Chronic Passing of Small Amounts of Gas

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: My question is regarding the chronic passing of very small amounts of gas – making it difficult to keep wudu during salah, or reciting Quran. I may be able to quickly complete fard (albiet, with great anxiety and worry that my wudu will break any second), – but during sunnah or nafl – my wudu breaks – This has been causing great hardship for me. Although it doesn’t happen 100% of the time, it happens often enough that much of the time I have difficulty concentrating and enjoying my salah or Quran recitation. My condition does not seem to fall in the “exempted” category, but yet, I feel it is so very hard, that it can be discouraging at times.

Answer: Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I pray that you are well, insha’Allah.

We have a legal principle: Certainty is not lifted by doubt. The believer is decisive. Many a time, it “feels” like gas exited, but in reality nothing happened. It was just an uncomfortable sensation.

Thus, unless you hear or smell something, or are absolutely certain that something exited, assume nothing happened. If you are unsure, you ablution (wudu) is unaffected. Such doubts and misgivings are to be ignored.

Ask Allah to give you sweetness in your prayer, whilst striving wholeheartedly to uphold the Prophetic sunnas during the ablution (wudu) and the prayer itself. ‘If My slaves ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me.’ [Qur’an, 2:185]

And Allah alone gives success.

Wassalam,

Tabraze Azam

Checked & Approved by Faraz A. Khan