Traces of animal blood staining one's skin or clothes

Q: Some Muslims come to the Masjid (mosque) to offer Salah (Prayer) while their clothes are stained with blood. When they are advised to remove the blood, they reply that it is the blood of a sacrificial animal whose meat is Halal (lawful) and its blood does not invalidate Salah. Is this statement true or not? Is it permissible to offer Salah when a person’s skin or clothes have been stained with blood or not?

A: All praise be to Allah Alone, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, and his family and Companions. Taharah (purity) as well as permissibility are the basic rule of things. Nothing should be declared Haram (forbidden) or Najis (impure) unless there is evidence for it. There is no absolute correlation between what is forbidden and what is impure; everything impure is forbidden, but not everything forbidden is impure. (Part No. 5; Page No. 374) The Noble Qur’an indicates that prohibition of blood is absolute as well as conditionally restricted, and the absolute can be interpreted through the restricting condition. Allah (Exalted be He) says (what means): Forbidden to you (for food) are: Al-Maitah (the dead animals - cattle - beast not slaughtered), blood and Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم): "I find not in that which has been revealed to me anything forbidden to be eaten by one who wishes to eat it, unless it be Maitah (a dead animal) or blood The prohibition of blood in the first Ayah is absolute, whereas in the second Ayah it is conditional upon being “Masfuh [poured forth blood].” Al-Qurtuby said: “The scholars are unanimously in agreement that blood is forbidden and Najis. It must not be eaten or benefited from.” He also said, “Allah (Exalted and Glorified be He) here states (in Surah Al-Baqarah and Al-Ma’idah) the absolute prohibition of blood and restricts this prohibition in Surah Al-An‘am by using the phrase ...poured forth The scholars have unanimously agreed on interpreting the absolute prohibition stated here (in Surah Al-Baqarah) using the restricted prohibition. In other words, the blood stated here - in Surah Al-Baqarah - means the blood which is poured forth. Because the blood mixed with the meat is not forbidden according to the Ijma‘ (consensus of the scholars), as is the case with the liver and spleen, consensually agreed on.” Through this we learn that blood in between the meat that may stain the skin or the clothing of person is not Najis, because it is not ‘poured forth blood.’ But it is more appropriate for Muslims to clean themselves from this dirtiness and to avoid accusation of being repulsive or having stains of Najis blood, which is the poured forth blood (Masfuh). It is worth mentioning here that scholars are of the view that a small amount of poured forth blood is excused. (Part No. 5; Page No. 375) May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.