Is Breathable Nail Polish Sufficient for Wuḍū’?
WebbStaff Note: Comments have been closed on this post. We encourage positive and fruitful discussions, which we feel has already taken place in the comments of this article.
One of the most common questions asked by Muslim sisters is whether or not they are allowed to wear nail polish. The frequent query about whether nail polish is ḥalāl (lawful) or ḥarām (prohibited) is worded incorrectly. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with wearing nail polish.1 The real issue is that this substance forms an impermeable barrier over the nails preventing water from getting underneath. So when a sister needs to perform wuḍū’ (ablution) in order to pray, it cannot be completed without first removing the nail polish.
Many Muslim women have found a solution: wear the nail polish during their period since they don’t need to pray during those days. Yet many sisters will admit that they wish it would be somehow possible to wear nail polish at any time of the month. First, it is highly fashionable nowadays. Second, wearing nail polish usually indicates to another person that a sister is undergoing her period, which can be very embarrassing for others to know.
Now there is a solution. No, I’m not talking about wearing henna. Most scholars advise it as a substitute while failing to realize just how different henna is from nail polish in the world of fashion and beauty. The urge to wear nail polish on a regular basis has even led some sisters to wear a ‘peelable’ variety, which can be scraped off without any chemicals. But what if there was a nail polish that allowed the water to seep through?
Good news. Inglot Cosmetics, a company from Poland, has released a new line of polish called O2M that it has labeled “breathable nail enamel”.2 It borrows a polymer used in some contact lenses that allows oxygen and moisture to penetrate to the nail.3 One sister wisely decided to call the company and was told that water vapor reaches the nail but not water in its liquid form.4 The question then arises about whether water vapor reaching the nail suffices for wuḍū’. Let’s look at the issue in detail.
Reasoning Behind the Necessity of Washing
There are several sisters who don’t know that nail polish prevents wuḍū’, and probably just as many who don’t care and will wear it anyways. But for those who do care, this analysis might help clarify things.
Muslim scholars have analyzed the issue of impermeable substances in the following manner. This verse of the Qur’an prescribes the wuḍū’, “…wash your faces and your arms…” (Qur’an, 5:6). The points that require investigation are: what is meant by ‘arms’ and what is meant by ‘wash’. Mention of the word ‘arms’ (which includes the hands linguistically in Arabic) indicates that every part must be washed and not a single spot should be left dry. Scholars arrived at this conclusion both through linguistic analysis as well as by analyzing reports from the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him), which emphasize that the body parts must be washed thoroughly. From this they concluded that anything that prevents water from reaching any of these parts must be removed. For example, if someone had dried paint, dough, or wax on their hand while performing wuḍū’, the water would not permeate that substance and the hand would not have been properly washed. The same is true with nail polish which, when dried, forms a solid impermeable layer on the nails. This is why women are instructed to remove their nail polish when performing wuḍū’. Other substances that do not form an impermeable solid layer such as henna, oil, ink, and lotion are allowed due to the ability of water to penetrate through, especially when rubbing over the wet area.5
As to the definition of ‘washing’, it means that water flows over the surface of every body part which must be washed during wuḍū’.6 The bare minimum amount of water that must be used in order to suffice has been a matter of contention among scholars. Some stated that the part being washed must drip off at least one drop of water.7 Other scholars held that water must have reached every area of that body part, but dripping off is not necessary.8
The important thing to realize is that these scholars were trying to precisely define a minimum point at which the body part in question has had water ‘flow’ over it. The first opinion did not imply that drops of water must drip from any particular area but rather from any area of one body part. For example, while washing the arm with the hand elevated above the elbow, it is likely that the water would drop off near the elbow area due to gravitational forces. For our case concerning the fingernails, this opinion (which is the stricter of the two) does not necessitate water having to drip off the fingernails. This makes sense because water usually drips from a small area when it has completely flowed over that region.
