Muhammad West – Wudu Hacks to Make Life Easier
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My beloved brothers and sisters, Assalamu alaykum Warahmatullahi
wa barakatu.
We begin by praising
Allah. We testify that he is not worthy
of worship besides Allah,
and we send our love, our greeting, our
salutations to beloved Nabi Muhammad
to his pious and his pure family, to
his companions, and all those who follow his
sunnah till the end of time. May Allah
bless us to be amongst them. Ameen, walhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
Today, Insha'Allah,
is
a Jummah that might another Jummah that might
get me
crucified
or executed,
but Insha'Allah
I wanna share, I mean, how many of
you have experienced this now in the in
this wintertime?
I'm I'm I'm not going to the toilet
because I wanna keep my wudu
because if I it's too cold to take
wudu again.
Or some of you that says, no. I
I can't. I don't break my. Don't hug
me. Don't kiss me. Don't break my. I
wanna keep my.
And so, yes, it's
cold. And,
it's it's it's difficult taking in the cold.
That
haven't been invented yet.
And,
what we must realize, the Sharia,
our the Sharia is sacred. We don't play
with the Sharia. We obey the Sharia. We
follow the Sharia. But the Sharia was not
meant to be an inconvenience.
It's not a set of rules to make
your life difficult. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does
not make things haram or halal simply to
make an imposition on us. It is for
our benefit.
And we know in many, many cases and
for those who went on Hajj or learned
about Hajj, you see that in times of
difficulty, in times
of inconvenience, the
showed where the Sharia makes concessions.
When you travel, the salah is made short.
The salah of all things is made short,
and you're traveling for a holiday for enjoyment.
Make it short. And al Islam always made
short salah when you're traveling. If it's a
day of fasting,
Ramadan fasting, you're traveling, you're having fun, you
don't have to fast. You make the day
up.
So within Islam, there are many, many
concessions. These are not shortcuts or things that
we break the Sharia. It is from Allah
and the Rasool Salam. And so today, I'd
like to share 3 wudu hacks, 3 things
with regards to wudu that will make your
life easier. If you feel that this is
not for you, well, and you continue,
without you don't want the concession. Remember, the
concession is a gift from Allah. You may
take it or you may not take it.
It's up to you. No one forces you.
Allah says in the Quran, you read Allah,
you read Allah, you read Allah, you read
Allah says, indeed, I want for you ease
in your sharia. And I don't want to
put make it a burden or a hardship
on you. The premises
is one of ease. Of course, side note
here. Just because something is difficult for you
doesn't make it halal.
Allah, it is so difficult for me to
fast the entire day. I'm gonna my fast
half day.
Yeah, Allah. It's so difficult for me not
to not to,
drink hamar. So I'm gonna Allah wants ease
for me so I drink hamar. No. What
is haram is haram. We can't change that.
We don't break the rules.
Aisha radiAllahu anha said to us, and this
is the methodology of gonna be Islam, whenever
the Prophet of Allah was given the choice
of 2 matters, whenever he had to make
a choice, a ruling, he would always choose
the easier one.
He would always choose the more lenient one,
the one that is simple.
And he would choose the easier of the
2 as long as it is what sinful,
as long as it wasn't haram. And if
there was sin in that, then he would
not even consider it. There is another option.
Remember, these are 2 valid options.
And so subhanallah the Nabi sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam, you would find in his advice to
the Sahaba, choose the easy way to get
to Jannah.
Choose a deed that is simple that gives
you maximum rewards.
Don't burden yourself.
Once the Nabi Sultan
saw his wife, mother Jawairi, she was sitting
off the fajr until door making salah
or making dua the whole morning. And he
said, were you sitting like this the whole
morning? And she said, yes. So he said,
let me teach you a simple that
if you say it, it gives you the
same reward.
Why would you want to sit the whole
morning?
By doing an easier deed, you get the
maximum reward. That's better. And so the Nabi's,
encouraged shortcuts to get to Jannah. In this
hadith, the next hadith, very explicitly, the Nabi
says religion is a very easy thing.
