Istibrāʾ in Practice

Coming out of the toilet having cleansed everything properly is still no licence to rush into wuḍūʾ. Istibrāʾ must be made first. The ʿulamāʾ define istibrāʾ as the act of waiting, and of performing certain movements that ease the body, so that whatever last drops of urine remain in the passage are released while the body is relaxed. Everyone's constitution differs in this respect: some experience a continuous trickle, others have no such difficulty at all. What is to be done, then? Walk some forty steps; sit down and stand up again; try coughing gently — anything that lets the body release what remains.

Where there is a real concern about dripping onto the clothing, a piece of toilet paper, large or small, may be placed in the affected area while waiting; a short walk allows the body to settle, and after a minute or two, depending on the person, a check should be made — walking back into the bathroom to be certain that not a single drop remains. Where no paper is to hand, a touch with the finger of the left hand serves the same purpose, and where wetness is found the hand must be washed thoroughly before it touches anything else. Once there is nothing left, the hands are washed and wuḍūʾ is made; but where urine is still coming through, a return to the toilet and a further, more thorough washing is required, because ṭahārah is not yet complete.

Istibrāʾ becomes more of a difficulty with age. A young man tends to assume that his own body works perfectly, and gives the matter no thought for the time being; but as the years pass it becomes a genuine difficulty, and this is knowledge that must be had regardless of age, for otherwise wuḍūʾ is rushed into — the congregation is caught in good time, alḥamdulillāh — and only afterwards is a wetness noticed on the clothing, on the underclothes, a wetness that on inspection carries unmistakably the smell of urine. Everything had seemingly been dried; the explanation is that it had been leaking the whole time, so that the prayer, in the end, was made without wuḍūʾ at all — the wuḍūʾ itself having already gone, unnoticed. Istibrāʾ, then, must be done properly; it is very important indeed.