Is Wudu Valid If Someone Has a Piece of Haram Food Stuck in Their Braces?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Does wudu remain valid if a person has braces and unknowingly retains a tiny piece of pork in their mouth despite rinsing thoroughly? Would prayers performed before discovering it need to be repeated?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Braces

Even though braces prevent water from reaching the teeth, scholars have deemed the ritual bath of the one wearing braces valid. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Additionally, the validity of wudu would share the same ruling, if one washed out their mouth. The wudu is still valid if one did not wash out their mouth. [Ibid.]

Pork: Impure and Prohibited

The pig, its flesh, and all parts of its body are considered the worst impurity type (al-najasa al-ghalidha). Eating pork is a major sin and causes one’s mouth to be impure. [Maydani, al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab]

If one rinses out their mouth and a piece of pork remains in their teeth, the mouth remains physically and ritually impure and the washing is not considered valid. [Ibid.]

If this occurred during a ritual bath, the ritual bath would be incomplete. If one performs a prayer after this, the prayer is invalid as the mouth being impure exceeds the excused amount of impurity on the body. [Ibid.]

Once the piece of pork is successfully removed from the teeth and the mouth is washed, it will be pure once again.

Moving Forward

Unless this occurred accidentally, I sincerely advise you to abandon eating pork and repent for having done so. Impermissible food is one of the major causes for people to become distanced from Allah, for them to lose any spiritual state they once had, and for people to fall into other major sins.

The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “One whose body is nourished with the forbidden will not enter Paradise.” [Bayhaqi]

Any prayers performed after rinsing the mouth with that piece of pork stuck in your teeth would need to be repeated.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat 

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.

He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.

In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.