Extract from Badaai al-Sanaai by Allm. Kasani and Tuhfatul Fuqaha by Allm. Ala al-Deen Samarqandi
When does the time period end
If washing a limb, or part of a limb, which is broken, injured or wounded will cause harm, then it will not be necessary to wash this section, rather one would do masah over the bandage, cast or plaster.
Likewise, if it will not cause harm to wash the injured limb or part of the limb, however, the removing of the bandage may cause further harm, then in this case also one is permitted to do masah over the bandage.
With regards to the case where a bandage is applied over a wound or injury but exceeds the head of the injury, such that it covers part of the limbs which are not injured, one will need to determine if removing the bandage will cause further harm. If removing the bandage is impractical such that it is not easily replaceable, or removing it will cause further harm, then one will be permitted to do masah over the whole bandage.
However if one is able to remove the bandage and wash the uninjured area with ease, such that it does not cause further harm then it will not be permissible to do masah upon the bandage, rather one would be required to remove the bandage, and wash the uninjured section around the injury and do masah over the injury. If doing masah on the injury will be harmful, one may do masah over the bandage, and wash the area surrounding it if possible.
This is what is mentioned by Hasan ibn Ziyad, for the permissibility of masah is given due to necessity, therefore masah is only permitted to do on those parts only if it will cause harm, and it will not be extended to cases where it is possible to wash without causing further harm.
The ruling of masah upon bandages
Is masah upon bandages strictly necessary or can one leave it out? Imam Abu Hanifa is of the opinion that if doing masah upon the bandage will cause further harm it is permissible to leave it out. Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad hold that if it will not cause harm to do masah upon the bandage, it is not permissible to leave it out, rather masah should be done.
According to the more correct opinion regarding the view of Imam Abu Hanifa, it is wajib to do masah upon the bandage when one is unable to wash the limb, and masah is dropped if it will cause harm. This is due to the hadith[1] that the prophet ﷺ commanded to do masah upon the bandage. We know, by default, orders of the prophet ﷺ indicate wujoob[2]and are obligatory to act upon. Therefore, one should do masah upon the bandage except in the case where it will cause harm, in this case, it will be dropped. This is similar to the case where washing of the limb is not necessary if one fears harm, likewise masah is not necessary if one fears harm by doing so.
As for the case regarding masah upon a part of the bandage and leaving out the rest, this is not mentioned clearly in earlier narrations. However, it is narrated by Hasan bin Ziyad, that masah upon the majority of the bandage is permissible, and to do less than the majority is not.
That which nullifies masah upon bandages
When the bandage is removed after having done masah upon it, it will either be removed after the injury has healed, or not. In both of these cases, the bandage will be removed either in salah or outside of salah. In each of the four cases mentioned above, there is a different ruling.
As for the case when the bandage is removed, and the person has not yet recovered, then if the person is in salah they should perform their salah. If the bandage is removed outside of salah, then they should replace the bandage and it is not necessary to do masah upon the bandage again. This is because washing the limb was excused due to the injury, and the injury is still remaining. As for the wajib (obligatory) action, it was to do masah, and this was done. Therefore, there is no need to repeat the masah. This is similar to the case where a person does wudhu and does masah upon their head. If they shave their head thereafter, it is not necessary to do masah again.
If the bandage is removed due to having recovered, then if one is not in salah and they have not entered the state of hadath after masah, they should wash the place covered by the bandage and not anything other than it. Masah after this point will be invalid, as one is able to wash the place of injury.
When one is in salah, and the bandage is removed after having recovered from injury, in this case, one should go and do wudhu as they are now able to fulfil the original command, to wash the limb, in order to attain the intended objective, to pray salah.
Below is a summary of the ruling when the bandage is removed:
The difference between masah on khuffayn and bandages
Masah upon bandages is not limited by a time period but is only permitted until the person has recovered. On the other hand, masah ala khuffayn is limited by a time period, which is one day and one night for the muqeem, and three days and three nights for the musafir.
Secondly, it is not necessary to be in a state of taharah in order for it to be permissible to wipe over the bandage, as is the case for masah ala khuffayn. Such that if a person was in the state of hadath, and did wudhu, wiping over the bandage without washing the limb would be permitted. In contrast, it is necessary for one to already be in the state of wudhu before wearing the khuffayn and doing masah upon it, such that if a person was in the state of hadath and wore the khuffayn, and thereafter did wudhu wiping over the khuffayn, it would not be permitted.
The reason for this is because masah upon a bandage stands in the place of ghusl of the limb, and therefore when one does masah upon the bandage it is as if they have washed the limb. On the other hand, masah ala khuffayn acts as a means of prevention to stop hadath getting on the feet, and it is not a remover of hadath. Therefore, it is not correct that one should wear the khuffayn except after having washed their feet first ie. removed hadath from it. After having done this if one enters the state of hadath one may do masah upon their khuffayn.
Furthermore, the removal of a bandage, when one has not yet recovered, does not nullify the masah. On the other hand, the removal of the khuffayn or any single khuff will nullify the masah, as detailed earlier.
[1] Sunan Ibn Majah 657 – Imam Bukhari and others have cast doubt on the reliability of Amr bin Khalid who is one of the narrators of this hadith.
[2] According to the Ahnaf
