Ruling on Wudu Breaking Due to Laughing During Salah
Taken from: Fatawa ‘Ilmiyyah, Vol. 1, Kitab al-Taharah, p. 230
❖ Question:
Does wudu break if one laughs during salah?
(Abu Qatadah, Basti Balochan, Farooka, District Sargodha)
❖ Answer:
Al-ḥamdulillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ʿammā baʿd!
There is consensus that if someone laughs out loud during salah, their salah becomes invalid.
(See: al-Awsat by Ibn al-Mundhir, Hadith: 49)
❖ Disagreement Regarding Wudu Breaking Due to Laughing During Salah
There is a difference of opinion on whether wudu is also broken if one laughs out loud during prayer.
❖ The scholars of the Hanafi school (Ahl al-Ra’y) are of the view that wudu is nullified by laughing aloud during salah. However, this view is based on weak and fabricated narrations.
❖ Treatise by the Renowned Scholar Abdul Hayy Lakhnawi
The famous scholar ʿAbdul Ḥayy Lakhnawī authored a treatise titled:
((الهسهسة بنقض الوضوء بالقهقهة))
This treatise, however, evokes laughter itself because the author failed to present even a single authentic or sound (ḥasan) narration in support of his claim. Spending twenty-one (21) pages on this is fruitless.
❖ Opinion of Imam Ibn Maʿīn on Weak Hadith
In this treatise, the first narration cited by Lakhnawi is reported by Hisham bin Ḥassān, who is a mudallis (a narrator who conceals the identity of his sheikh).
❖ Imam Yaḥyá ibn Maʿīn (رحمه الله) said:
“The hadith regarding wudu breaking due to laughing in salah and the mursal narration of al-Zuhrī are both unacceptable.”
(Al-Sunan al-Kubra by al-Bayhaqī: 1/148, chain is authentic)
❖ Clarification in Light of Authentic Hadiths
Contrary to the weak narrations, there are authentic reports on the matter:
❖ Sayyiduna Jābir bin ʿAbdillāh (رضي الله عنه) said:
“Wudu is not broken by laughing during salah.”
(Sunan al-Dāraqutnī: 1/174, Hadith: 650, chain is authentic)
❖ The renowned Tabiʿī ʿAṭā bin Abī Rabāḥ said:
“Wudu is not nullified by laughing during salah.”
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/387, Hadith: 3913, chain is authentic)
❖ ʿUrwah bin al-Zubayr (رحمه الله) also held that laughing does not break wudu.
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 1/387, Hadith: 3219, chain is authentic)
❖ Imam Aḥmad bin Ḥanbal (رحمه الله) also stated that wudu is not broken by laughing out loud during salah.
(Masā’il Abī Dāwūd: p. 13; Masā’il Ibn Hāni’: 1/7)
❖ Imam al-Shāfiʿī (رحمه الله) also held the view that laughing does not invalidate wudu.
(Kitāb al-Umm: 1/21)
❖ Conclusion
➊ Salah is invalidated if one laughs aloud during it.
➋ However, there is no authentic evidence to prove that wudu is broken by laughing, so wudu remains valid.
(Al-Hadith, Issue 20)
ھٰذا ما عندي، واللّٰه أعلم بالصواب
