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Does touching a patient's private parts (male or female) during a surgical operation invalidate one's ablution?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There is no blame on a surgeon for seeing or touching a female patient's 'awrah (private parts) during surgery due to necessity and the absence of an alternative. Seeing the 'awrah does not invalidate ablution (wudu'). Touching the two private parts (front and back) invalidates wudu'. However, touching parts other than the private parts does not invalidate it, unless done with lust. According to some jurists, touching a woman with lust, even if not on her 'awrah, invalidates wudu'.

The statements of the jurists regarding touching women are: it does not invalidate wudu' under any circumstances (Abu Hanifa); it invalidates wudu' if done with lust but not without it (Malik and Ahmad); or it invalidates wudu' in all circumstances (Al-Shafi'i).

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

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