Recently I was doing wudu and started bleeding through my nose. It eventually stopped but this brought to mind whether I was ritually clean or not. I did the wudu again just in case I wasn’t. This also brings to mind, what would happen if one were to nosebleed during salaat. Should one finish or should one stop and perform wudu again?
Answer
a) About bleeding due to a wound, cupping or a nosebleed, and regardless of whether the amount of blood is small or large, the following is what Fiqhus Sunnah has to say:
Said al-Hassan relates, “The Muslims still prayed even while wounded.” (Related by al-Bukhari.) He also reported, “Ibn ‘Umar squeezed a pimple until it bled, but he did not renew his ablution. Ibn Abi ‘Uqiyy spat blood and continued his prayer. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab prayed while blood was flowing from him. ‘Ibbad ibn Bishr was hit with an arrow while praying, but continued his prayers.” (Related by Abu Dawud, Ibn Khuzaimah, and al-Bukhari in mu’allaq form.)
b) Yahya said that Malik said,
“The situation with us is that one does not have to do wudu for a nose-bleed, or for blood, or for pus issuing from the body. One only has to do wudu for impurities which issue from the genitals or the anus, or for sleep.” (Mawta Imam Malik)
c) However, the following mention of Fiqhus Sunnah gives a different version of what needs to be done about it:
Abu Razin reports: “‘Ali was praying one day when his nose began to bleed. He took a man by the hand and put him in front of the congregation, and he left.” This is related by Sa’id ibn Mansur.
Ahmad observes: “If the imam appoints another [it is acceptable] as ‘Umar and ‘Ali appointed another. If the people pray individually, [it is acceptable] as in the case of Mu’awiyyah when he was stabbed and the people prayed individually and completed their prayers.”
Keeping in view the above information, my understanding as yet is that although it is not a binding requirement, one should do well to make another wudu if one has experienced substantial bleeding. In case of minor bleeding, there shouldn’t be any problem. In case a person doesn’t do wudu while bleeding is substantial, one cannot claim that his wudu was invalidated. Wallahu ‘Alam Bithawab.