Is Ghusl Valid if Wax With Impurity Blocks the Skin?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

If wax with impurity remained on my skin during ghusl, is my purification valid, and do I need to purify items I touched afterward?

Answer

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

In summary, if the wax prevents water from reaching the skin, you must remove it before the ghusl. As for the past case, you may choose to follow the view that holds such a ghusl to be valid. As for anything you touched, that item remains pure unless there was clear moisture facilitating the transfer of impurity.

Impermeable Barriers

If the wax formed an impermeable barrier that prevented water from reaching the skin, then the ghusl would not be valid according to the official view in the Shafi‘I School. One of the essential conditions of ghusl is that water must reach the entire body surface. Any substance that blocks water, like thick wax, must be removed beforehand for the ghusl to be sound. [Shirbini, Mughni al-Muhtaj]

Alternative View

According to a view held by Ghazali, Juwayni, and Qaffal (Allah have mercy on them), if the residue which accumulates underneath the nails prevents the water from reaching the skin thereunder, the ablution or purificatory bath would nonetheless be valid. This view may be easier to assume for those who need it because of the difficulty involved in rectifying past actions. Constrained circumstances bring about ease or dispensations in the Sacred Law (al-mashaqqa tajlib al-taysir), and Allah knows best. [ʿAbd al-Rahman Ibn Muhammad Ibn Husayn al-Mashhur, Bughya al-Mustarshidin]

Please consult this related answer.

Spreading Impurity

Regarding the impurity, it’s important to note that impurity (najasa) only transfers through moisture. If the wax itself contained impurity, it would indeed be impure. However, such impurity would only transfer to other surfaces or items if direct contact and moisture were present, whether from the body or the surface it touched. Dry contact, or contact without any visible trace of wetness, does not transmit impurity.

Please consult this related answer.

And Allah knows best.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar Shaykh Taha Karaan (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town. He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.