Does touching my wife (or any woman) break my wudu?

The stronger position of Ahl al-Sunnah is that merely touching a woman — including one's spouse — does not break wudu unless it is accompanied by an emission such as madhi or maniyy. The word "lāmastum" in the verse of wudu is understood by Ibn Abbas and others to mean sexual intercourse, not skin contact, and it is reported that the Prophet kissed one of his wives and then prayed without renewing wudu; it is authentically established in Sahih Muslim that Aisha's legs would be stretched toward the qibla in front of him and he would touch them when he wished to prostrate, and she would draw them back. The Shafi'i madhhab holds that skin contact with a marriageable woman does nullify wudu, so this is a genuine and old point of ikhtilaf; the view that touch alone does not break wudu is supported by the clearer evidence.

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