Based on this difference of opinion concerning the definition of washing, scholars have differed concerning whether rubbing snow over the body parts suffices for wuḍū’ if no drops fall off.9 At first glance, it might appear to a student of Islamic Law that this example serves as a good analogy to apply to the issue of breathable nail polish. However, upon further inspection the analogy fails because the case of snow involves no drops falling whereas the case of the fingernails does involve drops falling, even if not from the nail area. Keeping this in mind, if the entire hand was immersed in water and water vapor permeated through to the nails, it would not matter whether or not an actual drop of water in its liquid form reached the nail. The entire hand is still considered washed since water reached every area.
A Test Case
One of my students10 decided to perform a test to see whether or not water actually seeped through when using the Inglot O2M nail polish. As a test case, she applied standard pink nail polish and purple O2M on a coffee filter and allowed both to dry. She then placed another coffee filter below the painted one, squeezed two drops of water over the polish, and applied some pressure with her finger.11 After about ten seconds it was clear that the water was prevented from seeping through (even to the back side of the first filter) on the standard polish but clearly went through the O2M and even wet the second filter. This is sufficient to show that the claims made by the manufacturer are correct and water does indeed permeate through to the nail.
Conclusion
It is imperative that issues such as the legitimacy of wearing breathable nail polish while performing wuḍū’ be properly researched both on the scientific level as well as the fiqhī (Islamic Law) level. It appears to me that there is a sound basis for believing the water seeps through to the nail when wearing O2M breathable nail polish. Perhaps not every brand that claims to be breathable meets this criteria and perhaps the nails need to be soaked in water for a few seconds. Nonetheless, the basis exists for permissibility. As for the questions concerning whether or not nail polish should be used by Muslim women in public, which colors may potentially cross the boundaries of modesty (ḥayā’), and whether these cosmetics are an extravagant use of one’s wealth are all beyond the scope of this article and not directly related to the issue at hand. Sisters must consider all those variables before using any cosmetics, but after they have done so, the research on breathable nail polish points to its permissibility.
For more info on contemporary fiqh issues, see Mustafa’s new book: Guide of the Believer
- This is according to the widely-held opinion by several Muslim scholars that cosmetics containing alcohol are allowed to be worn. Also, cosmetics should not be tested in a cruel manner on animals or contain any pork products such as gelatin. The Inglot brand discussed in this article is free from these deficiencies. See http://veggiebeauty.com/cruelty-free-statement-inglot [↩]
- http://inglotcosmetics.com/o2m.nail.enamel/products/141/565 [↩]
- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/22/fashion/22SkinOne.html?_r=3& [↩]
- http://www.reveilingyourself.com/2012/04/halal-nail-polish.html [↩]
- It is interesting to note that Ibn ʿĀbidīn [ḥanafī] argues this is not the real reason but substances like henna are allowed due to necessity. See Ibn ʿĀbidīn, Radd al-Muḥtār, 1:154. [↩]
- Al-Samarqandī, ʿAlā’ al-Dīn, Tuḥfah al-Fuqahā’, 1:8. [↩]
- Ibn al-Humām, Kamāl, Fatḥ al-Qadīr, 1:15. [↩]
- Ibid. This is the opinion of Imām Abū Yūsuf. [↩]
- Kāsānī, ʿAlā al-Dīn, Badā’iʿ al-Ṣanā’iʿ, 1:3. [↩]
- Shabana Haxton lives in California and is an RN, MSN, and CNL. [↩]
- The extra drop on the filter paper seen in the picture was an accidental misfire from the dropper and was not taken into consideration during the experiment. [↩]
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My prayers have been answered!!!!!!! Woohoooooohooo!
I understand how the experiment was conducted but what I do not understand is that Inglot Company claims that the nail polish allows water vapor to pass through not liquid water but your experiment seems like you used liquid to conduct the experiment. How can this be possible if the company does not even claim that this is possible?
Excellent point. Too bad most others arent thinking like you.
It could be that water vapor will go through consistently but liquid water sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t go through….the company wouldn’t want to claim that water gets through if it doesn’t do so 100% of the time because they could face trouble for making fraudulent claims.
where can we find that brand? I waaaaaaaaaaaannntt
Macys!
is there any other nail polish like that and what are they also where can you get this type of nail polish at which stores. Thank you! <3 <3
If its important enuf to someone, then just buy it and conduct the test ur self. This is better than taking the word of others.m
Fazila that was a good point, first I was thinking that in this experiment, the liquid water was PRESSED on over the polish and filter, in other words pressure was applied.
