Question: Does bleeding break wudu or not? Some hold that when blood flows out and spreads, wudu is broken. What is the correct position?
Answer: Blood coming out of the body does not break wudu. There are several proofs for this:
➊ Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him), under Kitab al-Wudu’, Bab man lam yara al-wudu’ illa min al-makhrajayn, briefly mentioned an incident from the Ghazwah of Dhat al-Riqa’, which is found in full in other books of hadith. Its essence is as follows:
Sayyiduna Jabir bin Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that we went out with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the Ghazwa of Dhat al-Riqa’. A man came upon a woman of the polytheists. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ returned, her husband, who had not been present, came back, and when he learned of the incident he swore that he would not stop until he had shed the blood of Muhammad’s (ﷺ) companions. He set out in search of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ halted at a certain place, he said: “Who will keep watch tonight?” A Muhajir and an Ansari companion responded to his call. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Go, both of you, to the mouth of this mountain pass to stand guard, for the enemy may come by that route.” Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions went to the lower part of the pass.
When the two guarding companions reached the mouth of the pass, the Ansari said to the Muhajir: “Would you prefer to keep watch in the first part of the night or the last part?” The first part fell to the Ansari. The Muhajir companion lay down to sleep, and the Ansari stood up to pray. Meanwhile, that man also arrived. He saw a figure at the mouth of the pass and knew that it was a guard. He shot an arrow. The Ansari pulled out the arrow, threw it away, and remained standing and continued praying. The man shot a second arrow, then a third. He pulled those arrows out of his body one after another and continued praying, completing his bowing and prostration. Afterwards he woke his companion. When that man saw two guards instead of one, he fled. When the Muhajir saw his Ansari companion with blood flowing profusely from his body, he said: “Subhan Allah! Why did you not wake me?” The Ansari companion said: “I was reciting a surah, and I did not wish to go into bowing before completing it. When arrows were showered upon me one after another, I feared that if death came, the service that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had assigned to me would be lost. Had it not been for that fear, I would have died rather than go into bowing before the surah was finished.”
↰ Imam al-Hakim, Imam al-Dhahabi, Imam Ibn Hibban and Imam Ibn Khuzaymah (may Allah have mercy on them) have declared this narration authentic.
From this incident it is known that wudu is not broken by blood flowing from the body. Had bleeding broken wudu, this companion would have broken his prayer, but they did not do so. Certainly the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have been informed of this incident, for it is impossible that such a great event occurred and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was unaware of it. If he was informed, then, if blood were a nullifier of wudu, it was necessary for him ﷺ to clarify this and to mention that the prayer becomes invalid; but he ﷺ did not do so, which shows that blood does not nullify wudu. Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) also explained the matter in his Sahih by bringing it as a suspended (ta’liq) report in the chapter heading.
By mentioning this hadith, Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) refuted the Hanafis, who say that blood nullifies wudu.
Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him) says:
و أراد المصنف بهذا الحديث الرد على الحنفية فى أن الدم السائل ينقض الوضوء
“By bringing this hadith, Imam al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) refuted the Hanafis, who say that flowing blood nullifies wudu.”
Benefit: The name of the Ansari companion was Abbad bin Bishr (may Allah be pleased with him), and the Muhajir companion was Ammar bin Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him). The Ansari companion was reciting Surah al-Kahf. Imam al-Bayhaqi (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned this in his book “Dala’il al-Nubuwwah” through another chain.
Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) declared this narration authentic.
➋ Sayyiduna Miswar bin Makhramah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates:
ان عمر رضى الله عنه صلى وجرحه يثعب دما
“Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) prayed while blood was flowing from his body.”
It is narrated with a sahih chain, connected (mawsulan), in Sunan al-Bayhaqi and Ibn Abi Shaybah.
➌ It is narrated about Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them):
عصر ابن عمر بثرة فخرج منها الدم ولم يتوضا
“Abdullah ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) squeezed a boil, blood came out of it, but he did not perform wudu.”
In another narration these words are found:
ثم صلى و لم يتوضاً
“Then Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) prayed but did not perform wudu.”
➍ Imam Tawus (may Allah have mercy on him) is reported to have said:
انه كان لايري فى الدم السائل وضوءا يغسل عنه الدم ثم خسبه
“He did not consider it necessary to perform wudu because of blood coming out; he would simply wash the blood off himself and that was all.”
➎ Imam Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
ما زال المسلمون يصلون فى جراحاتهم
“The Muslims kept praying in the state of their wounds.”
➏ Imam al-A’mash (may Allah have mercy on him) asked Abu Ja’far al-Baqir about the ruling on blood flowing from a nosebleed. He said:
لو سال نهر من دم ما اعدت منه الوضؤء
“Even if a river of this blood were to flow, I would not perform wudu again because of it.”
Moreover, that blood coming out does not nullify wudu is also the position of the seven jurists of Madinah, Imam Malik and Imam al-Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on them).
From the above narrations it is known that blood coming out does not nullify wudu, whatever part of the body it comes from: from the throat or from the gums, whether by horn-cupping or cupping (hijamah), whether from an injury or from the bursting of a boil or abscess, whether it is drawn out by an injection or comes out from a gunshot. Whether it is little or much, in no case does it nullify wudu. The narrations presented about wudu being nullified by it are not valid evidence. For details see [Nasb al-Rayah 42/1 and Majallah al-Da’wah, September 1998]
