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‫وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم‬

A Guide to Injuries and Dressings (Shāfiʿī)

Before beginning, please consider the following terms:

• limbs
o of tayammum: face, arms
o of wuḍūʾ: face, arms, head, feet
o of ghusl: whole body
• dressings
o includes splints, bandages, casts, etc.

An Injury Without a Dressing

If a person has an injury without a dressing and fears harm if s/he were to wash
the injury, then one
• washes everything else necessary, without causing harm; and
o Example: If one has an injury over part of the arm, one must
wash the entire uninjured area of the arm, as well as the other
limbs of wuḍūʾ or ghusl.
• performs tayammum (instead of washing the injured area) at the
appropriate point.
o Example: If one has an injury over part of the arm and one is
performing wuḍūʾ, then one makes intention and washes the
face, then washes the arms (excluding the injured area) and
performs tayammum, then wipes the head and completes the rest
of wuḍūʾ.

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 o Because maintaining sequence (tartīb) is obligatory in wuḍūʾ, one
must perform tayammum at the point one would normally wash
the injured limb. One may either perform tayammum first, or
wash the uninjured parts of the limb first.
o Because there is no obligatory sequence in ghusl, one may
perform tayammum at any point therein.
o If the injury is on one of the limbs of tayammum, one must still
wipe it with earth—as long as doing so would not cause harm.
One must perform a new tayammum before every obligatory action, but only
needs to repeat the washing if one enters minor or major ritual impurity.

An Injury with a Dressing

If possible without causing harm, the following things are obligatory:
• The dressing should be placed while the wearer is in a state of major
and minor ritual purity.
• The dressing should only cover as much of the body as is needed for it to
adhere.

If possible without causing harm, it is obligatory to remove the dressing before

performing wuḍūʾ (if it covers one of the limbs of wuḍūʾ) or ghusl. Otherwise,
one
• washes everything else necessary, without causing harm;
o Example: If one has a dressing covering part of the arm, one
must wash the entire uninjured area of the arm, as well as the
other limbs of wuḍūʾ or ghusl.
• wipes over the dressing with water at the appropriate point; and
o This is only obligatory if it will not cause harm.
o Because maintaining sequence is obligatory in wuḍūʾ, one must
wipe over the dressing at the point one would normally wash the
injured limb. One may either wipe over the dressing first, or
perform tayammum first, or wash the uninjured parts of the limb
first.

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 o Because there is no obligatory sequence in ghusl, one may wipe
over the dressing at any point therein.
• performs tayammum at the appropriate point.
o Example: If one has a dressing covering part of the arm and one
is performing wuḍūʾ, then one makes intention and washes the
face; then washes the arms (excluding the dressing area), wipes
over the dressing with water, and performs tayammum; then
wipes the head and completes the rest of wuḍūʾ.
o Because maintaining sequence is obligatory in wuḍūʾ, one must
perform tayammum at the point one would normally wash the
injured limb. One may either perform tayammum first, or wipe
over the dressing first, or wash the uninjured parts of the limb
first.
o Because there is no obligatory sequence in ghusl, one may
perform tayammum at any point therein.
o If the dressing covers one of the limbs of tayammum, one must
still wipe it with earth—as long as doing so would not cause
harm.
One must perform a new tayammum before every obligatory action, but only
needs to repeat the washing and wiping over the dressing if one enters minor or
major ritual impurity.

Scenarios in Which One Must Repeat the Prayer

There are six cases to consider, summarized in the diagram below:
1. There is no dressing: One does not repeat one’s prayers.
2. The dressing covers any part of the limbs of tayammum: One must
repeat one’s prayers after the dressing is removed.
3. The dressing does not cover any part of the limbs of tayammum, and
only covers the injury—no more (i.e., no uninjured parts of the body):
One does not repeat one’s prayers.

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 4. The dressing does not cover any part of the limbs of tayammum, but it
covers beyond the injury more of the body than it needs to adhere: One
must repeat one’s prayers after the dressing is removed.
5. The dressing does not cover any part of the limbs of tayammum, only
covers beyond the injury as much of the body as it needs to adhere, and
was placed while the wearer was in a state of major and minor ritual
purity: One does not repeat one’s prayers.
6. The dressing does not cover any part of the limbs of tayammum, only
covers beyond the injury as much of the body as it needs to adhere, but
was placed while the wearer was in a state of major or minor ritual
impurity: One must repeat one’s prayers after the dressing is removed.

Figure 1: Scenarios in Which One Must Repeat the Prayer

Dispensation: The Ḥanafī Position

Please see the following excerpt from Shaykh Nuh Keller’s Reliance of the
Traveller:
The Ḥanafī school requires someone with an injury who wants to pray
to make a complete ablution… or bath, if needed. But if this would entail
harm… then when he comes to the injury in the ablution sequence, he is
merely required to wipe it with wet hands so as to cover more than half
of the injury. If this would also entail harm, or if he has a bandage that
cannot be removed without harm, or he cannot reapply the dressing by
himself and has no one to help him to do so, then he simply wipes more
than half the bandage when he comes to it in his ablution. He may pray
with such an ablution and need not repeat the prayer later. … It is not

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 necessary that he be free of minor or even major impurity (janāba) at the
time the dressing is applied. …

There is strong evidence for performing dry ablution (tayammum) in

place of washing such an injury. To add it at the proper point of the
ablution sequence as a precautionary measure… would not interfere
with the validity of following the Ḥanafī position just discussed.

And God knows best.

References:
Aḥmad b. Naqīb al-Miṣrī, Reliance of the Traveller: A Classical Manual of Islamic
Sacred Law, trans. Nuh Keller (Beltsville: Amana Publications, 2017), 88–89.

ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn ʿĀbidīn, al-Hadiyya al-ʿAlāʾiyya li-Talāmīdh al-Makātib al-

Ibtidāʾiyya fi-ʾl-Fiqh al-Ḥanafī (Limassol: Al-Jaffan & Al-Jabi, 2003), 59–60.

Ibrāhīm al-Bayjūrī, Ḥāshiyat Ibrāhīm al-Bayjūrī ʿalá Sharḥ Ibn Qāsim al-Ghazzī
ʿalá Matn Abī Shujāʿ fi-ʾl-Fiqh al-Shāfiʿī (Cairo: Muṣṭafá al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī wa
Awlāduhū, 1924), 1:125–27.

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