Am I Allowed to Swallow My Saliva When There Is Blood in It?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam alaykum

I have been seeing white/yellow substances in my saliva ever since the bleeding in my wound stopped. Am I allowed to swallow my saliva? If my saliva is impure, how do I purify everything?

Have all my prayer been invalid if I have been swallowing this saliva?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

No, assuming no blood was flowing, your prayers were valid because swallowing blood doesn’t affect the validity of your ritual ablution (wudu).

If the colour of the blood preponderates over the colour of your normal saliva, your wudu would be invalidated. If this persists for lengthy periods, you may be able to consider yourself excused at times, but only if the conditions are met. [see: The Fiqh of Chronic Excuses and Ablution]

Ignore misgivings.

Please also see: A Reader on Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings) and: Could You Please List All the Nullifiers of Ablution According to the Hanafi school?

And Allah Most High alone knows best.

wassalam,

[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.