Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamu alaikum,

Dear Brother,

Please help me on Ablution. Im from a nonmuslim country. I am a working girl i get a chance to pray at my office. In my office muslims doesnt get a seperate washroom we have to use the washroom which nonmuslim women also uses.

My problem is most of the nonmuslims ladies doesnt want the washroom floor to be wet. so what i do is i wipe my legs with water as its always clean. I have heard when taking wudu v have to wash our legs not to wipe with water. Acording to my situation is it ok if i wipe my leg with water? or else i have another choice where i can wash my legs on top of the toilet commode it is also very clean. but i have heard it is bad to take wudu near a toilet commode.

Please advice me what i should do on this as i do my luhar and asar prayers at office and i dont want them to be invalid. I appreciate if u can reply me soon as iam taking wudu for my prayers daily the same way at office.

jazakallah.

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Answer:

Ablution wudu at work

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: ….so what i do is i wipe my legs with water as its always clean. I have heard when taking wudu v have to wash our legs not to wipe with water. Acording to my situation is it ok if i wipe my leg with water?

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 6:

O you who have believed, when you rise to offer the ‘salaah’ you must wash your faces;  and your and hands (and arms) upto the elbows; and wipe your heads; and (wash) your feet upto the ankles.  

Respected sister, the washing of the feet upto one’s ankles is one of the absolutely obligatory aspects of ‘wudu’.  If one misses any one of the obligatory or ‘fard’ aspects of ‘wudu’, one’s ‘wudu’ would obviously not be valid; and valid ‘wudu’ being one of the pre-conditions of prayer, without a valid ‘wudu’, ones prayer too would obviously not be valid!

If one does not wash one’s feet but merely ‘wipes’ it, one of the obligatory rites of ‘wudu’ would have been deemed missed, and that ‘wudu’ would be considered invalid.

Your Statement: …..or else i have another choice where i can wash my legs on top of the toilet commode it is also very clean. but i have heard it is bad to take wudu near a toilet commode.

Respected sister, we absolutely assure you that there is absolutely nothing in the Quran or the Sunnah which declares that one cannot make wudu near a toilet!!! 

If the washing of your feet makes the floor around the ‘wash-basin’ wet and is not allowed at your office, there is absolutely no harm if you did all the other rites of ‘wudu’ at the wash-basin and washed your feet above the toilet commode….that would be a perfect solution at least in your case, Insha Allah. 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone.  Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan