Q7 :If a man touches or netes into physical
contact with his wife or another woman, does this invalidate his
ablution?
A7 : According to the Shaf’ie school of thought,
any touch or physical contact between a man and a woman he is eligible
to marry, including his wife, invalidates ablution when their skins get
into touch. If either has a cover over the place where the contact is
made, then this ruling does not apply. Other schools of thought do not
agree. The Hanafi school does not consider such contact as enough to
invalidate any ablution. There are further details in other schools of
thought distinguishing one sort of contact from another. When the touch
is an accidental or a normal touch, then there is no question that the
ablution remains valid. If the touch is acnetpanied by sexual thoughts
or arouse feelings of a certain type, then it does invalidate ablution.
It is certainly better to follow a middle course. I am, therefore, more
inclined to say that normal everyday contact between a man and his wife
does not invalidate ablution. [Added: There should be no physical
contact between a man and a woman he is eligible to marry, other than
his wife, in any case – ablution or no ablution.]
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )