Knowledge Every Muslim Should Know (Book One)

The Purification and Prayer of the Sick

THE PURIFICATION AND PRAYER OF THE SICK

How should the sick person purify himself and pray? I hope you will explain that in detail.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: purification of the sick person

1. The sick person has the same obligations as a healthy person with regard to purification with water from minor and major impurity, so he should do wudoo' in the case of minor impurity and ghusl in the case of major impurity.

2. Before doing wudoo', it is essential to clean oneself with water (istinja') or with stones or whatever takes their place, after urinating or defecating.

When cleaning oneself with stones, it is essential to use three clean stones. It is not permissible to clean oneself with dung, bones or food, or anything that is respectable. The best is to clean oneself with stones and the like, such as tissue and so on, then to follow that with water, because the stones remove the impurity itself and the water purifies the place, so that is best.

One has the choice between cleaning oneself with water or with stones and the like. If he wants to limit it to just one of the two, then water is better, because it purifies the place and it removes the impurity itself and its traces, so it is more effective in cleaning. If he limits himself to stones, then three stones are sufficient if the place becomes clean after that; if that is not sufficient then he may add a fourth or a fifth, until he has cleaned the place, but it is better to stick to an odd number.

It is not permissible to clean oneself with the right hand, but if the left-hand is cut off, or it is broken or diseased and the like, then he may clean himself with his right hand on the basis of necessity, and there is nothing wrong with that.

3. If the sick person cannot do wudoo' with water because he is unable to, or because he is afraid that it will make his sickness worse or delay his recovery, then he should do tayammum. Tayammum means striking his hands on pure dust once, then wiping his face with the inside of his fingers and palms.

It is permissible to do tayammum using anything pure on which there is dust, even if it is not the ground, such as if the dust can fly off a wall or the like, it is permissible to use it for tayammum. If he remains in a state of purity from the first tayammum, he may pray with it, as is the case with wudoo', even if that is several prayers, and he does not have to renew his tayammum, because it is an alternative to water, and the alternative comes under the same ruling as the thing it replaces.

Tayammum is invalidated by everything which invalidates wudoo', and it becomes invalidated as soon as one becomes able to use water or water becomes available, if it was not available.

4. If the sickness is minor, and there is no fear that using water will cause harm or cause severe sickness or delay recovery or increase the pain or cause anything harmful, such as headaches, toothache and the like, or the patient can use warm water and will not be harmed by it -- in these cases it is not permissible to do tayammum, because it is permitted in order to ward off harm, but there is no harm in these cases, and because he can find water, so he is obliged to use it.

5. If it is too difficult for the sick person to do wudoo' or tayammum himself, someone else should do wudoo' or tayammum for him, and that is acceptable.

6. If a person has wounds or ulcers or broken limbs or any sickness in which using water would harm him, and he becomes junub, it is permissible for him to do tayammum. If he is able to wash the sound parts of his body, he must do that and do tayammum for the rest.

7. If a person has a wound in one of the parts of the body that are washed during wudoo', if washing it with water is too difficult for him or will harm him, he may wipe it with water instead of washing the injured part, according to the normal sequence of wudoo'. If it is too difficult for him to wipe it or if doing so will harm him, he may do tayammum for it, and that is acceptable.