What Should I Do About Left Over Drops Of Urine?

Answered by Salman Younas

Question: I experience alot of problems in using alot of excessive tissue paper during the toilet to help make sure that no remaining urine has remained. By using water only I feel it is very difficult to discern whether any remainig drops after washing  from one’s private orifice is either urine or just water? So using tissue paper helps. However, the problem seems to emerge where there is a constant amount of urine left despite having followed the Istinja and squeezing one’s private parts to make certain if any urine remains. Your advice and guidance on the issue would be much appreciated.

Answer:

salamu `alayukum

I pray you are well and in the best of health.

The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) stated in a rigorously authenticated hadith, as narrated by Bukhari, that, “the religion is ease and none shall make the religion hard except that it will defeat him. So, be moderate, do the best you can…” The opposite of moderation is excessiveness, and excessiveness often arises out of neglect of the prophetic sunna, either due to one’s unawareness of it or not understanding and sufficing with its application.

The rulings related to istinja’ are straightforward. It is a confirmed sunna that is validly carried out with tissue paper, water, or a combination of both. The scholars mention that the optimal way to perform istinja’ is to first limit the filth by way of wiping and then following it with washing. (Nur al-Idah, pg: 28 ed. Qadimi Kutub Khana)

Generally speaking, if one performs the above, he can safely ignore any doubts about the difficulty in discerning whether any remaining drops of water are urine. One can simply assume with a high level of certainty that what remains on one’s private parts is water, unless there are absolutely clear signs of the continual exiting of urine such as clearly discernable color. If one merely has doubts that the water may be mixed with urine then these should be ignored.

However, if one’s residual urine exits slowly from the private parts, namely the exiting of clearly discernable urine drops after one washes himself, one should employ certain additional steps, as outlined by `Ala al-Din ibn `Abidin (Hadiyyah al-Ala’iiyyah, pg: 44 ed. Dar ibn Hazm):

a.    He should squeeze and slightly twist his private part, in a manner not leading to harm, and
b.    He should insert something in the entrance of his private part, slightly, to absorb any remaining drops.

If one continues to have doubts he should simply sprinkle his clothes and private parts with water and assume that any moisture he sees is the water.

Thus, to summarize, you should take the following steps:

a.    After using the toilet, wait a few moments to make sure all remaining drops exit,
b.    Squeeze and slightly twist the private part,
c.    Wipe the private part with toilet paper,
d.    Wash the private part with water three or so times, as mentioned in the Maraqi al-Falah, and
e.    Sprinkle water onto your clothes and private parts.

After this, any doubts of urine being admixed with the water can be and should be ignored.

In the end, it should be noted that acting on one’s doubts is sinful as is excessive wastefulness. Both should be avoided. One should suffice with the sunna method of removing filth on the private parts. This was the way of the salaf, a way of moderation and following the sunna.

And Allah knows best

Wasalam
Salman

Checked & Approved by Faraz Rabbani