Jurisprudence Made Easy
Dialogue on Jabirah
Yesterday, you mentioned ‘jabirah’, but postponed talking about it till
today.
- Yes, if you use any form of dressing on a wound, ulcer, or fracture
in any part of your body, it is called “jabirah”.
* How should I go about ghusl, wudhu, or tayamum if there was a
jabirah on any part of my body?
- If the jabirah was of the type that could be removed without any
harm befalling you, you may do so; that is, you can wash and/or wipe
that part of your body as the case may be.
* And if the jabirah cannot be removed for fear of harm or
difficulty?
- In such a case, you may wash the area of the particular part close
to the place of jabirah, and wipe over the jabirah. wiping not washing
should be applied to the affected area covered by the jabirah, if it was
of that which requires washing in the first place. As for the affected
part of the body that requires wiping to start with, it goes without
saying. You must, however, take note of the following:
1. The outer part of jabirah must be tahir. You need not worry if the
inner part of jabirah, that is close to the body, was najis.
2. [The jabirah itself must not be usurped].
3. The size of jabirah must be confined to that which is generally
accepted as commensurate to the size of wound or injury.
* And if it was larger?
- You can lift the extra part of jabirah and wash the part of the
body under it, or wipe it as the case may be.
* Should there be a strong reason not to lift the extra part of
jabirah for fear of causing complications to the actual injury, what
should I do?
- You should not remove it, and wipe the jabirah itself.
* What about if lifting the extra part of jabirah proves difficult
or may cause harm to the sound part of the body, not the injured one?
- You may perform tayamum instead of wudhu, should the jabirah not be
present in the parts of the body tayamum is applied to, [otherwise, you
must do both].
* Suppose the jabirah cover the whole of my face or the entirety of
one of my hands or feet, how should I go about wudhu?
- You can do wudhu by wiping over the jabirah.
* And if all or most of the parts are covered by the jabirah?
- [You should do both the wudhu with stroking the jabirah and
tayamum].
* If I had an open cut or an ulcer, and the doctor advised me not to
expose it to water, how should I do wudhu?
- You can wash the adjacent area to the place of the cut or ulcer
only.
* Suppose I had a fracture in my face or hand that could adversely
be affected if it were exposed to water. What should I do?
- You may forsake wudhu for tayamum.
* If the open cut, that should not be exposed to water, was in a
part of the body that is originally covered by wiping not washing, how
should I go about stroking for wudhu?
- You could do tayamum instead.
* If I choose to do ghusl and I happened to have an open cut or
ulcer in my body, how should I go about it?
- You could leave the affected area out. Washing the area adjacent
to the affected one would suffice. Conversely, you have the choice of
performing tayamum instead.
* And if I have an open fracture, how should I go about ghusl?
- You can do tayamum instead.