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:

Asalam alaikum

My question is: wat do we do if we are not with wudu and running short of time for namaz, such that we know if we perform full wudu we`ll miss the namaz. can we perform tayammum instead then? or do we shorten the wudu by doing just the obligatory acts?

Jazakallah Khair 

(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:

No time for wudu

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 none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 6:

6 O ye who believe! When ye prepare for prayer wash your faces, and your hands (and arms) to the elbows, rub your heads (with water), and (wash) your feet to the ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity bathe your whole body. But if ye are ill or on a journey or one of you cometh from offices of nature or ye have been in contact with women and ye find no water then take for yourselves clean sand or earth and rub therewith your faces and hands. Allah doth not wish to place you in a difficulty but to make you clean and to complete His favor to you that ye may be grateful.

Being in the state of ‘wudu’ is an absolutely obligatory pre-condition for one to be able to offer their prayers. If one offers one’s prayers without being in the state of ‘wudu’, those prayers are unacceptable to Allah Subhanah.

If one perchance finds oneself in a situation where one is running desperately short of time for a prescribed prayer, so much so that they would miss their prayer time if they did the ‘wudu’…….then their only option is to first and foremost perform the ‘wudu’ first and then and only then offer the prayer. A prayer without ‘wudu’ is unacceptable, null and void.

‘Tayammum’ is only an option if one has absolutely no water to perform their ‘wudu’, or one is so severely ill that the touching of water will seriously harm their health. If one is merely running late for prayers and there is water available for their ‘wudu’, ‘tayammum’ is not an option….they must first perform their ‘wudu’ with water and only then offer their prayers.

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

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan