Is One Rinse Enough to Remove Blood From a Bleeding Mouth?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
If blood from bleeding gums turns the saliva mostly red, whether during wudhu, after brushing, or while fasting, is a single spit or one mouth rinse sufficient to purify the mouth, allowing wudu to continue or the fast to remain valid?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
If blood is flowing from the mouth due to bleeding gums or other causes, the mouth becomes impure. It can be purified by any flowing pure liquid, which in the Hanafi school would include saliva as well as water.
Method of Purifying the Mouth
Once the bleeding in your mouth stops, you can collect saliva, move it around, and spit it out until the saliva is free of blood. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]
Additionally, after the bleeding stops, rinse your mouth with water and spit it out. This, too, will purify your mouth. [Ibid.]
The latter method is preferred due to differences of opinion among other schools of thought regarding removing impurities other than water. [Ibid.]
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he went on to study at Darul Uloom Seminary in New York and completed his studies at Darul Mustafa in Tarim, Yemen.
There, he completed the memorization of the Quran and his study of Islamic Sciences. Throughout his years of study, he was blessed to learn from many great scholars: Habib Umar bin Hafiz, Habib Kazhim al-Saqqaf, Shaykh ‘Umar bin Husayn al-Khatib, and others.
Upon returning, he joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
