Brother_Mujahid
20th February 2008, 03:00 AM
Shaykh Salman al-Awdah:
`Abd Allah b. Zayd b. Âsim complained to Allah's Messenger that a person might get the impression that he has broken wind while he is in prayer. To this, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Do not move from your place unless you hear a sound or smell something." This is an authentic hadîth related in Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim.
There is a similar hadîth related from Abû Sa`îd al-Khudrî that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "If Satan approaches one of you saying 'you have broken your state of purity', tell him he is lying, unless you smell it with your nose or hear the sound with your ears." [Mustadrak al-Hâkim (1/134), Sahîh Ibn Hibbân (2663 and 2664), Musnad Ahmad (3/12), and Sunan Abî Dâwûd (1029)]
The narration in Sahîh Ibn Hibbân reads: "… then he should say within himself: 'you are lying'…"
These hadîth establish are among the evidence that establish one of the most important axioms of Islamic Law: "that which is established with certainty is not removed by doubt". This means that anything which is established with certainty requires absolutely certain evidence to indicate that it is no longer the case. Doubts are not sufficient to render it null. Here are so many individual rulings which come under this broad principle that it would be impossible to enumerate them all.
The legal implications of the hadîth:
One important application of this principle is the ruling communicated by the hadîth under discussion. This is the ruling concerning a person who has performed wudû' and then is uncertain whether he has subsequently broken it.
The vast majority of scholars including Abû Hanîfah, al-Shâfi`î, and Ahmad b. Hanbal, insist that such doubts are to be ignored at all times. This has also been narrated from Mâlik.
Two other opinions have been attributed to Mâlik on this matter. One of these is that the person's state of purity is nullified by such doubts. This narration is weak and contradicts with the clear meaning of many authentic hadîth.
A third opinion attributed to Mâlik is that if the doubt besets the person outside of prayer, he must make a fresh wudû', but if it besets him during prayer, then he should ignore it.
This is an extremely strange opinion. Whatever nullifies a person's wudû' outside of prayer should most certainly nullify it during prayer.
Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalâni writes in Fath al-Bârî (1/287): "The narration giving this breakdown of rulings is not attributable to Mâlik. It is rather a statement of his students."
We can say, without doubt, that the correct opinion on this matter is the opinion of the majority of scholars – that such doubts amount to nothing. A person remains in a state of purity until he is certain that his wudû' is broken.
This ruling has numerous applications:
If a person in a state of purity thinks he might have broken wind, it means nothing. He must be certain that he has broken wind for his state of purity to be broken.
If a person knows that he has made wudû' and then doubts whether he later on went to the bathroom, he should ignore his doubts.
If a person in a state of purity dozes off and is unsure whether that sleep was deep enough for his wudû' to be broken, then he should assume he is still in a state of purity.
In these and all similar cases, he must ignore his doubts.
Likewise, if a person has a quantity of water and is unsure whether it has been contaminated with impurities, he should assume it is still pure. The same goes for his clothing, his prayer area, and the food that he wishes to eat. The default ruling in all cases is one of purity and permissibility, and it requires certainty to declare something otherwise.
This ruling – this way of thinking – closes the door in the face of the doubts and misgivings that way too many Muslims suffer from.
Moreover, scholars are unanimously greed that when the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "unless you hear a sound or smell something" he was not just referring to these two things – he was rather referring to a state of certainty about the matter.
Al-Khattâbî observes in I`lâm al-Hadîth (1/227-228): "The Prophet (peace be upon him) did no mean to confine the ruling to passing gas and detecting it in these two ways. This was just the appropriate way of answering the question that was presented to him. Its meaning extends to feces, urine, prostatic fluid, pre-seminal fluid, blood, and whatever else can nullify a person's state of purity."
Source: http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=33&sub_cat_id=1777
`Abd Allah b. Zayd b. Âsim complained to Allah's Messenger that a person might get the impression that he has broken wind while he is in prayer. To this, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Do not move from your place unless you hear a sound or smell something." This is an authentic hadîth related in Sahîh al-Bukhârî and Sahîh Muslim.
There is a similar hadîth related from Abû Sa`îd al-Khudrî that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "If Satan approaches one of you saying 'you have broken your state of purity', tell him he is lying, unless you smell it with your nose or hear the sound with your ears." [Mustadrak al-Hâkim (1/134), Sahîh Ibn Hibbân (2663 and 2664), Musnad Ahmad (3/12), and Sunan Abî Dâwûd (1029)]
The narration in Sahîh Ibn Hibbân reads: "… then he should say within himself: 'you are lying'…"
These hadîth establish are among the evidence that establish one of the most important axioms of Islamic Law: "that which is established with certainty is not removed by doubt". This means that anything which is established with certainty requires absolutely certain evidence to indicate that it is no longer the case. Doubts are not sufficient to render it null. Here are so many individual rulings which come under this broad principle that it would be impossible to enumerate them all.
The legal implications of the hadîth:
One important application of this principle is the ruling communicated by the hadîth under discussion. This is the ruling concerning a person who has performed wudû' and then is uncertain whether he has subsequently broken it.
The vast majority of scholars including Abû Hanîfah, al-Shâfi`î, and Ahmad b. Hanbal, insist that such doubts are to be ignored at all times. This has also been narrated from Mâlik.
Two other opinions have been attributed to Mâlik on this matter. One of these is that the person's state of purity is nullified by such doubts. This narration is weak and contradicts with the clear meaning of many authentic hadîth.
A third opinion attributed to Mâlik is that if the doubt besets the person outside of prayer, he must make a fresh wudû', but if it besets him during prayer, then he should ignore it.
This is an extremely strange opinion. Whatever nullifies a person's wudû' outside of prayer should most certainly nullify it during prayer.
Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalâni writes in Fath al-Bârî (1/287): "The narration giving this breakdown of rulings is not attributable to Mâlik. It is rather a statement of his students."
We can say, without doubt, that the correct opinion on this matter is the opinion of the majority of scholars – that such doubts amount to nothing. A person remains in a state of purity until he is certain that his wudû' is broken.
This ruling has numerous applications:
If a person in a state of purity thinks he might have broken wind, it means nothing. He must be certain that he has broken wind for his state of purity to be broken.
If a person knows that he has made wudû' and then doubts whether he later on went to the bathroom, he should ignore his doubts.
If a person in a state of purity dozes off and is unsure whether that sleep was deep enough for his wudû' to be broken, then he should assume he is still in a state of purity.
In these and all similar cases, he must ignore his doubts.
Likewise, if a person has a quantity of water and is unsure whether it has been contaminated with impurities, he should assume it is still pure. The same goes for his clothing, his prayer area, and the food that he wishes to eat. The default ruling in all cases is one of purity and permissibility, and it requires certainty to declare something otherwise.
This ruling – this way of thinking – closes the door in the face of the doubts and misgivings that way too many Muslims suffer from.
Moreover, scholars are unanimously greed that when the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "unless you hear a sound or smell something" he was not just referring to these two things – he was rather referring to a state of certainty about the matter.
Al-Khattâbî observes in I`lâm al-Hadîth (1/227-228): "The Prophet (peace be upon him) did no mean to confine the ruling to passing gas and detecting it in these two ways. This was just the appropriate way of answering the question that was presented to him. Its meaning extends to feces, urine, prostatic fluid, pre-seminal fluid, blood, and whatever else can nullify a person's state of purity."
Source: http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=33&sub_cat_id=1777