Ruling on Prayer When Neither Water Nor Pure Soil Is Available
Source: Fatawa Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri
Question:
If water is not available, and although soil is present, it is impure — what should one do?
Answer:
In such a situation, when there is no water and no pure soil, one should perform prayer without ablution (wudu) or dry ablution (tayammum). One must not perform tayammum with impure soil.
❀ Sayyidah Aisha رضي الله عنها narrates:
“She borrowed a necklace from Sayyidah Asma رضي الله عنها, and it was lost. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent a man to search for it, and it was found. Meanwhile, the time for prayer came, but they had no water. They performed prayer without ablution. Later, when they informed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this, Allah revealed the verse of tayammum.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari: 336)
This shows that before the revelation of the verse of tayammum, when there was no water, the Companions prayed without wudu, and at that time they also did not have the option of using soil.
❀ Hafiz Ibn Hajar رحمه الله (852 AH) said:
“This Hadith is proof that even in the absence of both water and soil, prayer remains obligatory. The reason is that the Companions prayed at that time considering it obligatory. If prayer in such a condition were forbidden, the Prophet ﷺ would have stopped them.”
(Fath al-Bari: 1/440)
