Question :

I have excessive gases and after doing Wudu`(Ablution) they often come out, and so I have to keep renewing Wudu`. As a result, I stopped going to the mosque and prayed at home. What should I do?

The Answer :

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

Dear brother, we would like you to differentiate between two cases: health condition and whispers of the devil (Waswasah), for each has a different ruling. If your passing gases is due to a health condition that can be diagnosed and treated with medications, then you take the ruling of people with permanent excuses. Therefore, you should perform Wudu` after the time for prayer begins, then pray, and it doesn`t matter what comes out of you during the prayer, and your Wudu` isn`t invalidated by that. This is unless there may be time when it stops, such as if you pass wind, then it stops for a while, during which time you can do Wudu` and pray. This is provided that the time of prayer hasn`t ended.

However, if what you`re having is Waswasah, then you shouldn`t renew Wudu`. Rather, you should stop surrendering to the whispers of the devil because that is likely to make you stop joining the congregation and keep renewing Wudu` for no valid excuse. Allah, The Exalted, Says: "O ye who believe! follow not Satan’s footsteps: if any will follow the footsteps of Satan, he will (but) command what is shameful and wrong:" {An-Nur,21}. Moreover, Narrated `Abbad bin Tamim: My uncle asked Allah's Messenger (PBUH) about a person who imagined to have passed wind during the prayer. Allah' s Apostle replied: "He should not leave his prayers unless he hears sound or smells something." {Bukhari & Muslim}. And Allah Knows Best.