Purification: Mishkat al-Masabih 314

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. This noble hadith from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) contains two distinct rulings of great importance to the Muslim community.

The First Ruling: Ablution After Breaking Wind

The command to perform ablution (wudu) after breaking wind establishes that such an occurrence invalidates one's ritual purity. This is based on the principle that anything exiting from the two paths (front and rear private parts) nullifies wudu according to the consensus of scholars.

The wisdom behind this ruling is to maintain spiritual cleanliness during prayer and other acts of worship. The breaking of wind indicates the release of impurities from the body, thus requiring renewal of purification before standing before Allah in prayer.

The Second Ruling: Prohibition of Anal Intercourse

The prohibition of approaching women from their buttocks refers to the grave sin of anal intercourse, which is strictly forbidden in Islam. This prohibition is established through multiple authentic narrations and represents a clear boundary in marital relations.

Scholars explain that this prohibition preserves the natural order established by Allah, protects women from harm, and maintains the dignity of marital relations. The lawful approach is exclusively through the vaginal passage, as intended by divine wisdom for procreation and marital pleasure within prescribed limits.

Scholarly Commentary

Imam al-Tirmidhi classified this hadith as hasan (good), while other scholars have discussed its chain of narration. The combination of these two rulings in one hadith demonstrates the comprehensive nature of Islamic guidance, addressing both physical purification and moral conduct.

The scholars of jurisprudence have derived from this hadith that any release of wind, whether with sound or without, whether malodorous or not, necessitates renewal of wudu. This ruling applies equally to men and women without distinction.