The deen was not meant to be a
complicated
burden on mankind.
That's not Allah's objective. And it's sad that
we see Islam like that. It's sad that
our kids grow up thinking that Islam is
a list of do's and don'ts, trying to
catch you. Allah is like a policeman, and
you have to do everything particularly correct. Otherwise,
you go to Jannah. That's not what Islam
is. Is. Religion is a very easy thing.
And whoever overburdens himself in his religion, you
make your religion difficult on you, you will
not be able to continue in that way.
Eventually,
you will break.
So then the rabbi says, so you should
not be extremists in your religion,
but do the best you can. But do
your the best you can. Don't overburden yourself,
but always encourage yourself to do more good.
And then receive the good tidings that you
will be rewarded based on your, basically, your
your effort. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does look
at the results, how many rakas you've made,
how many hours of tajjud you made, but
the sincerity Allah will reward you on that.
And then the rabies will gain strength by
worshiping in the mornings and afternoons,
meaning
the special times of Ibadah, take that for
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. In the mornings, Fajr,
and in the afternoon, Surah Al Asr, and
in the last hours of the, of the
night, this is for those who are very
special in tajjud, you will get extra strength
and extra,
ability.
So now
we're gonna talk, but this is all intro
to show that our religion is easy, and
we're there are concessions.
We will talk about 3 concessions that will
make life easier. Of course, the natural question
comes up, where does this come from and
who's mad hub?
Does my mad hub yes. Islam says that,
but does my madhab, my version of Islam,
said that? Remember,
this all form of the are premised on
the same basic,
the basic foundations is the Quran and the
Sunnah. If it comes from Allah and if
it comes from the Nabi sallallahu alayhi wasalam,
then they all have the same methodology.
But even the great I mean, the greatest
of scholars, even Sahaba
confronted with the same information, the same Quran
came up with different conclusions
sincerely,
not without any any fighting or any,
dis
it's natural
academic disagreement.
And so
for those of us, what is the position
you're as a layperson,
most of us here are laypeople,
you're not trained
professionally as an,
so then you stick to your Madhub.
Madhub is like a doctor. You do not
go to Google and diagnose yourself if you
never studied medicine.
You go to your GP who knows you
or you've dealt with your whole life, and
he tells you, just take these 3 Panados.
You don't have to diagnose yourself. You
and you listen. Yes. You can obviously ask
him, but stick to your your GP. Stick
to what you know. Stick to the mechanic
that you always meet. Don't you pit in
with the car. However,
if you are a trained scholar,
you went and you studied formally,
and you've studied the different Madahib, and you
can weigh one opinion over the other, then,
yes, you may take an opinion from a
different
not on whim and fancy, not on simply
because it's easier. If it is a valid
opinion, it makes sense.
Is
the
strongest
in
every
opinion.
Some
scholars
views are stronger than others. Not every mad
hub is the strongest in every opinion. Sometimes
the Hanafis are stronger. Sometimes the Shaafi opinion
is stronger. Then you may, as a scholar,
take that and in your situation, in your
context, share it Insha'Allah.
So
for yourselves,
if you haven't studied in Uloom or university,
you follow your mother. Finished.
Or you if you're with a imam, an
alim musher, and he advises you to for
this is the madhab, you follow it.
Beyond that, insha'Allah,
the alim can,
look at the different madayb, and we stick
to it the 4 madayb. There are opinions
beyond the 4 madayb, of course. But to
be safe, we stick to the 4 madayb
because within the 4, 99%
of the answers are there. Okay. So let's
talk a bit about
3 concessions with Vudu to make your life
easier. The first one really isn't a one
off issue of dispute. All former guy agree
on this. It is a principle within the
Sharia
that says
certainty
is not removed by uncertainty or certainty is
not removed by doubt. What does this mean?
That if you are certain about something
and you are doubtful about something else, the
certainty
stays.
I have
a bowl of biryani that I bring to
work. I put it in the fridge, for
example. That's a communal fridge.
