QUESTION:
What do the scholars of the Dīn and muftīs of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: If someone is in the state of Wudū and wishes to pray salāh after eating some food, then does such a person have to wash their mouth?
Questioner: Abdullah from England, U.K.
ANSWER:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایة الحق والصواب
One does not need to gargle nor rinse the mouth out after eating if one wishes to pray salāh later on, however, it is better to do so because when a person stands for salāh, an angel places their mouth in line with the mouth of such person; whatever the person recites exits their mouth and enters the mouth of the angel. If there is anything stuck between the teeth at such time, then the angels receive so much pain just as in the same manner as when humans are in pain overall.
Just as has been mentioned in Hadīth and is the blessed statement of the Noble Prophet ﷺ,
إِذَا قَامَ أَحَدُكُمْ يُصَلِّي مِنَ اللَّيْلِ فَلْيَسْتَكْ فَإِنَّ أَحَدَكُمْ إِذَا قَرَأَ فِي صَلَاةٍ وَضَعَ مَلَكٌ فَاهُ عَلَى فِيهِ، فَلَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْ فِيهِ شَيْءٌ إِلَّا دَخَلَ فَمَ الْمَلَكِ “
“Whenever any of you wishes to wake up and pray salāh, then you should perform Miswāk [i.e. brush your teeth] because whenever someone recites something in salāh, then an angel places its mouth in line with the one reciting, and whatever exits the mouth of the one reciting reaches the mouth of the angel.”
[Shu’ab al-Īmān, vol 2, pg 381, Hadīth no 2117]
The Noble Prophet ﷺ has also stated,
“اِنَّ الْمَلٰئِکَۃَ تَتَأَذّٰی مِمَّایَتَأَذّٰی بِہِ بَنُوْ اٰدَم”
“Indeed the angels are harmed by the same things as the children of Adam.”
[Sahīh Muslim, pg 282, Hadīth no 564]
In addition, A’lāhadrat al-Shāh Imām Ahmad Ridā Khān, upon whom be infinite mercies, states in Fatāwā Ridawiyyah that it has been stated in numerous Hadīths that whenever a person stands for salāh, then an angel aligns its mouth with that of the reciter’s; whatever a person recites exits their mouth and enters the angel’s. At such time, if there was any food stuck between the teeth, then it would harm the angels to such a great extent that could not be caused by anything else [i.e. nothing else could cause them more harm].
[Fatāwā Ridawiyyah, vol 1, pg 839]
والله تعالی أعلم ورسوله أعلم صلی الله علیه وآله وسلم
کتبه أبو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء القادري
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qādiri
Translated by Haider Ali al-Madanī
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0870] Does eating food break Wudu?
