What breaks wudu?

What breaks wudu (Hanafi)

1. Anything leaving the front or back passage: urine, faeces, wind.
2. Blood, pus or clear fluid if it flows beyond the wound. If it is too little to flow, it does not break wudu. Giving blood for a test or as a donation also breaks it. Bleeding gums break it if the blood is equal to or more than the saliva.
3. Vomiting a mouthful — of food, bile or blood. A mouthful is an amount that cannot be held in without effort; phlegm does not break wudu.
4. Things that cause loss of consciousness: fainting, intoxication and sleeping lying on your side.
5. Laughing aloud in prayer (qahqahah): laughter that those beside you can hear breaks both the prayer and wudu; laughter that only you can hear breaks only the prayer; a smile breaks neither.
6. The states that require ghusl (sexual intercourse, a wet dream, the start of menstruation or post-natal bleeding) also break wudu.

What does not break wudu

• Touching someone of the opposite sex — according to the Hanafis, it does not break wudu, with or without desire.
• Dozing while sitting upright, standing, bowing or prostrating; sleeping while sitting upright in a seat on a vehicle.
• Crying — it does not break wudu outside prayer; crying in prayer out of fear of Allah breaks neither the prayer nor wudu.
• Phlegm, and blood too little to flow.
• Taking off and putting back on leather socks (khuffs) worn with wudu (if they have not been wiped over).

Nail polish, plasters and bandages

• Layers that stop water reaching the skin, such as nail polish, lipstick or paint, must be removed before wudu; otherwise the wudu is not valid. Hair gel that does not form a layer is not a barrier.
• Plasters, bandages and casts: if removing them does no harm, they are removed and the wound is wiped over; if removing them would cause harm, the bandage is wiped over once. This applies until the wound heals. If the bandage covers most of the limbs washed in wudu, dry ablution (tayammum) is performed.

Wiping over khuffs (in brief)

You may wipe (masah) over leather socks (khuffs) that cover the ankles, if they were put on after a wudu in which the feet were washed. The period is one day and one night for a resident and three days and three nights for a traveller, and it starts not from when the khuffs were put on, but from when wudu is first broken. Wet fingers are drawn once from the toes towards the ankle. According to the Hanafis, wiping over ordinary socks is permissible only if the socks are thick and durable and do not let water through straight away.

Differences between schools

• Blood, pus and vomiting: according to the Shafi'is, these do not break wudu; for the Shafi'is, wudu is broken only by what leaves the front and back passages.
• Touching the opposite sex: according to the Shafi'is, direct skin contact with a person of the opposite sex whom one could marry breaks the wudu of both; according to the Malikis, touching with desire breaks it.
• Laughing aloud: according to the Shafi'is, it breaks the prayer but not wudu.

According to Türkiye's Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), a Hanafi who is bleeding may follow the Shafi'i school on this matter if they find it hard to perform wudu or fear missing the Friday, Eid or funeral prayer.

Related verses

• Al-Ma'idah 5:6 — Allāh does not intend to make difficulty for you…
• An-Nisa 4:43 — …or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself…

Quotations are from the Saheeh International translation; links open the full verse on Quran.com.

Frequently asked

I fell asleep. Is my wudu broken?

If you slept lying on your side, yes. If you dozed while sitting upright, standing, or sitting upright in a seat on a vehicle, no.

Does touching my spouse or someone of the opposite sex break wudu?

According to the Hanafis, no. According to the Shafi'is, direct skin contact with a person of the opposite sex whom one could marry breaks it.

Does giving blood or having a blood test break wudu?

According to the Hanafis it does; according to the Shafi'is it does not.

Can I do wudu while wearing nail polish?

Wudu performed without removing nail polish that water cannot pass through is not valid.

Sources

1. Diyanet, Prayer Manual (Namaz İlmihali), DİB Publications, pp. 97–101 (in Turkish)
2. Diyanet High Council of Religious Affairs — Does touching the opposite sex break wudu? (in Turkish)
3. Diyanet High Council of Religious Affairs — Does vomiting break wudu? (in Turkish)
4. Diyanet High Council of Religious Affairs — Does sleeping break wudu? (in Turkish)
5. Diyanet High Council of Religious Affairs — Does laughing break the prayer? (in Turkish)
6. Diyanet High Council of Religious Affairs — Do paint, nail polish, lipstick and gel prevent wudu and ghusl? (in Turkish)
7. Diyanet High Council of Religious Affairs — How does someone with a bandage, cast or wound perform wudu? (in Turkish)
8. Diyanet High Council of Religious Affairs — Can a Hanafi who is bleeding follow the Shafi'i view? (in Turkish)
9. TDV Encyclopedia of Islam — Wudu (Abdest) (in Turkish)

This page is compiled from the rulings of Türkiye's Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) and the sources listed. Rulings follow the Hanafi school; where other schools differ, this is noted. For your personal situation, please ask a scholar at your local mosque. Last updated: 5 October 2026.

Related questions

• How do you pray when travelling (qasr)?
• How do you perform ghusl?
• How do you perform sajdah sahw (the prostration of forgetfulness)?