However, water vapor is a gas, and a gas spreads out on it’s own without pressure, filling the limits of whatever area it is released. I am not a scientist, just a homeschooler
The question then, if we are to follow PURELY the company’s statements, would be if water vapor is considered valid for wudo. I will leave that to the scholars.
Amatullah, while it is permissible to take trustworthy Muslims word, it would perhaps be better to find out ourselves. Unless I know someone very well; know they are constant in salat, their history of honesty and I trust their judgement, I research or confirm things myself, especially matters of my deen. None of us are perfect though, but we strive to do best.
The women who asked questions and specifics in Rasullullah’s day salla lahu alahi wa salam, were commended for their persistance in finding out and clarifying even what was considered as small matters. Al hamdulilah may we be like them, living for the Akhirah.
Assalamou alaikom wa rahmaullah sisters
its funny how everyone is jumping to the conclusion that this nail polish really is islamically acceptable when the founder of the polish himself couldnt himself do that because he wanted to be certain…..at least there’s some conscience and honesty left in this world.
“Inglot had insisted on having more data before he felt he could responsibly promote the varnish as being compliant with Islamic law.” found in the link posted below
http://news.yahoo.com/breathable-nail-polish-surprise-hit-151546563.html
I understand that the chap who developed this product isn’t a Muslim. So maybe that’s why he sought advice?
I am getting really annoyed with u SK, read all the articles before u even make a judgement.
Inglot’s varnish was developed about four years ago but became a hit with Muslim women after an Islamic scholar, Mustafa Umar, declared last November that it was permissible under Muslim law because it allowed water to reach the nail.
“I don’t think there is a single Muslim living here,” Inglot said at his factory, near the border with Ukraine, nine days before his death from internal haemorrhaging. “We didn’t even think about this.” He said the company was unable to immediately meet all requests for orders, and that the phenomenon was so fresh that he didn’t yet have any figures on sales.
“But it looks very promising,” Inglot said. “We were very surprised and very happy with that.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/wojciech-inglot-cosmetics-maker-who-caused-a-craze-among-muslim-women-8513670.html
SO IT IS APPROVED BY A SCHOLAR! IT IS HALAL
Nails are cleaned before painting with nail polish,if hands and nails are washed throughly water can reach the nail and skin from underneath – no nail polish there!
updates from Mustafa Umar’s blog:
UPDATE: 02-25-13: Mr. Inglot, the founder of the company, just passed away on Feb 23. We were scheduled to meet this week and he was going to share his research on some tests being performed on the O2M polish. The tests will now be delayed for a while. You may download his preliminary findings here.
UPDATE: 02-07-13: The permeability may be affected by wearing more than one layer [e.g. a base coat, top coat, etc.] so make sure to either test permeability or wait until Inglot releases the tests that they are currently conducting before using multiple layers.
_________________________________
Sisters your wudu is far more important than beautifying yours nails. If your wudu is questionable, then your worship is questionable. Do you really want a question mark in your books on the day of Qiyamah?
Please refrain from wearing Inglot or any other ‘breathable’ nail polish until further tests have been made.
Listen i only wear 1 layer so im not bothered, according to bloggers who have worn 1 layer or 2 layer they say it does not chip therefore there is no need to buy a base coat therefore my wudhu will be halal seeing as i only wear a coat of it anyways
please be bothered…we here here in this dunya for a short while..as muslims we will not live once..but twice..here and the hereafter..Almighty God guide us always..
i tried the test with one layer. still didnt work.
assalmualaikum..when the the holy quran tells one that wudu is an important step for salaat…why should we then jeopardise our salaat by wearing nail polish…just saying…
Because people are not praying, so they are not jepordizing their salat, they’re just not making it. Sad
Ma Shaa Allah Finally a sensible comment.
don’t wear nail polish, never have, never tempted. but clicked ‘like’ for the reasoning and effort employed to explore whether grounds for permissibility may exist (note: the existence of grounds, is legally different from the actual decision; i think the article totally understood this and communicated the findings well).
You’ve got to be kidding. 117 responses on nail polish?
