Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
If you are suffering from a medical problem and you must use a medicated bandage, then you are allowed to wipe on it instead of taking it off for wudu or ghusl.
Answering the question in point, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
If you are suffering from a medical problem and you must use a medicated bandage, then you are allowed to wipe on it instead of taking it off for wudu or ghusl (ritual cleansing of the body).
It does not matter whether the condition is serious or not, so long as it helps the healing process for you to keep the bandage on.
We have precedents for this in the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as well as in the practice of the pious generations.
In a report from Ali, we read, “One of my forearms was broken, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered me to wipe over the bandage (instead of removing it and washing the forearms with water).”
The above concession is in conformity with the nature of religion, which is based on ease and comfort. Allah says, {…He has chosen you, and has not laid upon you in religion any hardship…} (Al-Hajj 22:78).
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) further stated, “Allah wants you to make use of His concessions just as He loves you to act on His firm orders.” (Ahmad)
So go ahead and wipe over the bandage if it can be done. Otherwise, you are allowed to make tayammum (dry ablution) if you cannot pass wet hands over it.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.