He says: I visited one of the Islamic countries, and I was greatly impressed by the people’s eagerness to attend the five daily prayers at their appointed times in congregation. However, something caught my attention regarding the process of relieving oneself.

The questioner : He says: I visited one of the Islamic countries, and I was greatly impressed by the people’s eagerness to attend the five daily prayers at their appointed times in congregation. However, something caught my attention regarding the process of relieving oneself. There are restrooms next to every mosque, but people relieve themselves standing up, even though there are regular, proper restrooms available. Yet most of the people in that country do not use anything but those where they relieve themselves standing up. What upset me even more is that I see them, immediately after relieving themselves, proceed to perform wudu without performing istinja, out of ignorance and under the assumption that istinja is only required for feces. I ask that you direct advice to these people and guide them to the obligation of purifying themselves before beginning wudu for prayer?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for what follows, we thank the brother questioner for his concern for the condition of the Muslims, for whoever cares about the affairs of the Muslims, that is evidence of his love and compassion for them. As for what those brothers are doing, the fact that they urinate while standing is not a problem, for urinating while standing is permissible with two conditions: first, that one is safe from being soiled by urine, and second, that one is safe from looking at one’s awrah. As for the fact that these brothers do not perform istinja from urine, but the person among them leaves without purifying himself, neither by istinja nor by istijmar, this is a great error on their part, and it is a cause of punishment and torment in the grave. This is based on what is established in the two Sahihs from the hadith of Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his brother) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by two graves and said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) made it clear that these two men are being tormented in their graves for two reasons. The first reason is not purifying oneself from urine, which applies to the situation of these people. Then, many of the scholars say that wudu is not valid unless istinja or the prescribed istijmar is completed. Accordingly, these people have prayed without valid wudu. And whoever prays without valid wudu, his prayer is not valid and is not accepted from him, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): So I direct advice to these brothers to fear Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and to purify themselves from urine and ensure they are clean from it, and to perform istinja after urinating with water, or to perform istijmar with permissible things, meaning from what is permissible for istijmar, by wiping the place three times or more in a way that cleanses it. For the prescribed istijmar that fulfills the conditions is sufficient in place of istinja with water.

The questioner : This is a message from the sister questioner, Umm Khalid, from Dammam, who sent it.