I'm certain that biryani, my wife made it's
halal, nothing haram in there. Now I go
to the kitchen. I see my bowl of
biryani was moved.
Did someone tamper with it? Did someone put
some ham in there? I don't know.
Doubt. I'm certain whatever is in this halal,
the doubtful is something in there that is
I'm not sure that's doubtful.
You you base your opinion on this certain.
I'm certain it was hadan. I'm doubtful if
anything changed. You throw the doubt away. Just
ignore it and move on.
This is a principle in everything in the
sharia.
Now
how many of you have had this thought
in your mind?
Did I break my or didn't I break
my?
You are certain I had. You know I
took. I made. I went to work. Now
it's time, or now you're trying to replay
your whole day. You go now you want
to say, I I had coffee. Did I
go to the toilet? So you are certain
you had wudu, but you are uncertain if
you broke your wudu. Yes?
And not many people say I'm uncertain if
I took wudu.
You sure I took wudu? I mean, if
you took wudu and you're not even sure,
did I take wudu or not, then your
wudu is uncertain. But most of the time,
the uncertainty is around that I break my
wudu.
The sharia says, you take what is certain
I had wudu,
and you take the doubt and throw it
away. The Jesus mindset, just just be safe
and take another wudu. No. That's not the
sharia. The sharia says you throw the doubt
away and you make salah Even
if you broke your wudu without you knowing,
without you for you genuinely, legitimately forgetting, no
problem, inshallah. It is fine. And this is
within the Nabi says,
if you are in salah,
do not stop until you so you sometimes
feel something moving in your tummy. You sometimes
feel, hey. What happened there? The Rabbi says,
you continue
in your salah, whatever, until you hear a
clear sound or you smell a clear smell.
Now you're certain.
So now you know my wudu braq. Whenever
you are doubtful about your wudu breaking, then
inshallah, your wudu is fine. So you don't
have to make a new wudu.
The ruling on the one who is not
sure whether he passed wind during the salah.
And so this is and that's a hadith
in Bukhari and Muslim. The Nabi Muslim is
telling the Sahaba.
So don't be more pious. Don't try to
be more pious than Sahaba. Inshallah,
your wudu is fine so long as you
are not sure that you broke your abdas.
Right. That's fine.
The rule number 1 and this this goes,
Muhammad, as I said, throughout the Sharia.
The other I mean, just continue on this
certainty is not removed by doubt. In salah,
this on the other hand, in salah, sometimes
you're doubtful. Is this raka number 3 or
number 4?
I'm not sure now. I know I made
2. I'm in this one, so I'm not
sure if this is number 3 or this
number 4.
It's certain this is 3. I'm doubtful it's
4, so now we make that extra raka.
Now we continue on. It's not about being
safe. It's not about take precaution. It's no.
What is certain, you you keep, and what
is doubtful, you throw away. This is the
premises of, one of the maxims in the
sharia. The next one,
the next concession inshallah with wudu
is the rubbing over of the sock.
Rubbing
over of the sock. Now, we know in
the Sharia, there's something called a hoof. A
hoof
was a a leather kind of sock. It
wasn't really even a sock. It was more
like a shoe because the Sahaba and the
Nabi sun would walk on a hoof. They
would walk outside on a hoof. And
we have,
and and and in fact, the the the
new converts to Islam, when they saw this
from the Sahaba, they were quite surprised. The
Sahabi would go to the toilet. He's wearing
his, obviously, he's wearing his shoes and. Then
he goes to the toilet. He comes back
from the toilet. I imagine here standing at
the at the wudukhana,
and he's now making taking wudu for Jummah.
Washes his hands, his mouth, his nose, his
face, his arms. And then he doesn't take
his hoof off. He just
rubs over his hoof.
What what wiping also means, your hand that
is damp it's not wet. It's not a
puddle of water. It's a damp hand, and
you rub the top of the hoof. The
Sahaba did this. And the new guys, the
new compact the new converts, the Tabi, and
said, where did you get this? You went
to the toilet. You urinated. You're not even
taking your sock off, your hoof off. And
they said, yeah. Well, this is how the
navies and taught us.
