Sadid (pus: whether it is impure, whether it breaks wudu', and its effect on prayer)

In language sadid is the thin matter from a wound mixed with blood before it thickens; once thick it is called mudda, and qayh is pure pus with no blood in it. The Qur'an uses the word for what flows from the skins of the people of the Fire, and jurists' use does not depart from the linguistic meaning. ¹

Most jurists hold that pus is impure like blood, since it is something sound natures find repugnant. ¹

The Malikis and Shafi'is hold that pus flowing from a wound does not break wudu', since in their view only what leaves the two passages breaks it; they cite a case in the raid of Dhat al-Riqa' where a Companion prayed while his blood flowed and the Prophet ﷺ did not object. ¹ The Hanafis hold that any impurity leaving a living human body, from the two passages or elsewhere, breaks wudu', citing reports including the saying "we are bound to wudu' for what comes out, not for what goes in", and 'A'isha's report on vomiting and nosebleed. For them pus breaks wudu' only when it flows from the top of the wound, since while it stays within the wound it is still in its place. Zufar holds that it breaks wudu' whether it flows or not. ^{2 3} The Hanbalis hold that impurity leaving the body breaks wudu' in principle, but only in a large amount, not a small one. The measure of "large" is what is offensive to each person's own sense; Ahmad was reported to have set it at a span, at a palm, or at what a man can lift with five fingers of pus. They treat pus drawn out with cotton the same as pus that leaves on its own. ³

A condition of prayer is that the clothes, body and place be free of impurity. A small amount of pus on the body or clothes is excused by agreement, since people rarely escape it and it is hard to avoid. ³ The schools differ on the measure of the small amount: for the Hanafis, apart from Zufar, it is a dirham or less; for the Malikis an amount less than a dirham is excused, with two views on a dirham itself; the preferred Shafi'i view excuses a large amount too, unless it was caused by the person's own act, while another view excuses only the small amount people commonly overlook; for the Hanbalis the excused amount is what is not offensive to the person. ^{3 4}