Assalaam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. How the mujahideen on the battlefield can pray if they are covered in blood or in some other impure substance?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The Muslims who fight in the cause of Allaah perform the prayer while on the battlefield to the best of their abilities and observe whatever they can of its conditions, pillars, and obligations. They are exempted from observing what is beyond their abilities or what constitutes difficulty for them. The fear prayer is prescribed in such a situation and it is explained in the Quran and the Sunnah.

If their bodies or garments are tainted with an impure substance and purifying them constitutes unbearable difficulty, beyond their abilities, then they perform the prayer in that state. The basic principle in this regard is the following verses:

Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means):

·    {… Allaah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity…} [Quran 2:286]

·    {… Allaah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you …} [Quran 5:6]

Moreover, Jaabir related that while the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, was in the Thaat Ar-Riqaa' expedition, a man was shot with an arrow and he bled profusely but he bowed, prostrated and continued his prayer.” [Al-Bukhari]

Al-Hasan said, “The Muslims used to continue to pray when they were wounded.”

Some Muslim jurists even held that the blood which comes out of a wound is (ritually) pure. ‘Awn Al-Ma‘bood reads, “The blood from wounds is pure and this is the opinion of the Maalikis; and it is the sound opinion. Many collectively concurrent reports underlined that the Companions used to perform prayers while their wounds were worse than what was mentioned, and no one can deny that their garments were tainted with blood; yet, they used to perform prayer in such a state and it was not reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, commanded them to take off their blood-stained garments when performing the prayers. Sa‘d was injured in the Battle of the Trench; a tent was pitched for him in the Masjid and blood was flowing profusely out of his wound inside the Masjid until he passed away. One of the plain pieces of evidence of the purity of blood from wounds is the fact that ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattaab performed the Fajr prayer - when he was stabbed - while blood was gushing out of his wound. His garment had, certainly, been tainted with blood. Verily, ‘Umar would have never done what is impermissible for him to do without the Companions objecting to such an act. This confirms that blood which comes out of wounds is pure."

Allaah Knows best.