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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The ruling on doubt regarding ritual impurity during prayer

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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, a questioner says: During prayer or while reciting the Qur'an, I feel the urge to pass gas, but I hold it in. At that point, I feel a very slight amount of gas coming out, so I doubt whether I have broken my state of purity or not, and I leave the prayer or stop reciting the Qur'an. I note that this only happens to me when I have the urge to pass gas. What should I do, and what is the ruling in this case?

Answer:
First, do not enter into prayer until you have relieved yourself of these matters: urination, defecation, and passing gas. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
No Salat (prayer) should be performed when the food has been served, nor should it be performed when aلا صلاة بحضرة طعام ولا وهو يدافعه
Riyad as-Salihin 1753
or while he is being pressed by the two worst things, namely urine and feces. So, relieve yourself of these things before you enter into prayer. Relieve yourself of them, perform wudu', and enter into prayer. However, if you have entered into prayer, or if you are in a state of certainty regarding your purity, then purity is not removed by doubt, and you do not leave the prayer due to doubt. Rather, you build upon certainty. This is governed by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): If
any one of you has pain in his abdomen, but is doubtful whether or not anything has issued from himوجد أحدكم في بطنه شيئا فأشكل عليه أخرج منه شيء أو لا
Sahih Muslim 362
? Do not leave until he hears a sound or finds gas. If you find actual gas, which is not a doubt, then leave. But mere doubt does not invalidate the wudu' and does not invalidate the prayer. Build upon certainty.

The presenter:
May Allah reward you
Source 75-اللقاء الأسبوعي مع الشيخ صالح الفوزان - 16 — archive.org (57:28)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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