Praying With a Catheter or Ostomy Bag

Two fatwas on the matter

A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham

Question:

Assalaam alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,

If one has to wear a catheter for a period of five days and blood and urine are constantly coming out, how does one perform wuḍūʾ and pray with this excuse? May Allah bless you.

Answer (Imam Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):

One performs wuḍūʾ for each obligatory prayer after its time has come in, and then one prays. And one is pardoned for the circumstance one is in.

 

A translation of this fatwa from Naseem al-Sham

Question:

My question is about praying and performing wuḍūʾ when one is wearing an ostomy[1] bag or catheter. In each case, one is either unable to control one’s urination or defecation. Thus, how can one perform wuḍūʾ and pray in a valid way when we know that this situation might last for months?

Answer (Imam Muḥammad Tawfīq Ramaḍān):

A person in such a circumstance is deemed to be in a permanent state of ritual impurity.[2] A person in a permanent state of ritual impurity does not perform wuḍūʾ for an obligatory prayer until after its time has come in. He removes whatever najāsah he is able to from where it is located and performs wuḍūʾ, and muwālāh[3] is stipulated therein, meaning that there must not be a delay between washing one limb and the next.[4] One prays one obligatory prayer with that wuḍūʾ and however many supererogatory prayers one wants to.

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[1] (tn): i.e. colostomy or ileostomy, and the ruling would also apply to a urostomy bag.
[2] Ar. dāʾim al-ḥadath.
[3] (tn): i.e. immediate succession.
[4] (tn): i.e. one must not allow one limb to dry before starting to wash the next. Furthermore, after performing wuḍūʾ, one must pray immediately. See Ghāyat al-Muna: Sharḥ Safīnat an-Najā by Sheikh Muḥammad Bāʿaṭiyyah (Tarīm: Maktabah Tarīm al-Ḥadīttha, 1429/2008), 179.