Is It Permissible to Not Fast While at My Destination If I Intend to Stay There 6 Days? How Urinary Incontinence Should Be Dealt With Regarding Prayer? (Shafi’i School)

Answered by Shaykh Shuaib Ally

Question: Assalam alaykum,

1) I intend to travel to another country during Ramadan. I will reach my destination on the afternoon of the 12th of July and stay till the afternoon of the 18th of July (inshaAllah). Would I be permitted not to fast while at my destination?

2) I suffer from discharge of urine drops. For every prayer, I cleanse myself, wrap a tissue around my private part to prevent the filth from spreading and then take wudhu. Sometimes, the tissue comes off when I’m making wudhu. If I pray without the tissue on and some urine drops are discharged during prayer, is my prayer valid?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

In the Shafi’i school:

1) It would not be permissible for you to not fast while at your destination, because you intend to remain there for at least four days (not including the day you arrive and the day you leave), the period the school considers sufficient in not considering you a traveler. Not counting the day you arrive and the day you leave, your period of residence would be five days, the thirteenth to the seventeenth.

2) If the tissue comes off while performing wudu because one hasn’t put it on properly, leading to urine being discharged during prayer, the wudu and prayer would be invalid. Prior to performing wudu, a person with urinary incontinence would be required to wash their private parts, cover it, and reasonably ensure that it is held in place, such that impurities cannot unnecessarily spread to one’s clothing.

May Allah grant you health and well-being.

Source: al-Hawashi al-Madaniyyah

Shuaib Ally