What Does One Do, If One Doubts Whether They Passed Wind in the Prayer?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
I wanted to ask that at the time of one prayer, I felt gas movement in my passage but couldn’t tell whether it came out. Also, I felt some pressure once but couldn’t tell if gas came out, so I continued. Was it correct? Will a person be sinful if he was very confused and really didn’t know if gas passed and continued the prayer even if gas passed?
Also, if someone has gas problems and gas passes only once or twice or, in fact, just once during the prayer, but the person continues thinking it is his problem and completes the prayer, and after completing the prayer, the gas starts passing continuously. Is it fine?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
The mere thought or doubt that one may have passed wind does not affect the validity of the ablution (wudu). One should only consider their wudu invalid if they are sure that they passed wind. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]
If this occurs during that prayer and they are certain that they passed wind (or reasonably sure), they must immediately stop praying and repeat their ablution. If there is mere conjecture, they ignore the thought and continue the prayer. [Ibid.]
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
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.