Really people is something as simple as having your nails painted keeping you from praying? Are you going to respond on the day of judgement with “I didn’t pray because I liked to paint my nails” ?! You all sound so ignorant. Sure I wear makeup and I am a makeup artist however this is just wrong, in my opinion prayer is prayer respect it. Just like if your job didnt want you wearing nailpolish you wouldnt because you be afraid of the consequences. Fear the consequences of Allah swt. He knows best
Mashalla well said Hanan.
So true Hanan
Absolutely; our prayers are far too important to take a chance with.
My dream! I love nail art, is is the perfect solution, I think its pretty legit.
“It is imperative that issues such as the legitimacy of wearing breathable nail polish while performing wuḍū’ be properly researched both on the scientific level as well as the fiqhī (Islamic Law) level.”
Seriously? is it imperative?, I think it comes somewhere so down the list of things that need to be properly researched, perhaps we ought to concentrate more on our adab with each other and being inherently more Islamic than by focussing on minutiae like this.
The problems we have in Islam today are a result of looking at everything under a microscope and not looking enough at the gist of the thing. How is it that most Muslims seem to have an undeveloped inner voice that makes them more confident of their infinitely merciful lord.
These sorts of posts are SO depressing, where we make religion into a binary YES/NO lens betweenthe paths to heaven and hell.
Stop it and learn to love as god loves you, only then will you be able to judge with mercy.
i dont see the problem with testing this product in a scientific setting. in fact, that’s what the author of this article should have done before promoting this product, the makers of which cant even provide us with decent proof (other than a link to this “fatwa”) that their product actually works. that’s called false advertising. muslims are so gullible.
Assalaamu Alaykum Sisters,
After reading that the breathable nail polish is not valid for wudu which contradicts this article I decided to conduct the experiment myself. I paid $22.00 for the nail polish and delivery. I used coffee filter to conduct the test. I spread one layer of the o2M breathable nail polish and place it over a glass, secured it with an elastic band then poured water into the nail polish lined filter. The water did not permeate the surface. As the control test, I used a fresh coffee filter (no nail polish), placed it over a glass and poured water into. Unlike the nail polish treated filter, the water immediately seeped and dripped. My conclusion is that the breathable nail polish is NOT valid for wudu.
Thank you! This is what i’ve been trying to tell the whole world but people conveniently skipped over my messages lol. i, along with a bunch of my friends, also conducted this experiment and it failed as well.
*bangs his head against a wall*
We seem to be becoming a community of Sharia jurists with undeveloped faculties for appreciating divine love. Good luck with that everybody, I guess you’re hoping on the day of reckoning that god turns out to be petty and not the infinitely merciful one he’s promised to be. Only then will your pedantry and distraction from focusing more on your adab have it’s true reward.
Wake up, God doesn’t care about your nail polish, he’s far more concerned with your adab and intentions.
Please don’t judge women who love wearing nail polish like me. My husband pays for my manicures & pedicures every time I have my monthly period and I really don’t see any harm in having it done. I use gloves and socks to cover my hands and feet from strangers and only mahram gets to see them in their glory. It is unfair to say that its not ‘islamic’ to do so. I’m not going to be plain and boring for my husband. I dress up, color my hair, style it, take care of my body. What is wrong with that?????? And I wear nail polish and a bit of light make up to female only wedding receptions too, is that also unislamic? Please do not make it as if our religion is hard, it is NOT. Everything is considered PERMISSIBLE until proven otherwise.
I don’t think anyone is judging anyone here but just trying to give their advice. You’re right we should not make islam hard as it’s not that difficult. One thing I did want to say was that…nail polish may not be haraam as it probably does not have any haraam ingredients in it…but one thing that does not cross many sisters’ minds is that: yes you don’t have to pray so I guess it’s okay that you wear nail polish because wudhu is not necessary to do zikr etc.
But to clean our hands is necessary for ghusl and can any one on this discussion board guarantee that we will live until tonight? If we have nail polish on and we die then I don;t know how many of our mothers and sisters want to take nail polish off our dead body! It’s just something to think about… I know many of us feel that it’s okay to wear it during those 7 days or for a wedding etc but we can’t guarantee that we will live to take it off…
May Allah grant us all Knoweldge. Ameen.
