How sufferer of urinary incontinence prepares for prayer
20-11-2016 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. Dear brother, please answer my question directly and do not refer me to other fatwas as I have already seen many of them, and please give me the strongest opinion if there is a difference if opinion. The question is: Someone has urinary incontinence that happens with movement and would like to know the following: 1) Is it compulsory to wear something over his private parts to prevent the urine from spreading or not given that the amount is usually only a few drops and that it does not really spread much? 2) He has two mosques in his locality and would like to pray in the further one for more rewards, Allaah willing, but the more the movements, the more the incontinence. Can he pray in the further mosque? Also, if there are bathrooms near the mosque and others further away, then can he use the ones further away due to heavy crowds in the near ones? 3) Given that he has incontinence that worsens with movement, does he have to wash his legs and wherever the urine might have touched before and after washing the private parts, or should he just wash them, wear clean clothes, and make ablution, all of this after the azan? May Allaah reward you. I love you all for the sake of Allaah, and you are doing excellent work. May Allaah bless you.
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, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
It is incumbent on this person who suffers from urinary incontinence to perform ablution after the time of prayer has started and to wear a cloth or the like over his private parts to prevent the urine from spreading on his clothes. Then he performs the obligatory prayer and whatever voluntary prayers he wishes until the time of the prayer expires (i.e. until the time of the next prayer starts) with this ablution. He may pray in any mosque he wishes and use any bathroom he wishes as long as he suffers from urinary incontinence. The fact that the incontinence increases with movement is irrelevant with regards to what we mentioned. If drops of urine touch his body or clothes, then he has to purify the defiled spots and remove this impurity. This is according to the view of the majority of the scholars. The Maalikis, on the other hand, held that the person who suffers from urinary incontinence is not obliged to wear a cloth or wash the urine that touches his body or clothes. It is more prudent to follow the view of the majority of the scholars in this regard; nevertheless, it is easier to follow the view of the Maalikis in cases of severe difficulty.
Allah knows best.