Praise be to Allah.
If you lose your Wudu when praying and you are certain because there is a sound or a smell, then you have to repeat your Wudu and your prayer, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “If any one of you breaks wind during prayer, let him stop and do Wudu, then repeat the prayer.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 205; al-Tirnidhi, 1164, with a hasan isnaad). And he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The prayer of any one of you will not be accepted if he breaks wind, until he has done Wudu.” (Agreed upon; al-Bukhari, 135; Muslim, 225)
But if this happens to you constantly, then you have to do Wudu for prayer when the time for prayer begins, then pray fard and naafil – before the time for that prayer ends – and it does not matter if you pass wind during that time, because this is the matter of necessity and the one who is continually breaking his Wudu is excused and does not have to do Wudu until the time for the next prayer begins. There is a great deal of evidence for that, including the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):
“So keep your duty to Allah and fear Him as much as you can”
[al-Taghaabun 64:16]
A hadeeth narrated by ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) speaks of a woman who suffered from prolonged non-menstrual bleeding (istihaadah), to whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “… then do Wudu for every prayer.” (Narrated by al-Bukhari, 228).
With regard to reading or reciting Quran, there is nothing wrong with reciting from memory even if you do not have Wudu, except in the case of janaabah (impurity following sexual activity), in which case you should not read until you have done ghusl. But you should not touch the Mus-haf unless you are pure from both major and minor impurity, unless the problem is continual, in which case you should do Wudu at the time for each prayer, and read Quran from the Mus-haf and recite from memory, because of the rulings on prayer referred to above. May Allah help us all.
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