Does the sun cleanse clothing from urine? And the ruling of praying in such clothing Q. I have small children who I carry and sometimes they urinate on my clothing. I then spread this clothing in the sun until it dries and there after perform my prayers in them. Is this permissible or not? A. As for the urine of a male infant who does not feed on solids, it is sufficient to saturate the affected area with water due to the narration of Umm Qais Bint Muhsin. She had brought a young son of hers who was not yet feeding on solids to the Prophet (saw), so he (saw) placed him in his lap. The child then urinated upon his clothing so he called for water, saturated the affected area and he did not wash it. The authenticity of this Hadeeth is agreed upon.1 What is intended by “saturating” is that the affected area is to be flooded with water even if this does not remove the urine completely, and it is not necessary to wring it. It is deduced from this that if the male child has started to feed on solids, then it is necessary to wash away his urine. As for the urine of a female infant, it should be washed away due to the narration of Lubabah Bint AlHaarith. She said: AlHusain Ibn ‘Ali was in the lap of the Messenger of Allaah (saw) and he urinated upon him. So I said: “wear another garment and give me your Izaar2 so that I may wash it.” He (saw) replied: “Rather the urine of a female child is washed away and that of a male child saturated with water.” Narrated by Abu Daawood. This is the guidance of the Messenger (saw) concerning the urine of a male and female infant. So from this, it is known that what the questioner has mentioned of his drying the garments that have been urinated upon by a child in the sun and then praying in them that the sun does not cleanse them. The prayer in them before they have been cleansed as mentioned is not correct. The Permanent Committee [Fataawa Islaamiyyah: 1/198]
1
By Bukhaari and Muslim. Izaar: A simple type of garment similar to a wraparound.
2