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:

Assalam walaykum, I wanted to know that if there is any logical reason behind invalidation of ablution after hadath(blowing of wind). to explain this to a non-muslim we need some scientific reason. Please help. 

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Answer:

Why wudu breaks after breaking wind

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.

When one intends to visit a seemingly important person in the life of this world, even if that person is merely a Managing Director of a company, or a mere Ambassador of a country, or even a Ruler, King, of President of a Country….it is only natural etiquette that one would make oneself as presentable as one possibly can, applying perfume, grooming one’s hair, or wearing one’s cleanest or finest clothes and shoes.

How much more should one strive when one intends to visit a Sacred House of, or stand in ‘audience’ of, The Lord Most Exalted, Most Supreme, The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth??? When one stands up in prayer, one effectively is in ‘audience’ with the Unseen Lord, Most Majestic, Most Exalted.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraaf verse 31:

31 O children of Adam! Wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter5 Surah Maidah verse 6:

O you who have believed! When you rise to offer the Salat, you must wash your faces and hands and your arms up to the elbows, and wipe your hands with wet hands and wash your feet up to the ankles. And if you become unclean, cleanse yourself with a full bath. If, however, you have ‘touched’ women and you can find no water, then cleanse yourselves with pure dust. Strike your palms on it and wipe your hands and faces with it. Allah does not will to make life hard for you, but He wills to purify you, and complete His blessings upon you so that you may show gratitude.

When one intends to stand in ‘audience’ of the Lord Most Supreme in Prayer, the etiquette demanded by Shariah is that one wear one’s beautiful apparel, and one cleanse and purify oneself before doing so.

The place where one ‘breaks wind’ or ‘hadath’ is an area of the body which is dedicated to the release of the impure and unclean waste of man. More often than not, the ‘hadath’ makes a detestable sound and/or smell which is repugnant, loathsome, and abhorrent to one’s fellow man.

If one blows or breaks wind from one’s nose or mouth it does not invalidate the state of purity of ‘wudu’, but if one breaks wind from the anus, indeed such an act would invalidate one’s state of purity. Had Allah Subhanah Willed, He could very well have declared that to be eligible to stand in ‘audience’ unto Him in prayer, one needs to purify oneself with a full bath after one has ‘broken wind’ or ‘hadath’….but it is nothing but the Mercy and the Grace of the Lord that He Declared that the mere washing of a few parts of the body after one has answered the call of nature and/or broken wind would suffice to purify oneself and make them eligible to stand in ‘audience’ unto Him in prayer.

Praise be to Allah Who has made the practice of the deen easy unto His worshippers.

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