Mughirah mentions I was in the company of
the messenger sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And on
one of the journeys, he went out to
urinate.
And I brought the water for him to
perform wudu, and he started performing the wudu.
And then
when he came to the time to wash
his feet, he just wiped over his hoof.
So wiping over the hoof is unanimous. All
form
agree. In fact, in, in our aqeedah, part
of
is that this is permissible
because certain groups rejected wiping over the huff
with no valid reason. The Nabi Sun did
it, so we we do it.
What is the process of wiping over the?
How does this thing work? So there are
rules. The first thing is you need to
have taken a fresh wudu. Fresh wudu means
with your feet washed.
A proper
complete wudu, your feet must be washed. So
now that you're in the state of wudu,
you are in the state of pahara. You
have wudu. Or, of course, even better if
you hustled. You hustled for jumwa, whatever.
Now you put your huf on while having
wudu. If you put your huf on when
you didn't have wudu, then that doesn't count.
Then that then that's completely you must take
it off and take wudu normally.
But your first step the first the beginning
of this is as the
I entered them. I put my my my
hoof on while I had wudu. So you
must have wudu,
then you put
the wudu on. Now you took you had
fajr. You made fajr's wudu, a normal wudu.
You washed your feet. You put your wudu
on. Now you went about your day. Your
wudu is still on nice. Time came. Yes.
I went to the toilet. I went to
the toilet 5 times. I must take for
Now you perform
normally,
and you wipe over the hoof without taking
it off. You don't wash your feet. You
wipe over the hoof.
Comes, you do the same. Maghrib comes, you
have 24 hours.
You have a 24 hour concession. After 24
hours, now you must take the huf off
and do a normal.
If you travel, you get 3 days. If
one more caveat.
If
you took and
you wiped over the, so now I have
a wudu from the hoof.
I then take the hoof off. This breaks
my wudu.
Removing the hoof,
when you wipe on it,
it then breaks your wudu. Now all of
this should be this is all not controversial.
This is all fine and easy. The question
is,
does a sock today
and the hoof apply the same? Because most
of us says that's all hunky dory, but
I can't wear hoof in my shoe.
Can I wipe over my sock?
Here's the question. Now it is true
that in Nabi's
we have of him clearly using a hoof.
We don't have an example of him wiping
over a sock nor did he deny wiping
over a sock. But we do have
very, very clear accounts
of a number of companions, 7, 8 companions,
who wiped over their sock, meaning a woolen
sock,
not a leather sock.
It's, you find this in the in the
in many. I mean, this is a a
narration. The permissibility of wiping over a sock
was narrated by 9 Sahaba. Amongst them is
Sayid N Ali, Amari Baniasir,
uh-uh-uh, Abdullah bin Mas'ud, Anasibidi Malik,
explicitly
wiped over Bessak.
And the ruling is who determined that a
must be leader? There's no rule. There's no,
evidence to that effect.
Yes. A leather is leather is not porous,
whereas a sock is. Yes. The hoof,
they used to walk even outside on it,
whereas a sock is softer. And that is
why many of the the scholars who permit
using
a sock
instead of a hoof, they will say it
must be a sturdy sock. You know, like
your school socks.
Be a sock that is not
it must be a heavy duty sock. Meaning,
if I stretch it, I can't see through
it. I can't see the skin underneath. And
you must be able to walk on it,
without it being ruined.
And even though that some water may it's
it's not completely
impervious to water, it doesn't nullify the fact
that you can use it as a hoof.
And the sock must cover your ankle. It
must be above your ankle. So a secret
sock doesn't count. In fact, even a hoof,
the hoof must cover the ankle. Think about
it. The hoof covers the place that is
meant to take wudu.
The hoof covers the place that was meant
to take wudu, and therefore, you wipe over
it, and you good. It almost is a
substitute for your feet. The sock must do
the same. And, also, if you have a
hole in your sock, then you that wasn't
covered. That protection is gone. That also does
not count.
