I might discharge urine after relieving myself, given that I wipe my penis carefully after urinating. Is this considered urinary incontinence? What should I do in this situation? This might happen to me during ablution or during prayer. I am psychologically distressed because of this problem. If this happens to me, what should I do concerning the coming prayer? Should I perform ablution normally, or should I just wipe over my clothes, on the inside and the outside? Note that when I wipe over my underwear I feel really embarrassed; for it seems as if I have wet myself. And, if I should wipe over my underwear, how may I identify the exact area I should wipe that is contaminated with urine? My colleague told me that he heard Shaykh Muhammad Hassaan say that a man who suffers from whispers of urinary discharge after relieving himself should tell himself that this wetness is the water that he used for Istinjaa’. Please advise me in this regard.

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.

If you are sure that what you experience is urine discharge and that you cannot control it, then it is urinary incontinence, and you may resort to a doctor for treatment. As for the Islamic ruling on the prayer of a person who suffers from urinary or gas incontinence, he should perform ablution for each prayer and wash his private parts thoroughly. Moreover, you may use a cloth to prevent your clothes from being stained by the urine, and then pray even if discharges occur. Such a person should perform ablution as clarified, perform the due prayer, the voluntary prayers, and recite the Quran as usual. When the next prayer is due, he should perform ablution anew and pray.

However, if these are mere whispers and there is no real urine discharge, then you should perform ablution and sprinkle some water on your underclothes, so that if you feel any moisture, you may consider it just water.

Abu Daawood, An-Nasaa’i, Al-Haakim, Ahmad, Ad-Daarimi, ‘Abdur-Razzaaq and Al-Bayhaqi reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to sprinkle some water on his private parts after Istinjaa’. Ibn ‘Umar used to sprinkle a lot of water.

Many of our righteous predecessors maintained that one should not cut his prayer if he experiences such wetness. ‘Abdur-Razzaaq reported in his book Al-Musannaf on the authority of Abu Farwah: “I used to feel wetness while I was praying. Accordingly, I would cut the prayer to perform ablution again and again within one hour. So I asked Ibn Al-Musayyib and he said: “Do not depart from the obligatory prayer.” I thought he misunderstood me and took my situation for mere whispers, so I added, “It is not a small portion; the wetness may reach my feet or the ground.” He replied: “Do not cut the prayer. If you feel that, just let your clothes absorb it.”

A man who was with the Imaam asked me: “Did you understand what the Imaam told you? He meant that you should wash your clothes after prayer; as I had missed this part of his answer. I did what the Imaam told me and it was not long before I ceased to experience this anymore.

Allaah Knows best.