How Do Pray With Chronic Nosebleeds?

Answered by Ustadha Shaista Maqbool

Question: I was performing wudu for isha prayers when my nose started bleeding heavily, so I stopped and waited until it stopped bleeding. Please tell me what one should do in a situation like this. My nose often bleeds due to allergy and the doctor told me to lie down and wait until it stops and then continue whatever I was doing.

Answer: Wa’alaikum assalaam warahmatu Allah,

In the Hanafi school, a nose bleed will break and prevent one from doing wudu. So what you did was correct, you have to wait until the bleeding stops in order to make wudu.

If your nose bleeds when you during wudu when you are washing it, when you have this problem, you can simply leave washing inside your nose since that is from the sunnah of wudu and your wudu will still be valid without it. (Note that you need to wash your nose enough to ensure that there is not so much blood left in your nostrils that would cover more than the size of a half dollar as this would prevent the validity of prayer.)

If your nose does not stop bleeding until the next prayer time has come close, you would do wudu and pray the current prayer so as not to delay it from its time. If your nose bleed continues throughout the second prayer’s time as well, then you have the ruling of m’adhur, or one who is excused, and you only do wudu every time the prayer enters. If the bleeding stops before the second prayer’s time is over, then you must repeat the previous prayer with the valid wudu.

Please search SeekersGuidance answers for more on the ruling of the ma’dhur.

Wasalaam,

Shaista Maqbool

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani

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