It is wâjib for men to make an istibrâ, that is, not to leave any drops in the urethra, by walking, coughing. Women do not make an istibrâ. One must not make an ablution unless one is satisfied that there are no drops of urine left. One drop oozing out will both nullify the ablution and make one’s underwears dirty. If less than a palmful (?? if anything from the size of a pinhead to less than a palmful) oozes onto the pants, it is mekrûh for one to make an ablution and perform namâz. If more oozes, the namâz will not be sahih. Those who have difficulty with istibrâ must put a cellulosic cotton wick as big as a barley seed into the urinary hole. The cotton will absorb the urine oozing out, which will prevent both the ablution from being broken and the pants from getting najs. Only, the end of the cotton must not jut out. If the cotton wick is long and its end remains outside and gets wet with urine, the ablution will break. Shâfi’îs should not put cotton there during the blessed month of Ramadân; it will nullify one’s fast according to the Shâfi’î Madhhab. When a Hanafî Muslim imitating the Shâfi’î Madhhab in ablution and namâz uses the cotton wick likewise, it will not nullify his fast.

Those who do not learn the faith and teachings (’ilm al-hâl) of Ahl as-Sunna or teach them to their children are exposed to the danger of deviating from Islam and falling into the abyss of disbelief. The prayers of such people are not acceptable. Then, how can they protect themselves against disbelief? Rasûlullah (sall-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam) said, “There is Islam where there is knowledge. There is no Islam where there is no knowledge. ” As it is necessary to eat and drink in order not to die of hunger, so it is necessary to learn our religion in order not to be deceived by disbelievers and not to become non-Muslims. Our ancestors frequently assembled and read ’ilm al-hâl books and thus remained Muslim and enjoyed Islam. They communicated this light of bliss correctly to us.

So, for remaining Muslims and lest our children should be captured by the enemies inside or outside, the first and the most necessary preventive measure is to read and digest the ’ilm al-hâl books prepared by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunna. Parents who want their child to be a Muslim should send it to a teacher and make certain that it shall learn how to read the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Let us read, learn and teach our children and those we are responsible for while we have the chance. It will be difficult or even impossible for them when they go to school. It will be useless to lament after the degeneration takes place. We should not believe the enemies of Islam, their deceptive and false books, newspapers, magazines, television and radio programs, and motion pictures. Ibn ’Âbidîn (rahimah-Allâhu ta’âlâ) wrote in the third volume [of Radd al-mukhtâr] that those insidious disbelievers who, though they do not believe in any religion, pretend to be Muslims and teach things that cause disbelief as if they were Islamic, and who strive to cause Muslims to go out of Islam, are called “zindiqs. ”