“I don’t know how many of our mothers and sisters want to take nail polish off our dead body! It’s just something to think about”
This is absurd, your Rab is rahman and rahim BEFORE anything else, as long as your niyyah is good, I’m pretty confident that you’ll be fine by Him. Love Him more than you fear Him and you’ll come to see that too.
Some of these comments are ridiculous.. For the record, I agree with Saqib and Foxymardy.
Too many people from the Muslim community are bogged down with correcting the silliest and smallest things in others. Do you really think that Allah is going to be concerned about women wearing nail varnish or about how pure their intentions are when they pray? Some people get so silly about these things it drives me nuts. Allah has not made our paths difficult for us but it is all we seem to do and these are the reasons why the ummah is constantly being divided into more and newer sects.
Let me tell you about an experience that I had:
I began my salah in the University prayer room and a woman who was kneeling next to me and (whom I believe had just broken her own salah), started to nudge me repeatedly while I was praying. At first I tried to ignore it but then I thought to myself that it has to be something important for another Muslimah to actually disrupt my salah, so I broke it and turned to her. She looked at me and said: ‘You can’t pray’, to which I questioned,’why not?’. Her answer was simple: ‘You’re not wearing any socks’. I told her that I didn’t have any and that I didn’t believe I had to cover my feet to pray and smiled at her. I went back to pray but she stopped me. We got into a confrontation and she insisted that she would not let me pray because apparently I ‘couldn’t’ because my feet were uncovered – NOT my ankles or my legs, this was simply about my feet. I then asked her to tell me where this ruling was written and after a pause of hesitation she stuttered and said ‘er er in the Qur’an’. So I asked her to show me where in the Qur’an she had read the ruling on covering ones feet during salah. She then indicated to me that she would show me once she had completed her own prayer – in the meantime my manager unawarely, was paying for me to stand in the prayer room to not even pray. I knew this woman hadn’t read anything about the ‘ruling’ in the Qur’an herself because her body language and reluctance to discuss it with me had pretty much given her away, not to mention I had already read the Qur’an myself and never read anything of the sort in any of the verses regarding a) salah or b) modesty. Even if she had said she had read it in a Hadith I would have understood – not agreed with it however, but understood.
Back to my point – this women did not let me pray and instead I had to pray in someone’s office which I later got into a bit of trouble for. Our duties as Muslim brothers/sisters is to advise one another not enforce our views upon others. Allah is all-Merciful and all-Forgiving and too many people focus on the things that don’t matter because they forget about what really matters and that’s the our imaan which can only be found within our hearts.
May Allah guide us all to the right path insha’Allah.
I agree there are much more things we need to worry about rather than worrying about little things. I would like to apoligize for anything I have said or implemented to any of my sisters out there.
Let’s not argue/fight/put down others as we are all Muslims and we all know what is our duty. Satan just wants us to fight with eachother and break down the sisterhood of Islam.
Let’s be strong and not let him get to us.
this is very informative. thank you
I am curious as to how this test was done exactly seeing as how Inglot claims only water vapor gets through and I personally tested it (as others seem to have done) three times, once with a tissue and twice with a coffee filter, and water did not seep through and the underside of where the nail polish was applied was completely dry. I think this was maybe too good to be true…
Assalam alaykom,
For the record, I got this “breathable” nail polish (Ingot O2M breathable) and did my own test. I painted a corner of a thin tissue with one layer of the nail polish. I let it dry and then put a drop of water on it. The water DID NOT seep through even when I applied pressure! I had done istikhara before this test and I think that this was the answer! As far as I am concerned, I don’t feel comfortable doing wudu’ while wearing this nail polish as the nails will remain dry, thus rendering the wudu’ invalid according to my understanding. I felt I ought to share this with you.
Just a thought: if water can’t get under nail polish, how will dirt get under there?
Allah has given you all wisdom, if you choose not to use it, you never know to depend on it and just end up taking everything literally.
He is infinitely merciful, have faith that he loves you as he says he does and not fear him as he has said his mercy outstrips his wrath. What stops you lot embracing that?
its not about whether dirt with get to your fingernails…
True; it is not about dirt but about following the command of Allah swt in the best way possible ( in this case the command is washing every part of the arm as part of Wudu).
