Could Tears or Crying Break My Wudu?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
I read online that tears due to infection are impure and wudu needs to be repeated however if I have an eye infection and my tears come out but it is because I yawned are the tears impure or is it just when it is released because of the infection.
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
I pray this finds you in the best of states.
Any liquid that flows from infected eyes invalidates wudu even if it is merely teardrops.
The sign of this is that the exiting is usually accompanied by pain. [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
The reason for this ruling is that tears flowing from infected eyes are filthy and any filth that leaves the body while flowing breaks wudu.
Hanafi scholars deduced this ruling from the following Hadith:
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings upon him) said: “Wudu is obligatory after any type of bleeding.” [Daraqutni; Ibn ‘Adi, al-Kamil; Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]
Normal tears are not filthy or impure, and they do not invalidate your ablution (wudu). [Samarqandi, Tuhfat al-Fuqaha]
Please see:
Are Tears from an Infection Impure?
And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found.
Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.
He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others.
He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.
