Cleaning Urine with Tissue When Water Is Available

1-1-2001 | IslamWeb

Question:

Are men allowed to urinate in the standing position? Can we clean with a tissue after urinating if water is available?

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

Huthayfah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) went to a public garbage dump and urinated while standing. [Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Daawood, At-Tirmithi, An-Nasaa’i and Ibn Maajah]

This Hadeeth shows the permissibility of urinating while standing provided one is careful that no impurity touches his clothes as stated by the scholars.

Imam An-Nawawi  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him in his explanation of this Hadeeth reported by Muslim, said: “All the Ahadeeth forbidding urinating while standing are Dha’eef (i.e. weak) except the Hadeeth of 'Aa’ishah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  her who said: “If someone relates to you that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) urinated while standing, do not believe him/her.” [Ahmad, Abu Daawood, At-Tirmithi, An-Nasaa’i and Ibn Maajah]

There are two remarks about this Hadeeth:

Firstly: Confirming something comes in priority over denying it (i.e. if a person establishes something by a sound Hadeeth, he is preferred to the one who denies that thing even with another sound Hadeeth).

Secondly: What 'Aa’ishah  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  her said is based on her own observation in her own home and does not apply as a general prohibition.

As for cleaning oneself from stool and urine, one should use water if the urine or excrement has spread over several places of one's body. If this is not the case, then it is enough to use stones, wood, tissues or any other pure dry cleaning agent that can remove the stool and urine completely. This ruling applies to men in the case of urinating and defecating, but it is applicable for women in the case of defecating only.

Most scholars are of the view that the urine of women is an impurity that could not be removed with other than water since the urine most commonly spreads over other parts of the body and it [impurity] is not restricted to the sex organ itself. So, the urine of women should be removed with water.

In any case, it is better to use water in addition to other cleaning agents to ensure purity.

Allah knows best.

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