What Shall I Do If I Have Misgivings of Water Wetting My Hair Properly?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
For a few months, I’ve thought about the validity of my purity. I’m not sure if that is it waswasa or if it’s believed to be from an angel or a sign from Allah! How would I know that?
Please can you explain to me that it’s not about standard purity or wudu? It’s about my hair. I feel like I have done so many things to my hair, but what if the water isn’t touching my hair and my ritual purity is invalid? What can I do to make sure about it?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
Doubts and misgivings are complex issues to deal with. Still, Alhamdulillah, you have already begun dealing with the issue in two crucial ways: recognizing that there is a problem and seeking help and guidance.
I suggest you have someone near you to ensure you have done the required wiping of the hair; try to do the complete wiping to make sure more than one-fourth is wiped over.
Even if you were to do one-fourth, rest assured your fard is done. Don’t worry.
Remember, one does not have to wipe every hair of the head in wudu. One has to estimate one-fourth of the head to follow the obligation (fard) of wudu and to remove any doubts, follow the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), and leave it to that.
The obligation of wudu is to wipe a fourth of the head. The legal definition of wiping (mash’) is placing the wet hand onto the limb, or more specifically, wetness touching the area [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah; Ibn ‘Abidin]
The emphasized sunna of wiping the head is wiping the entire head once. [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]
I humbly advise you that when a person starts committing himself to the religion, shaytan plays on a person’s commitment in his matters of faith, purity, and prayer and incites him in every way. So, follow the sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), make constant du’as, and try to ignore the misgivings; this is often the best cure.
Also, try to perform all your fard prayers in congregation, ideally in a masjid, or with others when at work or when cannot make it to the masjid. This will bring about ease in Sha Allah.
May Allah (Most High) ease all of our affairs and save us from the trickery of the shaytan, Amin.
Check these answers as well:
A Reader on OCD and Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings) (seekersguidance.org
Prayer Reader: The Ultimate Guide To Prayer in Islam – SeekersGuidance
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on Seekersguidance?
SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org)
May Allah (Most High) give you ease and relief from the illness.
I pray this helps with your question.
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.
He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.
He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching 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 UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.
