What should a worshipper do if his gums start to bleed whilst he is praying?

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly:

If there is
bleeding from the gums, then it is not permissible to swallow it, whether
that happens whilst one is praying or otherwise.

Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If the blood
comes out of the mouth, then it is not permissible to swallow it, because
Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Prohibited
to you are dead animals, blood…”
[al-Maa’idah 5:3].

End quote from
Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (7/2).

So if he is
praying and he swallows it deliberately, then his prayer is rendered
invalid, because it is like eating whilst praying. But if that happens
involuntarily, such as if the blood reaches the throat (before he can do
anything about it), then his prayer is still valid.

If he is praying
in the mosque, then he should spit into a tissue, and it is not permissible
for him to spit in the mosque, lest he contaminate it.  If he is praying
outside the mosque, it is permissible for him to spit beneath his left foot
or to his left.

Al-Hajjaawi said
in az-Zaad (p. 47)

He may spit to
his left whilst praying, and if he is in the mosque (he should spit) into
his garment. End quote.

It says in
al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah (40/126):

The majority of
fuqaha’ are of the view that it is haraam to throw sputum or the like on the
walls of the mosque or on the rugs; rather the mosque should be protected
from all kinds of dirt and filth, even if it is not actually najis (impure),
such as sputum or the like.

End quote.

Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If a person is
in the mosque (and he needs to spit), then he should spit in his garment (a
handkerchief) and should not spit in the mosque, because the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Spitting in the mosque is
wrong.” If someone commits this wrong action, the expiation for that is to
bury it. Based on that, we say: do not spit in the mosque to your left;
rather spit into your garment.

He should not
spit under his foot in the mosque, because spitting in the mosque is wrong,
because it contaminates the mosque.

End quote from
ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘ (3/273).

Secondly:

The fuqaha’
differed concerning the ruling on blood that comes out from anywhere other
than the front and back passage and whether it invalidates wudoo’ or not.

The more correct
view is that it does not invalidate wudoo’. We have explained that
previously in fatwa no. 45666.

Thirdly:

With regard to
the effect  on the fast of swallowing blood that comes from the gums, if he
swallows it involuntarily, then his fast remains valid, but if he does that
deliberately, then his fast is spoiled, and if it was a day of Ramadan or an
obligatory fast, then he must make it up; if it was a voluntary fast, then
he does not have to make it up.

See the answer
to question no. 37937.

Fourthly:

With regard to
blood that comes out of the nose or mouth, if it is a small amount, then it
is overlooked, but if it is a large amount then it is najis, and whatever
gets onto the body or the clothes must be washed off; if that happens during
prayer, then the prayer is rendered invalid and must be repeated if it was
an obligatory prayer.

Shaykh Muhammad
ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: What is the ruling
on blood if it comes out whilst a person is praying; does it interrupt the
prayer or not?

He replied: If
the blood that comes out comes from the front or back passage, then it
invalidates wudoo’; in this case he must stop praying, wash off whatever of
the blood has got onto him, do wudoo’ anew, and start his prayer all over
again.

But if it does
not come from the front or back passage, such as blood that comes from the
nose or the teeth, or from an injury, then he should carry on praying, if he
is able to pray without being distracted by this blood and he can complete
the prayer, because the more correct scholarly view is that blood does not
invalidate wudoo’, even if it is a large quantity.

But if it is a
lot of blood, then most of the scholars think that blood is najis in large
quantities, and it cannot be overlooked. In that case it is essential to
stop praying in order to wash off whatever blood has got onto the body, then
go back and pray again without repeating wudoo’, according to the more sound
opinion [because his wudoo’ was not invalidated by the bleeding]; in other
words, he should start the prayer all over again.

But if the blood
is a small amount, then he may carry on with his prayer and there is no
blame on him..

End quote from
Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (2/7).

See question no.
163819.

If the gum
bleeds slightly, which is what is usually the case with bleeding from the
gum, then he should spit into a tissue whilst he is praying, because this is
overlooked, and he does not have to wash the handkerchief or garment, but it
is mustahabb to wash it for the purpose of cleanliness and getting rid of
dirt, but not because it is najis.

Fifthly:

There is no
religious text concerning the number of times something should be washed to
remove najaasah (impurity), except the najaasah of a dog only; the najaasah
of a dog must be washed seven times, one of which should be with dust. With
regard to other kinds of najaasah, no particular number is stipulated;
rather it must be washed until the najaasah is removed, even if it is only
washed once.

See the answer
to question no. 163825.

And Allah knows
best.