Can I Make Istinja in a Lavatory Without a Light?

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to what pleases Him. Amin.

If, through your cleaning method in the dark, you are relatively sure that you removed the filth and its traces (according to the detail below), it would be acceptable. Under usual circumstances, relative surety of cleanliness requires visual inspection (to see that purification was adequate). It would be valid as long as one meets the minimum requirements of istinja, and Allah knows best.

Istinja with a solid substance means removing the filth so that nothing remains but a trace that could not be removed without using water. When this has been done, any remaining effect of impurity is excusable. [Nawawi, al-Majmu‘]

Istinja means removing the traces of filth and then cause water to flow over the affected areas so that the filth’s colour, smell, and (theoretically) taste are removed. [ibid.]

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan. 

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.