A doctor touching a patient's private parts invalidates the ablution

Q: What is your opinion, Your Eminence, on the fact that a doctor's work sometimes requires seeing or touching a patient's private parts for examination, and sometimes, during surgeries, the surgeon works in an environment filled with blood and urine? Is it obligatory to renew the ablution in these cases, or is it merely a matter of preference?


A: There is no harm in a doctor touching a man's private parts out of necessity and looking at them for treatment, whether the private part is the rear or the front. He is permitted to look and touch out of necessity and dire necessity. There is no harm in touching blood if there is a need to touch it in a wound to remove it or to determine the condition of the wound, and he should wash his hands afterwards of what has affected them. The ablution is not invalidated by touching blood or urine. However, if he touches the private part, his ablution is invalidated, whether it is the front or the rear. As for touching blood, urine, or other impurities, the ablution is not invalidated, but he should wash what has affected him. However, if one touches the private part without a barrier—meaning, flesh touching flesh—his ablution is invalidated; based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): .
Likewise, if a female doctor touches a woman's private part out of necessity, her ablution is invalidated by that if she was in a state of purity, just as with a man.