#101. OBSERVE WUDHU IN MODERN BATHROOMS
“Is there anything wrong in preforming ablution in the toilet; As in modern bathrooms”
ANSWER
Alhamdulillaah. Baarakallaahu feekum.
Firstly, it should be known that it is authentically reported from the Rasul – salallaahu alayhi wasallam – that he used to mention the Name of Allaah ta’aala in Dhikr in all his situation and conditions.
It was reported from Ummu Al-Mu’minin A’ishah – radiyallaahu ‘anha – that she said:
«كان النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم يذكر الله على كل أحيانه».
“The Prophet – salallaahu alayhi wasallam – used to mention the Name of Allah in all his situations and conditions.”
What this means apparently is that his tongue was always in the Dhikr of Allah.
Secondly, he – salallaahu alayhi wasallam – commanded that we say some Adhkaar before and after we come out of the privy.
Thirdly, the Rasul – salallaahu alayhi wasallam – was once relieving himself when someone passed by him and made the Salaam. He did not respond to the Salaam as was narrated by Abdullah Ibn Umar – radiyallaahu anhuma – in Sahih Muslim.
For these reasons, the Ulamaa differed in their positions on the ruling of dhikr while in the privy.
Imaam Qaadi Iyyaadh – rahimahullaah – said:
“And the Salaf and the Ulamaa have differed on this Hadith “He used to, whenever he enters the privy…”.
Some of them inclined to the permissibility of making dhikr of Allah while in the privy in all situations. The one who holds this position makes evidence with this hadith and with the hadith in which it is stated that the Prophet – salallaahu alayhi wasallam – used to mention Allah in all his situations and conditions, and with His (Allah’s) statement “To him ascends the Pure Words…”
This is the stated word of An-Nakha’i, Ash-Sha’abi, Abdullah Ibn ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas, Ibn Sirin and Maalik Ibn An as. Its dislike was reported from Ibn Abbas, Ataa’, Ash-Sha’abi, and other than them.”
Ikmaalu Al-Mu’allim 2/230
Imaam Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya – rahimahullaah – established in ‘Al-Waabilu As-Sayyib‘ the preponderant when he stated that the ruling of not making the dhikr in the privy is restricted to the privy that is built particularly for the purpose of either urine, bath or faeces. And it doesn’t apply to places such as open fields where a person may go to like the wilderness and its like.
Fourth, it should be known that the Ulamaa, when they spoke about not making wudhu in the toilets stated that based on two reasons: because of the Karaaha (dislike) of making dhikr in the toilet as stated above, and because of the Hadith that established that the places of waste are visited by the Shayaatin. That means that whosoever makes Wudhu in there can be afflicted by the Wasaawis (Whispers) of the Shayaatin.
For this reason, Shaykh Muhammad Al-Hasan Ibn Ad-Dadw – hafudhahullaah – posited that it were permissible to make wudhu in a toilet section that is compartmental in such a way that the sink, the bath and the toilet is different. One should then make the wudhu in by the sink. He also hold that it were permissible to make the wudhu even by the toilet as long as it is a very clean place. And that it were Makruh if the place was dirty.
The Maaliki Imaam Muraabitu Al-Haaj – rahimahullaah – and Shaykh ‘Abdullah Ibn Bayyah – hafidhahullaah unrestrictedly hold the verdict that it were Makruh to make Wudhu in the toilet whether it was kept clean or not unless if one has no other place to do it.
That position held by Shaykh Ibn Ad-Dadu is stronger considering the fact that while it mitigates the Wasaawis of the Shayaatin, there is no textual evidence that vividly prohibits it.
Allaahu A’alam
Baarakallaahu feekum
Jazaakumullaahu Khairan.
