Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
Though Islam prohibits lustful looking at members of the opposite sex, looking at women does not break one’s wudu (ablution) unless madhi (pre-seminal fluid) is emitted.
Answering your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
There is no evidence in the authentic sources of Islam to suggest that either looking at a woman or laughing invalidates one’s wudu.
However, if you look at a woman with lust, then it may cause your wudu to break, due to the onset of madhi.
It goes without saying that many scholars are of the view that touching a woman with desire breaks wudu for it is associated with madhi.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.