Now, again, for most of us here, it's
not the practice
for people to wipe over their sock.
And if that's not your practice, it's fine.
It's safe, obviously.
To use the hoof, it's to to use
the hoof is safer. And you take with
your you wash your feet, that's also fine.
But you find many people now, they'll tell
you, I can't take at work
because I'm sitting with my foot in the
basin and then the CEO walks past. I'm
gonna get fired. So now I'd rather not
make solar. No.
Now you take the concession.
Take,
put your sock on or put a 2
or 2 socks on. Make it
a nice thick sock, go to work, your
time comes, take wudu and wipe over the
top of your sock, and this is a
huff Insha'Allah.
Okay?
Don't miss salah and say my madhab doesn't
allow me to wear to my madhab doesn't
allow me to wipe over socks. I'm not
going to your madhab doesn't allow you to
miss salah, even worse.
So rather take the concession that is allowed
for you. Okay?
So this is for for you, For those
who come to the Masjid and you have
all the convenience. Alhamdulillah. In that case, you
you you do what is
right for you. Again, there's nothing wrong also
to say, well, I not not lazy, but
I want to take the concession. I want
to wipe over my sock even though I
don't have an issue. I'm in my house.
But that's fine as well for you.
The next one, if the other if the
last one didn't put me in trouble, this
one is going to put me in trouble.
Breaking your if you touch your wife.
Masha'Allah.
First thing is
it only applies to your wife. You should
not be touching
someone that is not your wife to begin.
That is haram. So we're not even gonna
consider this as a as a discussion.
Perhaps accidentally, we'll, you know, the cashier, and
we can talk about
that inshallah. So, yes, we know that within
the shafi mad hub, one of the this
is with only only within the shafi mad
hub, which I am in shafi country.
Most of us here, most of you are
shafis.
And that's fantastic.
And yet we find that one of the
things which is exclusive to the shafi madhab
is that if a man
touches his wife
either accidentally, they bump into each other, they
hold hands,
It it is one of the reasons for
the wudu being nullified.
Okay?
Oh, You know, even if she touches you
out of anger, she smacks your face. There's
no love or desire in there. Wudu is
broken. Okay.
All the other madahib don't follow this opinion.
Now how is this possible?
Something so simple like we do.
And they read the same Quran and they
get from the same ayah. They both, all
4, read the exact same ayah, and they
come out with a different opinion. So let's
go through the ayah. You know, the
the permissible, impermissible is not the fun part.
The fun part is to understand how they
thought and how they came up with different
opinions. Then you appreciate, masha'Allah,
these were people of great academic scholarship.
So they all go back to the ayah
of wudu
which is ayah number 6 in Surah Maidah.
Allah
Allah explains how to take wudu, also shows
you the importance of wudu. Allah goes step
by step how you take wudu. So it's
not something that we should trivialize. Allah says,
When you come for salah,
wash your face,
and wash your arms, your hands until the
elbows, your arms.
And wipe your head. The same way you
wipe the hoof, you wipe the head. You
don't wash your hair. You wipe your hair.
Your head.
And wash your feet
to the ankles.
And if you had a major
incident, you, had sexual impurity, you had *,
or you woke up, you had a wet
drink, then you need to perform
So Allah says, however,
we make exceptions for you. If you are
sick or you're traveling,
then you can you can make.
And Allah then also mentions in this so
that we're not gonna go into now.
Allah also mentions, so if
you
you broke your wudu
by going to the toilet,
and here's the part, oh,
or you've come in contact with a woman
and you cannot find water, then purify
yourself with with sand. And you make. So
from the, it's clear. Going to the toilet
and coming in contact with a woman breaks
your wudu. That's what's clear from the ayah.
Okay. What does it mean coming in contact
with a woman? What does
mean? This is the ayah.
Imam Shafi'i Rahimullah who was, to be fair,
the best amongst the former Daeib linguistically. He
was like a Shakespeare. He was like a
English professor. In addition to his, he was
the most celebrated
from a linguistic perspective. And he in he's
tafsir. He says lumps is lumps. Lumps means
touch. If you've contacted, you've touched a woman,
although it doesn't explain how much touch or
how little any touch your widow is broken.
