Nosebleed During Ghusl

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: I understand a nose bleed invalidates wudu however what is the ruling if you notice blood in your nose when you are blowing water out of your nose in ghusl. My nose is sensitive due to excessively blowing water out. Do I need to wait for it to heal so my nose does not bleed when I blow water out, to complete my ghusl or can I carry on as normal.

The blood is not a huge amount I’m not sure if it is flowing blood. I noticed a tiny bit on the tip of my nose (it was like a few dots of water coloured red) come out when I blowed water out then used a tissue to check and the back of my nose was bleeding a bit. Does the fact that the blood coloured the water matter (it didn’t cover all the water).

Answer: assalamu `alaykum

Blood only breaks ablution when it (a) exits the body and (b) flows beyond the point of exit. Otherwise, it will not nullify one’s ablution. [Ibn `Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

As for nosebleeds, if you are unsure whether the blood flowed from a wound present in the nose, or down from the head, your ablution would not be considered nullified. As such, you should ignore it and continue to perform your ghusl.

You are not required to constantly check to see whether there is blood at the back of your nose, particularly if you are unsure as to whether it is even flowing. Doing so will inevitably lead to baseless misgivings, which must be avoided.

Salman

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani