Short answer
No. Tears from crying, laughing, yawning, cold wind or cutting onions do not break wudu, and the four schools agree. In the Hanafi school, fluid that runs from the eye because of an eye infection or injury is different: it is treated like pus and breaks wudu when it flows.
Ordinary tears are pure and do not break wudu. Fluid that comes from the eye because of an illness, such as an infection or a wound, breaks wudu if it flows out of the eye, because it is likely to be pus or diseased fluid.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- Nothing that comes out of the eye breaks wudu, including fluid from an eye infection.
- Maliki
- Nothing that comes out of the eye breaks wudu, since only exits from the two passages do.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ said there is no wudu (ablution) except from a sound or a smell, meaning that wudu breaks for specific reasons, not for anything that leaves the body. Tears are not impure and are not among those reasons. The Prophet ﷺ himself wept in prayer, while reciting and at the death of his son, and no report says he renewed wudu for it.
So none of these break wudu:
- crying from sadness, fear of Allah or joy, even if you sob in prayer
- watering eyes from yawning, cold wind, allergies, eye drops or onions
- tears that run down your face onto your clothes; they are pure and need no washing
The exception in the Hanafi school is fluid that comes from a sick or injured eye. Hanafi jurists treat watery fluid from an infection, a wound or an inflamed eye like pus, which breaks wudu when it flows beyond the eye. Sticky "sleep" in the corner of the eye in the morning is not counted as flowing fluid; wipe it away and wash it when you make wudu.
A separate question is crying out loud in prayer. Weeping from fear of Allah or from thinking of Paradise and Hell does not spoil the prayer. Crying aloud with words of complaint because of pain or a worldly loss can break the prayer, but even then it does not break wudu. Only loud laughter has that effect, and only in the Hanafi school: see laughing in prayer. For the full list of breakers, see what breaks wudu.
The evidence
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 74
Grading to be checked... لا وضوء الا من صوت او ريح ...
"There is no wudu except because of a sound or a smell."
Said of someone unsure whether he had passed wind: wudu breaks for a known cause, not for anything that leaves the body, and tears are not one of those causes.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Taharah, nawaqid al-wudu. Fluid that comes from the eye, ear or navel because of illness breaks wudu when it flows.
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on what breaks wudu. Tears and sweat do not break wudu.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.