That's Imam Shafi'i's opinion.
That's in the ayah. The ayah, that's what
the literally the ayah says. Where do you
Hanafis come up with your view? They
said, no, brother.
Lams means
it's a nice way of Allah saying if
you have * with a woman, then you
need to purify The same way when Allah
says, look at the few words before Allah
says, when you came from the toilet. It
doesn't mean when I go in the toilet
and come out, I take wudu. What is
meant when you use the toilet, when you
you urinate, it's a Allah is using it
in a nice way. It's metaphorically here that
if you had * with a woman, then
you must perform a hussal. Not when you
touch a woman, just generic any any touch.
And they add and they said, surely, this
must have happened in the time of the.
Surely, he had wudu and he touched one
of his wives. We don't have let's let's
look in practice. And we do. We have
many hadith. One of it is Aisha mentions
at night the Nabi Sun would make the
Hajjut, and she would be sleeping. And, subhanallah,
their
room was so small that her feet was
in his way in his.
And so when he would go down for
sujood, he would lightly pinch her foot, and
she knows to pull her foot in. He's
in salah. He's touching her foot.
Another hadith, Aisha says, he kissed my mouth,
and then he went to to perform salah
without
taking a new wudu.
The says that's specific,
but the rest of the madayeb says, no.
This is evidence that it is sufficient for
you. You can take, and if you contact
your wife, no problem. You touch her. It's
not *. Then your wudu is fine.
Okay. The have come come back. So then
they said, okay, guys. So you think I
can touch my wife, I can shake her
hand, hold her hand. It won't break my
wudu. To what extent? Can I hug her?
Can I spoon her?
Can we be
kissing for making out for 5 hours?
When does my wudu break now? You
you said the is saying *
between holding hands and * is a lot
of stuff. Where is the cutoff?
The Hanafees stick to the guns, and they
said all of this is permissible. It doesn't
break your wudu if you kiss her holder
hours and hours you're spooning in bed. No
problem. So long as there's no discharge. The
minute something wet comes out of the private
areas,
now your wood is broken. The Hanafis, that's
their stick. The Maliks and the Hanbali says,
this is awkward now. We don't have we
don't like the shafi view. We don't like
the Hanafi view either. So they came up
with this compromise view that really doesn't exist.
If you touch with desire, your will do
is broken.
They recommend. So you know what is I
don't know. Every man must determine what is
touched. If I hug you, goodbye is a
desire.
The Nabi's mum kissed Aisha on Hilaps. This
is not a platonic,
you know, friendly, brotherly kiss. Does this break
you It didn't break
the. So now you have multiple opinions. As
I said, if you grew up, if I
touch my wife, I take.
No problem. That's part of the opinion, and
it's obviously a high level of taqwa. But
don't miss your salah now. Oh,
I handed the the spoon to my wife.
She broke my abdas. Now I can't take
abdas now.
No. You take when you make salah or
I must not and take all my, you
know, gowns and layers off. I can't it's
gonna I'm gonna get sick. Inshallah, your do
is fine. So long as, and if you
want to be safe, you sit touch with
desire,
that's the majority opinion. The maliki and the
hamali is the majority opinion.
So this is some,
points to note with concessions now that it's
cold in winter. I end up with this
last hadith.
The rabbi says, should I not tell you
about something
that will wipe away all your sins
and will elevate you with the rajat in
the sight of Allah? Three things. Number 1,
go to the masjid even if it's far
and you need to walk to the masjid.
Number 2, wait for the waq to come
in. You prepare yourself before the adhan, not
when the adhan goes
or when the azan or the next wakk
goes. Now I need to break. You wait
for the salah. And number 3, to take
wudu,
a perfect wudu even when it's very inconvenient,
cold, it was undressed. The place is not
convenient. This Allah loves very much. So may
Allah bless us and have mercy upon us.