Fatwa ID: 05453

Answered by: Alimah Safiyya-Maryam Ahmed

Question:

A girl got gel nails from the salon after she gave birth since she wouldn’t be praying for those days. After her Nifas, the salons closed and there was no other to take those nails off except to go to the salon. What should she do? It’s been around 40 days now since this happened. She has been praying but the water is not reaching her nails.

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

Water reaching the nails is one of the requirements of ghusl and wudhu, therefore it is imperative that the gel nails are removed as ghusl/wudhu will not be valid with them on. From my understanding one does not necessarily have to visit a salon to remove them, rather you can purchase acetone and remove them at home. There are many tutorials for this available on the internet but I have linked one below for your reference. All of the salahs that the sister prayed with the gel nails will have to be repeated as her ghusl after the completion of nifaas was not valid nor her subsequent wudhus. In all reality, this serves as a stark reminder to the sister and to us all about the dangers of wearing such nails- a temporary fashion statement can have dire consequences if we are unable to remove them to pray salah due to unforeseen circumstances such as this scenario, or if we were to pass away and our final ghusl was incomplete due to the nails being unable to be removed.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Alimah Safiyya-Maryam Ahmed

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

أقول: فيهأن الغسل فيالاصطلاح غسل البدن،واسمالبدنيقععلىالظاهروالباطنإلامايتعذرإيصالالماءإليهأويتعسركمافيالبحر،فصاركلمنالمضمضةوالاستنشاقجزءامنمفهومه،فلاتوجدحقيقة الغسل الشرعيةبدونهما،ويدلعليهأنهفيالبدائعذكرركن الغسل وهوإسالةالماءعلىجميعمايمكنإسالتهعليهمنالبدنمنغيرحرج… ومفاده عدم الجواز إذا علم أنه لم يصل الماء تحته. قال في الحلية: وهو أثبت. قوله: (إن صلبا) بضم الصاد المهملة وسكون اللام وهو الشديد. حلية: أي إن كان ممضوغا مضغا متأكدا، بحيث تداخلت أجزاؤه وصار لزوجه وعلاكة كالعجين. شرح المنية. قوله: (وهو الأصح) صرح به في شرح المنية وقال:
لامتناع نفوذ الماء مع عدم الضرورة والحرج (رد المحتار, كتاب الطهارة, صفحة ٢٨٩, دار عالم الكتب)

https://www.boots.com/skincare-beauty-advice/nails-advice/how-to-remove-gel