A man who is unable to perform wudu' or tayammum: Is it obligatory to assist him and purify the limbs of his wudu'?
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Question:
This questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, there is a man who is unable to perform wudu' or tayammum for prayer. Is it required of anyone who knows his condition, whether or not they are related to him, to bring him water or earth, and to purify the limbs of his wudu' if the situation requires it?
Answer:
Yes, this is part of cooperating in righteousness and piety. It is incumbent upon any relative or other person who knows his condition to help him with wudu' and prayer. However, it is not obligatory; a person is not required to do this. But in the context of doing good and cooperating in righteousness and piety, one should hasten to do this.
As for the case where no one is available to help him, and the time for prayer enters and he fears it will end before someone comes to help him bring water, and he has no clean earth or anything with pure dust on it to perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) with, so that he is unable to perform either wudu' (the ablution for prayer) or tayammum, then he prays according to his condition, without wudu' and without tayammum, and he does not abandon the prayer. This is based on the saying of the Exalted and Majestic:[Al-Baqarah 2:238] along with His saying: [At-Taghabun 64:16] and His saying: [Al-Baqarah 2:286] and the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "When I command you to do something Sahih al-Bukhari 7288." Yes.
This questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, there is a man who is unable to perform wudu' or tayammum for prayer. Is it required of anyone who knows his condition, whether or not they are related to him, to bring him water or earth, and to purify the limbs of his wudu' if the situation requires it?
Answer:
Yes, this is part of cooperating in righteousness and piety. It is incumbent upon any relative or other person who knows his condition to help him with wudu' and prayer. However, it is not obligatory; a person is not required to do this. But in the context of doing good and cooperating in righteousness and piety, one should hasten to do this.
As for the case where no one is available to help him, and the time for prayer enters and he fears it will end before someone comes to help him bring water, and he has no clean earth or anything with pure dust on it to perform tayammum (dry ablution with clean earth) with, so that he is unable to perform either wudu' (the ablution for prayer) or tayammum, then he prays according to his condition, without wudu' and without tayammum, and he does not abandon the prayer. This is based on the saying of the Exalted and Majestic:
Maintain with care the [obligatory] prayers and [in particular] the middle prayer
حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ وَالصَّلَاةِ الْوُسْطَىٰSo fear Allah as much as you are able
فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْAllah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity
لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَاthen do of it as much as you can
فأتوا منه ما استطعتم
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، رجل عاجز لا يستطيع الوضوء ولا التيمم، هل يجب إعانته وتطهير أعضاء وضوئه؟ الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.