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Does semen nullify ablution, and is it obligatory to interrupt prayer or recitation of the Qur'an to renew ablution?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The emission of semen with desire necessitates ghusl (ritual bath). If semen is emitted due to illness, there is a difference of opinion regarding it. As for pre-seminal fluid (madhi), it is impure, invalidates ablution (wudu), and nullifies prayer. The usual vaginal secretions (rutubat al-farj) are considered pure according to the most preponderant opinion, but they invalidate ablution. If you are certain that secretions have been discharged during prayer, stop the prayer and repeat ablution. If you are in doubt, the original state is that no discharge has occurred. Purity is not a condition for reciting the Quran, and you are not required to stop recitation if secretions are discharged. However, do not touch the Mushaf (Quranic text) except with ablution. If the secretions are discharged continuously, your ruling is that of a person with incontinence (sahib al-sals): you perform ablution after the time for prayer begins and pray with this ablution both obligatory and supererogatory prayers until the time for prayer ends.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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