Is My Wudu Invalid If I Think I May Have Passed Wind?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

I regularly get air bubbles at the back passage while in salaat or performing wudu. Sometimes there is no feeling of these escaping, just that they are near the anus, so I know the wudu is not broken in this circumstance.

However, at other times I feel these tiny air bubbles moving around the back passage and the feeling of it coming out. It’s not like average wind, where sound, smell, and pressure come out. This happens automatically without any pressure, sound, or smell, and I am not sure if this breaks my wudu.

I try to ignore it and carry on, but I’m not sure if this is correct or if I should repeat wudu. It happens regularly, so I try to ignore and treat it as waswasa, but the feeling of not wind but more like bubbles passing and popping is there.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

The feelings that you described do not invalidate your wudu. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

Matters of Purity Are Not Based on Conjecture

A mere feeling or the possibility of wind exiting is insufficient to establish that the wudu is broken. Never act on these types of thoughts and feelings.

You were right to ignore them, and you should not second-guess yourself.

Act accordingly if you are reasonably sure or confident that something came out. Allah Most High has not made us responsible for any more than that.

The Extent of Our Responsibility

Allah Most High has only made us responsible to the extent of our ability.

He says, “Allah does not burden any soul with more than it can bear…” [Quran, 2:286]

Allah Most High also says, “Strive hard for God as is His due: He has chosen you and placed no hardship upon you in your religion…” [Quran, 22:78]

Shaytan’s Plot

Misgivings (waswasa) are a weapon of Shaytan. Many people fall victim to them, thinking themselves to have caution and carefulness in the religion. This is a false caution and can harm one’s religion.

True Caution

True caution is to follow the Sunna of the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace), which is impossible without knowledge of the religion. [Birgivi, al-Tariqa al-Muhammadiyya]

Advices

I would advise you to take an introductory course in the rulings of worship. Consider the courses offered by seekers.flywheelstaging.com. After that, ignore anything that you are not reasonably sure of or certain about, and don’t look back. Allah Most High is merciful. He is not a tyrant waiting to punish you.

Check out this reader as well:
A Reader on OCD and Waswasa

May Allah bless you

Hope this helps
Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.