Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalaam Alaikum WRWB

Jazak Allahu Khairan for this email brother Usman.

My husband & I are confused now because, in one of his emails brother Burhan had said that it is compulsory for one to take complete gusal/bath after intercourse so that one can pray Salaat. Right brother Burhan? But in the below you say that our Beloved Prophet (SAWS) used to pray in the clothes stained in semen just by scratching it off.

Kindly advise as we are a bit perplexed.

Brothers – please do not think that I am trying to compare 2 scholars here. Alhumdulillah I am very grateful & happy that you both send me authentic Hadiths. I am sending my query to you both only so that Shabbir & I can get an answer after you both discuss. Maybe we are not able to understand your both emails.

Kindly apologise if I have offended you in anyway; not my intention at all.

Allah Hafiz

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Semen on clothes impure

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Respected sister in Islam, never ever hesitate or apologize for asking any questions in the deen; for the deen or ‘way of life’ called Al-Islam is based on the Perfect Wisdom and Knowledge of the All Knowing Lord, and every single command of the All Wise Lord is abundant in common-sense and logic. Asking any type of questions in Islam to gain more knowledge, or to confirm the Truth so that one’s heart is more content, or to understand and thus follow with more conviction the dictates of the deen is not only permissible, but absolutely encouraged in Islam. It is the right of the brother or sister to ask anything they wish to clarify in the deen; and it is the responsibility and duty of the good scholars to address the question asked to the best of their knowledge and ability, and in the most polite and humble manner.

What is discouraged in Islam is if one asks questions for the sake of asking, or arguing to ridicule the Truth with absolutely no intention of obeying or following when the Truth is made clear to them, etc. But if one asks questions to clarify and seek knowledge so that one may better follow the deen; such seeking of the Knowledge of Truth is absolutely encouraged in Islam

Your Question: ….in one of his emails brother Burhan had said that it is compulsory for one to take complete gusal/bath after intercourse so that one can pray Salaat.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 5:

6 O ye who believe! When ye prepare for prayer wash your faces and your hands (and arms) to the elbows; rub your heads (with water); and (wash) your feet to the ankles. If ye are in a state of ceremonial impurity (post menstruation, post sexual intercourse, etc.) bathe your whole body. But if ye are ill or on a journey or one of you cometh from offices of nature or ye have been in contact (sexual intercourse) with women and ye find no water then take for yourselves clean sand or earth and rub therewith your faces and hands. Allah doth not wish to place you in a difficulty but to make you clean and to complete His favor to you that ye may be grateful.

The acts or conditions which constitute a state of ‘major or ceremonial impurity’ and make the ‘ghusl’ or full bath of purification absolutely obligatory and a pre-condition before one makes themselves available for prayer are:

1. Sexual intercourse
2. Full sexual discharge (release of semen)
3. If the male private organ so much as touches the female private organ, regardless of whether sexual intercourse took place or not, and regardless of whether sexual discharge was released from one’s private parts or not.
4. Post periodic and post child-birth menstruation of the women.

If one happens to be in the state of ‘ceremonial’ or ‘major’ impurity due to sexual intercourse, ejaculation, or menstruation, etc. it is absolutely obligatory for them to purify themselves with a ‘ghusl’ before they can make themselves available for prayer.

Your Question: …..in the below you say that our Beloved Prophet (SAWS) used to pray in the clothes stained in semen just by scratching it off.

Kindly advise as we are a bit perplexed.

There is a difference of opinion amongst the scholars regarding the ‘mani’ or semen being ‘najis’ and impure; although some scholars consider semen as impure as urine, the majority of the scholars are of the opinion that semen is not impure like urine, and one needs to wash the clothes only if and when the semen is wet; but if the semen has completely dried, one need not wash the clothes, the scraping of the dried semen from the clothes would suffice and one could make themselves available for prayers in those garments.

Sahih Muslim Hadith 572 Narrated by Aisha

Abdullah ibn Shihab al-Khawlani reported: ‘I stayed in the house of Aisha (r.a.) and had a wet dream (and perceived its effect on my garment), so (in the morning) I dipped both (the clothes) in water. This (act of mine) was watched by a maid-servant of Aisha (r.a.) and she informed her. She (Aisha (r.a.)) sent me a message: ‘What prompted you to act like this with your clothes?’ He (the narrator) said: ‘I told that I saw in a dream what a sleeper sees.’ She said: ‘Did you find (wet fluid) on your clothes?’ I said: ‘No’. She said: ‘Had you found anything you should have washed it. In case I found that (semen) on the garment of the Messenger of Allah (saws) dried up, I scraped it off with my nails.’

Said Aishah (r.a.), "I used to scratch the semen off the Messenger of Allah's (saws) clothes if it was dry, and wash it off if it was still wet."

Related by ad-Daraqutni, Abu 'Awanah and al-Bazzar.

Sahih Muslim Hadith 566 Narrated by Aisha

When I saw (dried) semen on the garment of the Messenger of Allah (saws), I simply scraped it off, and he (saws) offered prayer while wearing those garments.

In light of the above quoted guidance, it is evident that a garment does not become impure or ‘najis’ if one finds dried semen on it….if for any reason one does not wish to wash it, the mere scraping off of the dried semen from the garment would suffice; and it would be permissible for one to offer their prayers in those garments.

One guidance pertains to the purification of one’s own physical purification after sexual intercourse (ghusl); the other pertains to the purification of the garment which was stained by the semen during the intercourse (the scraping of the dried semen).

Respected sister in Islam, if one has sexual intercourse, without an iota of a doubt one would need to purify themselves with a ‘ghusl’ before they can make themselves available for prayer.

But if one finds that some semen which was released during their sexual intercourse had touched their garment, and one scrapes that dried semen from their garment…..after one has performed the obligatory ‘ghusl’ to purify themselves from their state of ceremonial impurity, one is at liberty to wear that same semen-stained garment from which they have scraped off the dried semen, and make themselves available for prayer wearing that garment.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan