Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamualaikum.

I am an avid reader of your newsletters and have been doing so for a long time. I have seen the way in which you answer questions to peoples answers and today i am the one who needs an answer to my somewhat difficult question which is making my life very depressing.

The question which i have is one which is very personal and i feel that i cannot ask or talk to anyone i know and i feel more comfortable talking to you because i believe that you have the necessary knowledge to answer it without me having to actually come face to face with anyone.

My question is dear brothers is that i have not been a very religious person so far in life. I have recently come back from a trip from umrah and that has opened my eyes and after which i had started to read my daily prayers with much interest. But recently i have had a problem keeping myself purified. I have a problem whereby the muscles in my bladder have become weak and thus i sometimes cannot retain my urine and it drips in small amounts without me really having much control over it. It happens more when there is pressure put on the bladder. This happens when i read salah and bend down and sit. For this reason i have stopped reading my salah because i find it very hard to remain purified.

The reason i stopped my salah is because i believe that keeping on reading would be more sinful as salah requires piurification. Only allah knows how much i want to read my salah but i dont know whether i am doing the right thing. I need help and this is eating away inside me. My parents continually shout at me for stopping my salah but they dont know the reason behind it. I talked to my doctor and i have been advised that it will improve with time and with some muscle excercise.

Please help me. What shall i do.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Constant drops of urine

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Brother, the organ of the men, whereby the urine is discharged has a long tube, therefore it is possible that even after one has washed his private area clean after relieving himself; a few drops may remain in the tube which may drop after one gets up or moves. If one is convinced that some urine drops have fallen after he has cleansed himself, he should wash his private parts and the area of the clothes the urine drops might have touched again, do the wudu and perform the prayers. There is absolutely no need to do the full ghusl.

But if one only has a doubt, or constantly doubts whether some drops might have fallen or not, then one should not let the doubt bother him. In Islam, the determination of impurity is not on doubts; but rather on belief and absolute conviction. Everything will be considered pure, unless one has absolute conviction that an impurity has touched it. If you have a doubt that something impure has touched you, then one should not act on these doubts; but rather act only if one is absolutely convinced that an impure thing has touched it.

Either way, there is absolutely no need to do the full bath or ghusl to purify yourself. If you are convinced that a few drops of urine have been discharged, you may wash your private parts and the area of the clothes where the drops might have touched, do the wudu, and make yourself available for prayers.

Reported Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Taalib (r.a.) , “I used to have a great deal of prostatic fluid flowing, so I asked a man to ask the Prophet (saws) about it (as I was shy to ask him, due to my relationship with him through his daughter). He asked him and the Prophet (saws), said, "Make ablution and wash your penis."

Related by al-Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi.

Al-Athram narrated, "I was bothered by a great deal of madhi (prostatic fluid), so I went to the Prophet (saws), and informed him of this. He (saws) said 'It is sufficient for you to take a handful of water and sprinkle it over (the madhi)."'

Beloved brother in Islam, if you have a genuine medical problem with your bladder, then Shariah allows that everytime before the prayer wash your private parts, do the wudu and make yourself available for the prayer. If after the wudu, you still feel or doubt that a few drops of urine might have leaked, then take a handful of water and sprinkle it over the private area and perform the prayer without the least bit of hesitation. But under no circumstances is a believer allowed to forgo or abstain from his obligatory prayers. The All-Knowing, All-Merciful Lord knows the condition of each of His slaves and it is expected that He will accept your prayers.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan