How to Clean after Urinating and Emptying the Bowels?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

As a woman, almost every time I urinate, the pee runs along my butt or inner thigh and then falls into the pot. This used to lead me to clean repeatedly, and I would count the times I cleaned. Someone told me that for a woman, I only need to use my hands to clean the area where the urine comes out of and wherever it goes. I could just spray the Muslim shower in that area and get up. Is that true?

Also, I always feel like splashes of pee come on my face whenever I use the toilet and try to wash myself. And when I use my hands to clean after pooping, my arm gets wet, so I also wash that with soap.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

When a person empties, his/her bladder and bowels is an experience that can differ. However, as a general rule, it should take little time; one only needs to wash the private area. In your case, as you mentioned, wash the area where the urine spread, use a Muslim shower, and get up. You should continue to wash your hands after you empty your bowels.

Pouring water during rubbing and drying should take a minute or two, especially for females. The same is with wudu. So urinating, washing, and performing wudu should take five minutes. Please keep working on this until it is down to the desired timing. Also, consult and take advice from other religious people’s habits.

A woman needs to wait for a little after urinating, and that’s it. After that, she performs Istinja, if required, fulfilling the same requirements as a man. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

I pray that this situation improves for you and that you stop over-cleaning and washing yourself.

Related:

• How Should One Properly Do Istinja and Wudu?
• How Can Women Clean Themselves after Urine in Public Places?
• A Reader on Ritual Purity, Urine Leakage and Misgivings.
• Devil’s Tricks – The Path of Muhammad: Birgivi’s Manual of Taqwa Explained. [Video]
• Key Principles Relating to Certainty, Doubt, and Baseless Misgivings (Waswasa)

You can search for more related answers on SeekersGuidance Answers.

Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersGuidance?

I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.