My esteemed Shaykh: This is my problem, and it is a matter concerning ritual purity.

The questioner : He says: My esteemed Shaykh: This is my problem, and it is a matter concerning ritual purity. It is that whenever I relieve myself, then perform the ablution for prayer, and finish the ablution, as soon as I move in any way—whether bending, sneezing, or sitting—I feel as if something has come out of me. I do not know if it is urine that remained, or if it is water from the effect of the ablution. By Allah, it is a great problem for me, Shaykh, and I fear that I will leave off the prayer because of it, because I feel that I am praying without ritual purity if what came out was urine. And if I repeat the ablution, that is a burden on me. I ask you to answer my problem, may Allah preserve you?

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
There is no problem except that its solution is in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), absolutely. Any problem that comes to a scholar, its solution is in the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger; some know it and some do not know it. But the legal ruling may be hidden from a person because he is limited in knowledge or limited in understanding. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was told about: the man who imagines that he finds something in the prayer, meaning: he imagines that he has broken his state of ritual purity. So he said (peace and blessings be upon him): That is: until he is certain with a certainty in which there is no doubt. If a person hears the sound of wind coming out of him, does he remain with doubt? No, do not wait. If he hears the sound of wind coming out of him, does he remain with doubt that it came out? No, he does not remain in doubt. If he smells wind and there is no one around him, it could be from him; does he remain in doubt or is he certain that he has broken his state of ritual purity? He is certain. So, as long as you, my brother, are not certain but you feel a coldness at the tip of the penis, you say: perhaps urine has come out. Do not make it urine that has come out; make it from the effect of the water you used for cleaning yourself. And this happens often. But some people make things difficult for themselves; they say: No, this is urine. Then they go and uncover their waist, and turn their penis, and perhaps they squeeze it so that it comes out and confirms their suspicion. This is a mistake, this is a mistake without doubt. If you feel this suspicion, say: I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. And do not turn it over and do not think about it. For this reason, the Imam of the people of the Sunnah, and one of the worshippers of Allah who are scrupulous and mindful of Allah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him), when he was asked about that, he said to him: "Turn away from that". "Turn away" means: divert yourself from it, leave it, do not pay attention to it so that you may be at ease. And some of the people of knowledge said: If you are afflicted with these suspicions, if you are afflicted with these suspicions, then sprinkle your trousers. Meaning: spray them with water so that when Shaytan comes to you and says to you: Urine has come out of you, this coldness is urine, this moisture is urine, you say to him: What is this? This is the water that I sprinkled. So these suspicions, my brother, beware, beware that they attach themselves to your mind! Shaytan, by Allah, is an enemy to you, as your Lord, Mighty and Majestic, said: What? And if you indulge in this with him, you will be exhausted. Have you not known that some people, because of these suspicions, stopped praying altogether? We ask Allah for health for him, for us, and for you. He stopped praying, he was unable, perhaps he cries, poor thing. And he shouts, but he is unable. May Allah not afflict us or you, and may He grant him health. So if you indulge, you will be exhausted. Have you not known that some people indulged in this matter and it spread to their families and their wives, so it became an illusion to him that he had divorced her, until some of them say to me: It becomes an illusion to me that when I open the Qur'an to read, I said to my wife: You are divorced. To this extent, all this is from a person indulging in these intrusive thoughts. Therefore, you must adopt two things to which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) guided, which are: seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, and stopping. Stop these whispers and seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, otherwise the matter will become dangerous. So I say to the brother: Do not worry, do not search, do not think, divert yourself from that, and continue, and pray. And by the permission of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, it will be removed from you, because you obeyed the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in his saying: Yes.