties while she is still bleeding due to the surgery?

Dear Brother / Sister,

A person who has bleeding or discharge due to an illness can perform his worship by making wudu in accordance with the decree for excused people.

Continuous cases that disrupt ablution are called “excuses”. For example, cases such as urinary incontinence, constant passing of gas, frequent nose bleeding, and continuous liquid coming out of the wound are all excuses. A person who has such an excuse that prevents wudu is called an excused person.

In order for a person to be regarded as excused, the condition that disrupts wudu must continue for a full prayer time, that is, it must not be interrupted even for a short period of time enough to make wudu and perform a prayer. (It is a prerequisite for the state of excuse to begin.) After that, the same condition must occur at least once in every prayer time. (It is a prerequisite for the continuation of the state of excuse.)

We will explain it with an example:

If a person’s nose starts bleeding from the beginning of the noon prayer (zuhr) time and it continues uninterruptedly until the period for the noon prayer ends, the condition for the beginning of the state of excuse occurs for that person. If this bleeding occurs at least once in each prayer time from then on, that person will be regarded as “EXCUSED”.

Since the excuse is repeated in every prayer time, it becomes clear that the excuse continues, and thus the second condition of being regarded as excused occurs. In order for the state of excuse to end, the excuse must disappear completely and not be seen at all within one prayer time. Such a person is no longer regarded as excused.

Our religion has provided great convenience for excused people. Their wudu will not be invalidated even if their excuses that break wudu continue. They perform their prayers when they are in that state. They do not have to clean the places contaminated by discharges such as blood, pus and urine that invalidate wudu because those impurities occur again immediately after they are cleaned.

For example, the wudu of a person who constantly leaks urine is not invalidated by the urinary flow; such a person does not have to wash the area contaminated by this urine. He performs his prayer although there is urine. Despite the ease that our religion provides to those with excuses, there is something they should pay attention to:

A person who is determined to be excused makes a separate wudu for each prayer time; he can perform as many nafilah or qada prayers as he wishes with the wudu he takes for that time. He can perform witr and funeral prayers too. The wudu made by the excused person is valid only during that prayer time. His wudu is broken when one prayer time expires and another prayer time begins. He has to make wudu again for the new time prayer that starts.

For example, if an excused person makes wudu within the morning (fajr) prayer time period, this wudu is valid until the time period for the morning prayer ends. When the time expires, that is, when the sun rises, his wudu becomes invalidated and is no longer valid. He can no longer perform any prayer with that wudu.

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EXCUSE

The reason put forward for doing or not doing something, for the forgiveness of a crime; deficiency or defect in a product; situations in which it is difficult to fulfill the decrees of Islam without the occurrence of further harm. In terms of worship, the continuation of the thing that breaks wudu is called an excuse and a person who is exposed to it is called “excused”. Some excuses that arise later also affect contracts.

Men and women who constantly pass wind, whose urine drips, whose nose bleeds, whose wounds bleed, women with bleeding fewer than three days and more than ten days in menstruation, and more than forty days in puerperium, a girl with bleeding before the age of nine and a woman with bleeding after the age of fifty-five are regarded as “excused”. Such a man is called “ma’dhur” and woman is called” ma’dhurah”.

In order for a person to be regarded as excused in terms of worship, his excuse must continue for a full prayer time, without being interrupted long enough to make wudu and perform a prayer, and at other times, it must be present at least once in each prayer time. The state of being excused ends if it stops long enough for a complete prayer time to pass.

In response to the question of a woman who constantly had bleeding, the Prophet said: Menstruate for six or seven days, which Allah knows; then, make ghusl. When you see that you have become pure and clean, perform prayers for twenty-three or twenty-four nights and days, and perform fasting. That will be enough for you.” (Tirmidhi, Taharah, 95)

An excused person makes wudu for every prayer. The Prophet told an excused woman to do so (Bukhari, Wudu, 63; Abu Dawud, Taharah, 110, 112; Tirmidhi, Taharah, 93) The wudu of an excused person is invalidated when the time period for a daily fard prayer ends. According to Imam Zufar, it is invalidated when the time period for a daily fard prayer starts; according to Abu Yusuf, it is invalidated both when it starts and ends. A person who makes wudu after sunrise performs the noon prayer with that wudu because the time period for that prayer has not ended.

A woman who has bleeding other than menstruation can have sexual intercourse with her husband because there is no evidence prohibiting it. On the other hand, a comparison is made with her being able to perform prayer. If an excused person makes wudu when the prayer time starts, he/she can perform as many prayers as he/she wants until the end of that time period; he/she can circumambulate the Kaaba and read the Quran. (Sayyid Sabiq, Fiqhus-Sunnah, I, 76, 77)

The imam to lead the prayer must not have any such excuse like urinary incontinence, nose bleeding and passing wind constantly. Such a person can lead the prayer only for excused people like him. (Ibn Abidin, Raddul-Muhtar, I, 541)

In order to perform the Friday prayer and the five daily prayers in congregation, it is necessary not to be sick, to be safe, to be free, and to have the ability to see and walk. The absence of one of them constitutes an excuse for the person not to go to Friday prayer or congregation. (az-Zuhayli, al-Fiqhul-Islami wa Adillatuh, II, 270)

