Question

Salam’s
I wanted to know whether finger prick reading to determine blood glucose levels is considered as breaking wudhu.

I would have assumed that as this is for medical reason and that some patients need to prick their fingers routinely, there wudhu wouldn’t break. Some of the patients are elderly and it’s not always feasible for them to do wudhu each time they test their blood for glucose.

Please could you share your thoughts on this.
Jzk

Answer

If after pricking the finger the blood flows out of the exit point and flows onto the surface of the finger then the wudu’ will break. This will also be the case if the finger was squeezed to encourage blood flow.

If however, the blood did not flow out of the exit point, rather it just collected at the exit point, and the sample was taken from there without spreading it, the wudu’ will not break. This will only be the case if the amount of blood that came out was so little that had it been left on the finger it would not have flowed. If it would have flowed, the wudu’ will break.

As for the issue of elderly people having to do wudu’ many times, this can easily be solved by facilitating for them to do wudu’ wherever they are without having to go to the bathroom. This can be done by keeping a spray bottle full of water and a towel near them. When it is time for them to do wudu’ they can spread the towel under themselves and spray water onto their wudu’ limbs. This method of wudu’ will suffice provided enough water is sprayed whereby at least one or two drops of water trickles off their limbs. Pouring water over the limbs is not a requirement. A demonstration of this method can be found in the video below.

If they are unable to even do this then they can perform tayammum instead of wudu’.

الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (1/ 134)
وينقضه) خروج منه كل خارج (نجس) بالفتح ويكسر (منه) أي من المتوضئ الحي معتادا أو لا، من السبيلين أو لا (إلى ما يطهر) بالبناء للمفعول: أي يلحقه حكم التطهير

الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (1/ 136)
والخارج) بنفسه (سيان) في حكم النقض على المختار كما في البزازية، قال لأن في الإخراج خروج فصار كالفصد

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel