Can I Pray in a State of Ritual Impurity if There Is not enough Time To Perform a Ritual Bath?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: If one wakes up in a state of major ritual impurity and there is barely enough time to only make ablution and pray the Fajr prayer before sunrise, can one pray this obligatory prayer without performing Ghusl? Has this prayer to be repeated when one becomes ritually pure after the exit of Fajr’s time?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I pray that you are in the best of health and faith, insha’Allah.

No, it is not valid to pray without being in a state of ritual purification.

However, if there is not enough time to perform a bare-minimum ritual bath (ghusl) and prayer, then some scholars held that you could perform the dry ablution (tayammum) and pray.

This is actually the position of Imam Zufar who considered the dry ablution to be legislated for the prayer to be prayed within the time.

As such, Ibrahim al-Halabi and Ibn Amir Haj both mention in their respective commentaries on Munyat al-Musalli that it would be from caution to follow this position, and then to repeat the prayer with a renewed purification [= ghusl, in this case] after the time.

Nonetheless, it is also relevant to note that you should be able to have a quick bath and perform a minimum prayer in under two minutes. This is important as it is obligatory to start and finish the prayer within its respective time.

But even in such a case it would be proper to repeat your prayer after sunrise if you deliberately missed any necessary (wajib) actions.

See also: Leaving the Wajib (Necessary) When Prayer Time is About to Exit and: How to Make Dry Ablution (Tayammum)

And Allah alone gives success.

wassalam,

Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani