Chapter: The Disliked Nature of Performing istinjāʾ with the Right Hand and Touching the Private Parts with the Right Hand When There Is No Excuse

1648 – Abu Qatādah — may Allah be pleased with him — reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “When any one of you urinates, let him not hold his private part with his right hand, nor perform istinjāʾ with his right hand, and let him not breathe into the vessel.” Agreed upon. There are many other authentic ḥadiths on this subject.

[Commentary]

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—states in his book Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn: “Chapter on the reprehensibility of using the right hand for istinjāʾ.” Istinjāʾ is the purification of the front or back passage from minor ritual impurity caused by urine or feces. It may be carried out by istijmār or by water: that is, by wiping with stones or whatever serves the same purpose—cloth, wood, earth, and the like—or by washing with water. Istijmār with stones has conditions that the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—have detailed. As for cleansing with water, its condition is that every trace of the impurity be removed. The meaning of “trace of impurity” is known: once it disappears and the place returns to its former state, purification has been achieved.

The author then cites the ḥadith of Abu Qatādah in which the Prophet ﷺ said: “Let none of you perform istinjāʾ with his right hand,” meaning that he should not take hold of the penis with his right hand in order to wash it, because the right hand is honored. For that reason the scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—have said that the right hand is to be given precedence except in certain situations.