202. Should I Re-do My Wudhu If I Changes My Baby,s Diapers?

By Asma bint Shameem

I changed my baby's diaper, although I had wudhu. 

Do I have to re-do my wudhu?

The majority of the scholars said that changing the baby’s diaper does not invalidate wudhu. 

What else DOES NOT break wudhu?

- touching the private parts of a young child to wash them

- touching (or stepping on) najaasah itself

- touching clothes soiled with najaasah  

- coming in contact with vomit

The only thing we have to do is to wash our hands or that part which came in contact with the najaasah, of course. . 

Sheikh Abdullah ibn Jibreen said:

“If someone touches somebody else’s private parts with lust, then that invalidates his wudhu. 

However, there is a difference of opinion when such touching is not accompanied with lust. 

The *strongest* opinion is that touching the private parts of a baby in order to clean the baby does *not* nullify wudu because such is not a cause of sexual desire.

Furthermore, it is something that almost all people have to go through and if it were to nullify wudu, it would cause great hardship. 

And, if it did nullify ablution, this would have been well-known among the Companions and those who came afterwards.” 

And Shaikh Saleh al-Munajjid said:

“As for changing a baby’s diaper, if you mean the act of changing itself, this does not affect the validity of one’s wudhu.

If you mean that it involves touching something that is impure, i.e., the baby’s urine and stools, this does not affect your wudhu either, because there is no connection between touching something impure and the validity of one’s wudhu. 

It has been reported that there is scholarly consensus on this point, as stated in the book Al-Awsat by ibn Al-Mundhir (1/203). 

All one has to do is to wash his hands to get rid of any impure material.”

Shaikh ibn Uthaymeen said:

"If a woman washes her child, boy or girl, and touches the child’s private part, she does not have to do wudoo’, rather she only has to wash her hand, because touching the private part without desire does not necessitate wudoo’. It is known that when a woman washes her children, desire does not even enter her mind, so if she washes her child she only needs to wash her hands to get rid of any najaasah that has got onto them, and she does not have to do wudoo’." 

(Majmoo’Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen(11/203).

So all you have to do is just wash your hands. 

And Allaah knows best