Published by Yala Media Group | April 2026
This is one of those questions that seems trivial until you think about it for thirty seconds — and then you realize it touches on real Islamic principles about ritual purity (taharah), modesty (haya), and the prophetic sunnah around relieving oneself. It’s a genuinely practical question for Muslim men who use public restrooms daily at work, at airports, in schools, and everywhere else.
The short answer: using a urinal is generally permissible, with some important conditions. The longer answer involves understanding what the Islamic sunnah of relieving oneself actually specifies and what the scholarly discussion looks like.
The Islamic framework for answering this question
When evaluating whether using a urinal is permissible, we need to look at the specific Islamic concerns that apply to the act of urination:
- Avoiding najasah (ritual impurity) — urine splashing back onto the body or clothing renders them ritually impure and requires cleaning before salah
- Awrah (modesty) — Islamic guidelines on what parts of the body should remain covered in different contexts
- Istinja/Istijmar — the Islamic requirement to cleanse oneself properly after urination
- The sunnah of sitting/squatting — the Prophet’s ﷺ general practice when relieving himself
The sunnah of relieving oneself: sitting vs. standing
The most substantial Islamic concern about urinals relates to the general prophetic sunnah of relieving oneself.
The Prophet ﷺ is reported to have generally squatted or sat close to the ground when urinating. Aisha (RA) said: “Whoever tells you that the Prophet ﷺ urinated standing, do not believe him. He would not urinate except squatting.” — Tirmidhi, Nasai (though the chain has been discussed by hadith scholars).
However, there is a well-known authentic narration that the Prophet ﷺ did urinate while standing on at least one occasion. Hudhayfah (RA) reported: “The Prophet ﷺ came to the garbage dump of a people and urinated while standing.” — Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim.
The scholars reconcile these narrations by concluding:
- The Prophet’s ﷺ general practice was to urinate while squatting
- He sometimes urinated while standing when circumstances required it or there was a valid reason
- Standing to urinate is not prohibited — it is simply not the preferred method
Ibn Qudamah stated in Al-Mughni: “Urinating while standing is permissible.” The Hanbali, Shafi’i, Maliki, and Hanafi schools all acknowledge that standing urination is permissible, even if the preferred sunnah is squatting.
Conclusion on standing: Using a urinal, which requires standing, is not haram. It departs from the preferred sunnah of squatting but does not violate any prohibition.
The najasah concern: the critical practical issue
This is where urinals become a genuinely significant Islamic concern — not because of standing, but because of splash.
Urinating while standing increases the risk of urine droplets splashing back onto the feet, legs, or clothing. Urine is najis (ritually impure), and if it reaches clothing or body, it must be cleaned before salah is valid.
The Prophet ﷺ was very particular about avoiding contact with urine. He passed by two graves and said: “They are being punished, and they are not being punished for something major. One of them did not protect himself from urine.” — Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim.
This hadith establishes that carelessness with urine — specifically not properly preventing it from touching the body — is taken very seriously in the Islamic tradition. A person being punished in the grave for not protecting himself from urine suggests this is not a minor issue.
The scholars who address the urinal question specifically focus on this concern: if you can use a urinal without splash reaching your body or clothing, it is permissible. If using a urinal reliably results in urine splash on your body or clothing — and modern restrooms, absent of bidets, make it difficult to clean this thoroughly — then the concern becomes significant.
Practical guidance:
- Stand close to the urinal to minimize splash distance
- Avoid using the urinal if you’re wearing garments that are difficult to shield (like a thobe with loose fabric)
- Be aware of any splash and address it: water on the area renders it clean if the najasah was minor; if you are uncertain, err on the side of caution
- If you consistently find that urinals result in urine contact with your body or clothing, using a stall is the more cautious Islamic choice
The awrah concern: modesty in public restrooms
The awrah of a man — what must remain covered — includes the area between the navel and the knee. At a urinal, the man exposes part of his private parts. The Islamic concern here is twofold:
Being seen: At a urinal, there is a risk of other men seeing part of your awrah. The Prophet ﷺ commanded protecting the awrah and disliked exposure in public, even for the purpose of relieving oneself. He said: “Guard your awrah except from your wife or what your right hand possesses.” — Tirmidhi.
At a urinal designed to provide visual separation between users (privacy dividers), this concern is significantly reduced for the person at the urinal itself. However, in urinal setups without dividers, or at troughs (the continuous urinal style found at some stadiums), the exposure concern is more significant.
Seeing others: The Muslim at a urinal should not look at other men’s awrahs. This is an Islamic obligation that applies in restroom settings as much as anywhere else.
Practical guidance: Use urinals that have privacy dividers between users where possible. Face the wall directly. Do not look at other men. If a urinal configuration offers no privacy protection and guarantees that your awrah will be visible to others, using a stall is more consistent with Islamic modesty.
The istinja/istijmar question
After urination, the Islamic requirement is to clean oneself — either with water (istinja) or with something solid that absorbs/removes the urine (istijmar, like toilet paper). Three times is the minimum for complete cleaning.
At a urinal, toilet paper is not typically available but water is not either. Some Muslim men carry small water bottles or use the sink faucet for istinja after using a urinal. Others use available toilet paper from a nearby stall or from a pocket.
The practical Islamic requirement: make sure you are properly clean before performing wudu and salah. However you achieve this at the urinal — water from the sink, toilet paper brought from a stall, or using a stall entirely — the obligation is to be ritually clean.
The scholar consensus: permissible with conditions
The mainstream scholarly position on urinals: using them is permissible as long as:
- You protect your clothing and body from urine splash (the primary concern)
- You maintain your awrah from the view of others as much as the setup allows
- You perform proper istinja/cleaning afterward
The preference remains using a stall where you can sit or squat, properly clean yourself, and maintain full modesty. But urinals are not prohibited, and the Muslim man who uses one while being careful about splash, maintaining his awrah as much as possible, and cleaning properly afterward is acting within permissible bounds.
The bigger picture
The Islamic rules around using the bathroom — facing away from the qibla, not speaking unnecessarily, saying the entering and exiting dua, protecting oneself from urine, cleaning properly — reflect the Islamic understanding that taharah (ritual purity) is a serious matter that connects directly to the validity of worship.
The Prophet ﷺ said: “Purity is half of faith.” — Sahih Muslim. The Muslim man who is careful about these things is not being pedantic. He is maintaining the purity that is the foundation of his salah.
Use whichever facility allows you to maintain that purity most reliably. If that’s a stall rather than a urinal, that is the better Islamic choice for you. If you can use a urinal while protecting yourself from splash and maintaining your modesty, it is permissible.
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