Cases that are considered as excuse for not fasting in Ramadan can be listed as follows:

a. Travelling. A person who sets out for a journey of ninety kilometers or more from where he is located can perform the four-rak’ah fard prayers as two rak’ahs and can skip the Ramadan fasting and make up for it later. The following is stated in a verse: “(Fasting) for a fixed number of days; but if any of you is ill, or on a journey, the prescribed number (should be made up) from days later.” (al-Baqara, 2/184)

b. Illness. If the disease can increase during fasting or if fasting cannot be endured, one can break the fast. The evidence is the verse above.

c. Pregnancy or breastfeeding. A pregnant or breastfeeding woman may not fast during Ramadan if she understands that she or her child will be seriously harmed. The evidence is the following hadith, in comparison with the sick and the traveler: “Allah has removed the obligation of fasting and half of the prayer from the traveler, and fasting from the pregnant and breastfeeding women.” (ash-Shawkani, Naylul-Awtar” IV, 230)

d. Old age. A person who is too old to endure fasting or the patient who has no hope of recovery does not have to fast and does not have to make up for it because he cannot do it. They give fidyah to a poor person, the amount equal to feed a person in a day. The following is stated in a verse: “For those who can do it (with hardship), is a ransom, the feeding of one that is indigent.” (al-Baqara, 2/184)

e. Fear of dying from hunger and thirst. The person who is faced with such a situation does not fast. The following is stated in a verse: “And make not your own hands contribute to (your) destruction.” (al-Baqara, 2/195)

f. Forcing. According to the majority of the scholars, a person who is forced to break the fast can make up the fast later. If a woman is raped by force or while she is asleep, she must make up the fast (al-Kasani, Badayius-Sanayi, II, 94-97; Ibn Rushd, Bidayatul-Mujtahid, I)., 277-285; ash-Shirazi, al-Muhadhdhab, I, 178 et al.; Ibn Kudama, al-Mughni, III, 99 et al.; al-Fiqhul -Islami, II, 641 ff.).

In general terms, an excuse also has an effect on transactional matters. For example, an excuse can affect the lease contract in the following ways: The tenant’s bankruptcy, change of his job, or reassignment to another city are considered excuses for termination of the contract. If the lessor is forced to sell the leased real estate because of his debts, he may terminate the contract before its due date. Sometimes the excuse may be related to the rented property itself. A person who rents a public bath in a village can terminate the rental contract before its due date if the people of the village migrate from there later (as-Sarakhsi, al-Mabsut, XVI, 2; al-Kasani, ibid., IV,197; al-Fatawal-Hindiyya, IV, 198, 458, 462).

In agricultural sharecropping, excuses such as the land owner having to sell his land due to debts, or the partner taking over the agricultural work becoming too ill to do work are grounds for termination. However, in partnership agreements such as agriculture, vineyard-garden (irrigation) and tree planting, which are closely related to the growing periods of the product, the termination must be made at a time and in a way that will not harm the other party. For example, the termination of an agricultural sharecropping contract made for two years at the end of the first year and after the product is harvested due to an excuse that occurred afterwards (al-Kasani, ibid., VI, 183 ff.; Ibnul-Humam, Fathul-Qadir, VIII, 42; Ibn Abidin, Raddul-Muhtar, V, 196 ff.)

In case of general mobilization, the situations that are considered as excuses for not participating in the war can be summarized as follows: “The blind, the lame, the sick, the paralyzed, the old, the weak, those with amputated arms or legs, those whose family members cannot be provided for, children, women and slaves are excluded from the war. Of those last two, the woman is considered to be obliged to serve to his husband and the slave to his master. The child is not liable and qualified for war. Ibn Umar (d. 73/692) said: “I was presented to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) on the day of Uhud. I was fourteen years old then. He did not find me adequate for war.” (Tirmidhi, Jihad, 32; Ibn Majah, Hudud, 4). The bitter state of the others is considered an excuse: “There is no blame on those who are infirm, or ill, or who find no resources to spend (on the cause), if they are sincere (in duty) to Allah and His Messenger. no ground (of complaint) can there be against such as do right: and Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.” (at-Tawba, 9/91); “It is no fault in the blind nor in one born lame, nor in one afflicted with illness.” (an-Nur, 24/61)

A woman may participate in war only with her husband’s permission, except when the enemy launches a general attack on an Islamic town. (al-Kasani, ibid, VII, 97; Ibnul-Humam, ibid, IV, 276, 283; Ibn Abidin, ibid, III, 238, 241)

Jizya tax is collected from free and male non-Muslims. The following are regarded as excused for exemption from this tax: Women, children, mentally ill, senile, chronically ill, blind, paralyzed and very old people. Non-Muslims pay jizya so that no war will be waged against them and they will be protected against external dangers. Those with the excuses mentioned above are not qualified to fight. Jizya is not collected from the poor because they cannot afford it. Priests and monks who live in seclusion do not pay jizya (see at-Tawba, 9/29; Celal Yeniçeri, İslâmda Devlet Bütçesi, İstanbul 1984, pp. 32, 33,190; Ziya Kazıcı, Osmanlılarda Vergi Sistemi, İstanbul 1977, pp. 35-38; az-Zuhayli, ibid., VI, 444). However, Shafiis and Hanbalis base jizya on the conditions of sanity, puberty and being male, and do not consider the above-mentioned excuses as a reason for exemption from jizya. (az-Zuhayli, ibid., VI, 445)

Hamdi DÖNDÜREN

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