Is It Valid to Clean My Private Parts by Wiping with Dry Tissue and Then Wet Tissue?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

Is my istinja (washing after relieving oneself) valid if I wipe three times or more with toilet paper, and then used wet toilet paper? Can I use wetted tissue with water or do I have to pour water after the wiping?

Answer

Thank you for your question.

It says in the Reliance of the Traveller,

Stones suffice to clean oneself, though it is best to follow this by washing with water. Anything can take the place of stones that is solid, pure, removes the filth, is not something that deserves respect or is worthy of veneration, nor something that is edible (or these being five conditions for the validity of using stones (or something else) to clean oneself of filth without having to follow it by washing with water). But it is obligatory to wash oneself with water if:

1. one has washed away the filth with a liquid other than water, or with something
   impure;
2. one has become soiled with filth from a separate source;
3. one’s waste has moved from where it exited (n: reaching another part of one’s person) or has dried; or
4. if feces spread beyond the inner buttocks (N: meaning that which is enfolded when standing), or urine moved beyond the head of the penis, though if they do not pass beyond them, stones suffice.

It is obligatory (when cleaning oneself with a dry substance alone) to both remove the filth, and to wipe three times, even when once is enough to clean it, doing this either with three pieces (lit: “stones”) or three sides of one piece. If three times does not remove it, it is obligatory to (repeat it enough to) clean it away (or as that is the point of cleaning oneself. Nawawi says in al-Majmu’ that cleaning oneself (with a dry substance) means to remove the filth so that nothing remains but a trace that could not be removed unless one were to use water) (and when this has been done, any remaining effects of filth that could have only been removed with water are excusable).

An odd number of strokes is recommended. One should wipe from front to back on the right side with the first piece, similarly, wipe the left with the second, and wipe both sides and the anus with the third. Each stroke must begin at a point on the skin that is free of impurity.

Wiping with Wet Tissue

In our school, wiping with wet tissue does not purify filth, rather it spreads it. I have heard that some use a soaking, wet tissue as a means of holding water, so they squeeze the water out of it to wash after the wiping. This method would be valid.

Please see these links as well:
How Does One Clean the Filth (Najasa) After Defecating Using Only Water?
How to Deal With Waswas Regarding Purity According to the Shafi’i School?

May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.