The Difference between the Urine of a Baby Boy and a Baby Girl

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The Baby boy’s urine:

Um Qays bint Mihsan (Radi Allahu Anha) narrated:

عَنْ أُمِّ قَيْسٍ بِنْتِ مِحْصَنٍ أَنَّهَا أَتَتْ بِابْنٍ لَهَا صَغِيرٍ لَمْ يَأْكُلِ الطَّعَامَ إِلَى رَسُولِ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَأَجْلَسَهُ رَسُولُ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي حِجْرِهِ فَبَالَ عَلَى ثَوْبِهِ فَدَعَا بِمَاءٍ فَنَضَحَهُ وَلَمْ يَغْسِلْهُ

I brought my young son, who had not started eating (ordinary food) to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) who took him and made him sit in his lap. The child urinated on the garment of the Prophet, so he asked for water and poured it over the soiled (area) and did not wash it.[1]

The Baby girl’s urine:

Ali ibn Abi Talib (Radi Allahu Anhu) narrated:

عَنْ عَلِىِّ بْنِ أَبِى طَالِبٍ رضى الله عَنْهُ أَنَّ رَسُولَ الله -صلى الله عليه وسلم- قَالَ فِى بَوْلِ الْغُلاَمِ الرَّضِيعِ « يُنْضَحُ بَوْلُ الْغُلاَمِ وَيُغْسَلُ بَوْلُ الْجَارِيَةِ

The Prophet ( ﷺ) said concerning the urine of a nursing infant: “Water should be sprinkled over the urine of a boy, and the urine of a girl should be washed.[2]

Fiqh and differences between the two nursing infants:

Washing the urine of the girl and sprinkling water over the urine of boy is only valid when both are nursing and aren’t eating food.

Abul-Yaman Al-Misri said: ‘I asked Shafi’i about the Hadith of the Prophet (sallAllahu alayhi wa salam), “Water should be sprinkled over the urine of a boy, and the urine of a girl should be washed, when the two types of water (urine) are the same. He said, “That is because the urine of the boy is of water and clay, but the urine of the girl is of flesh and blood.” Then he said to me: “Did you understand?” I said: “No.” He said: “When Allah the Most High created Adam, He created Eve (Hawwa) from his short rib, so the boy’s urine is from water and clay, and the girl’s urine is from flesh and blood.” Then he said to me: “Did you understand?” I said: “Yes.” He said: “May Allah cause you benefit from this.”[3]

The urine of a boy spatters here and there, so it’s difficult to wash it and the urine and baby girls spills in one area and there is no difficulty in cleansing the soiled area.

The urine of the nursing girl is more putrid than the urine of the nursing boy. Reason being, the temperature of the urine from the male is hotter with a stench. For that reason when water is sprinkled over the urine it reduces its smell.

Boys are carried more than girls ,so that’s a reason for sprinkling his urine and washing the girls.[4]

When sprinkling water over the nursing boy’s urine make sure the area is submerged with water. There is no need to rub that area. When washing the girl’s urine make sure you wash it same way you’d wash away the urine of adult.[5]

If the baby is nursing and taking infant formula or powdered milk then it is a must to wash the soiled area for both the male and female infant.[6]

Prepared by:

Abu Aaliyah Abdullah ibn Dwight Battle

PhD student (Hadith)

Doha, Qatar, 1436©

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[1] Al-Bukhari 223/ Muslim 287

[2] At-Tirmithi 613/ At-Tirmithi graded it as being Hasan

[3] Ibn Majah, # 525, graded as being Sahih by Al-Albani

[4] Tuhfatul Mawdude , by Ibn Qayyim , page 360

[5] Fatawa Ibn Aqeel, Vo1/99

[6] Sharhil Ummdah, by Shaykh Abdul Aziz Ar-Rajhi, pg 17