Whispers about dead skin causing Wudhoo’ to be incorrect
10-9-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
As salamu 'alaikum, Thank you to everyone envovled in this great work and for your patience in answering all the questions. Regarding question no.2515257, which I previously asked. I am sorry for not making my question more clear. What I should have asked is you say that "dead skin invalidates wudu". But can you explain properly what the scholars mean by dead skin? Is it something that we can clearly see as flaking on top of the skin or is it something that we see in the shower after rubbing our skin vigourously, which turns the water dirty?
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
We do not say that dead skin invalidates Wudhoo'; rather, we say that dead skin prevents water from reaching the (new) skin underneath during Wudhoo’ and thus should be removed before it, otherwise, the Wudhoo’ will be incorrect. Dead skin is the flakes that cover the living skin and thus should be removed as underlined in Fataawa 126745, 130286 and 148917.
We advise the questioner to beware of satanic whisperings about this; verily, they lead to grave evil. When in doubt about whether the skin is dead and thus prevents the purification from being incorrect, she should (disregard these doubts and) follow the basic principle which is that the skin is originally living, not dead.