Purity: Fasting in Janābah Without Ghusl in Cold, Public Conditions: Is Tayammum Allowed?
Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei
Purity: Fasting in Janābah Without Ghusl in Cold, Public Conditions: Is Tayammum Allowed?
English:
Question #214:
We live in a cold area where there is no bathroom or any place for bathing. At times we wake up in a state of janābah before the morning adhān during the blessed month of Ramadan. As it is shameful for youths to get up at midnight before the eyes of the people and to take a bath with the water of a water-skin or a pool, and water is also cold at that time, what is our duty concerning fasting on the next day in such a condition? Is tayammum permissible? And what is the rule if one were not to fast for not having performed the ghusl?
Answer #214:
Sole difficulty of an act or that one is embarrassed to do it in front of people’s eyes is not a shar‘ī excuse. Rather, one is obliged to take ghusl in any manner that he can, as long as it does not involve hardship on the mukallaf or harm. In case it is harmful or unbearably difficult, he can perform tayammum instead. If he does tayammum instead of ghusl before the fajr adhān, his fast is valid, and if he does not do tayammum, his fast would be invalid; but it is obligatory for him anyway to refrain from eating and drinking throughout the day.