Are You Making the Most of Your Wuḍūʼ?

Is My Wudu Valid If I Had Food on My Face and Something in My Hair?


Hanafi Fiqh

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

When I had food on my face that was difficult to remove, I made wudu with it; was my wudu valid?

I also had something in my hair once; is my wudu still valid after that?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

I pray you are in good faith and health.

Your wudu is valid despite having food on your face and hair. Rest assured.

Wudu would not have been considered valid if it had acted as a barrier, preventing water from reaching the skin.

A necessary condition of validity is the absence of any solid barrier on the surface of the limb that would prevent the wetness from reaching the limb itself, such as paint, nail polish, etc. [’Ala’uddin Ibn ’Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-’Ala’iyya]

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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.