It does make sense to stay away from anything that might put a question mark on this obedience.
Aslm alkm my dear sisters vanity is taking over and we seem to be adopting the mantra image is everything, that said, I wished this could be true untill I realized that how does water vapor come about; water gets heated to 100 degrees c, so technically that would be an impossible feat on our nails us we would burn, personally I think this consumer market has honed on the fact we Muslim women are desperate to use beauty products, so why not bend the rules to put us on the playing field? Just saying! May Allah Almighty guide us to what’s right
Interesting. I have always avoided nail polish for this reason.
How about someone tests this realistically and not on some tissue paper/coffee filter? How about somebody actually tests this on their nails? Be creative you could use henna… Later taking off the nail polish check to see if there is ‘any’ henna stain at all? And by the way ‘Zu’ when you catch cold and use a steamer for inhalation or use a warm most humidifier in your room are you actually inhaling a 100 degree steam? Not to put you down but it sounds ridiculous if you think team can only be produced/used at 100 degrees!
Salam sister, you made a very good suggestion regarding the henna and I actually tried it. Ive had the breathable nail polish on my nails for a few days now so on top of my nail I just applied some henna. After removing the nail polish and henna my nail had the dye of the henna underneath! So I believe this goes to show that water would pass through it.
and sorry I forgot to mention that I tried the same method on my sister who wore a normal nail polish and after removing both products the nail underneath was clear.
Give it a try yourself proof is there.
Ok, so the nail polish is permeable. That’s good news. But how do you feel about the whole point why women wear nail polish? Is it not to beautify the hands, while we are asked to be modest? I’m all for choices, but I wouldn’t feel right wearing this outside of my home anymore than I would feel right wearing makeup, permeable or not. Though, I do appreciate the convenience of wearing it within my home without having to remove it for each salah.
And in all this minutiae you think you’ll find God?
He doesn’t care, we were advised to be modest in the sense that do not flaunt your outer beauty that men might make inappropriate advances but to take that to an extreme and leave your moustache or your bushy monobrow in place is not what was meant either. Where is all your akkal?, avoid revealing or tight fitted clothing and you’re generally good.
Women really should avoid giving other women advice, not only do most of you not have the hidaayah for it, the other thing is, that if your narrow minded men aren’t making life hard enough for you, other women are even less merciful towards their sisters in Islam. Stop it, use the akkal God gave you and love yourself in the knowledge that God loves you and in turn love him back more than you fear him.
So much of everything written above is mindless hysteria and not taking a step back and thinking.
Saqib,
if you take a step back and read your comment, you will see that you are being judgmental yourself. I dont care much about all this (i care that a company may be misleading and falsely advertising) but to judge a person with a monobrow or that most of the women dont have the “hidaayah” to advise each other is very judgmental of you. I dont agree with a lot of the comments above or the way the “advice” is given, but i’m not going to make broad statements like yours.
if a woman (or man) is comfortable with their unibrow, more power to them. I’m not going to judge based on the standards set by society and expect every unibrow owner to fix that “problem.”
basically, you are doing exactly what they are. and if a woman really wants to make sure that a product satisfies what she views a prerequisite to salah, then we shouldn’t judge her either.
otherwise, you can use your argument for every detail in Islam. why face the qiblah? why pray 4 raka’s of asr?
i’m not trying to nitpick i’m just trying to make a point. if we expect others not to pick on the details, we shouldn’t either.
I conducted the test on coffee filters. The water didn’t penetrate. I did it along with a highschool teacher and a PHD of Science (who both assisted).
Water vapours aren’t sufficient for wudu. The fingernails are one of the 4 obligatory parts to be washed in the Hanafi school. The part being washed must be able to drip two drops of water for it to be considered washed…not two vapours, or anything else.
It didn’t pass – wudu isn’t valid – prayer isn’t valid without wudu.
This is a matter of what is VALID and not ACCEPTED. Acceptance is a matter of Allah, VALIDITY is a treasure that 1400 years of scholarship toiled to learn, preserve, and transmit.