Does fainting invalidate wudu?
Short answer
Fainting invalidates wudu because it removes awareness more completely than deep sleep.
Evidence and explanation
The cited answer compares fainting to deep sleep in the loss of awareness, while distinguishing it from light sleep in which awareness remains.
Scholar referenced
This editorial summary is based on the original source linked below and is not presented as a verbatim quotation from the scholar.
From the text of the answer (Arabic, with an English translation)
Original answer — Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymin
هل ينتقض الوضوء بالإغماء ؟ وحكم قضاء الصلوات الفائتة بالإغماء — محتوى ٧٩٠٩- Question
«بارك الله فيكم. السؤال الثاني يقول: هناك رجل مصاب بمرض عصبي، فيأتيه الإغماء أحياناً ويستمر به مدة ثم يفيق، فما الحكم بالنسبة للوضوء؟ هل ينتقض بالإغماء أم لا؟ وكذلك لو طالت مدة الإغماء حتى فاتت عدة فروض من الصلوات فهل يقضيها أم لا يقضيها؟»
English translation (unreviewed): May Allah bless you. The second question says: There is a man afflicted with a nervous illness; fainting comes to him at times and lasts for a while, then he recovers. What is the ruling regarding wudu'? Is it broken by fainting or not? And likewise, if the fainting lasts so long that several obligatory prayers are missed, does he make them up or not?
- From the text of the answer
«الشيخ: أما الوضوء فإنه ينتقض بالإغماء؛ لأن الإغماء أشد من النوم، والنوم ينقض الوضوء إذا كان مستغرقاً بحيث لا يدري النائم لو خرج منه شيء، أما النوم اليسير الذي لو أحدث النائم لأحس بنفسه فإن هذا لا ينقض الوضوء سواء أن كان من نائم أو قاعد متكئ أو قاعد غير متكئ أو أي حال من الأحوال ما دام لو أحدث لأحس بنفسه فإن نومه لا ينقض الوضوء.»
English translation (unreviewed): The Shaykh: As for wudu', it is broken by fainting, because fainting is more severe than sleep, and sleep breaks wudu' if it is deep, such that the sleeper would not know if something came out of him. As for light sleep, such that if the sleeper broke wind he would feel it, this does not break wudu', whether from one who is lying down, or sitting leaning, or sitting not leaning, or in any state, as long as he would feel it if he broke wind; his sleep does not break wudu'.
The Arabic excerpts matched the original page word for word by an automated check and have not had human scholarly review. The English translations are unreviewed translations made for this site; they are not an approved Shari‘ah translation. Rely on the Arabic original.
Source
Does fainting invalidate wudu?
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy on him