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Post-Ghusl Exiting of Ejaculate (maniyy)

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher

After having sexual intercourse, an individual (male or female) performs the obligatory bath (ghusl) to lift the state of major ritual impurity (janaba). After finishing the bath and drying off, they notice that some more semen has discharged from their genitals. Do they now have to take another bath?

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

In the Shafi‘i school, the exiting of semen from a male or the equivalent sexual fluid from a female necessitates the purificatory bath (ghusl) regardless of whether or not it exits with desire. Often, after ejaculation at sexual intercourse, some of this ejaculate (maniyy) remains in the passageway and drips out after one has already performed a purificatory bath. This is perhaps more common in men than in women, and would necessitate another purificatory bath in the Shafi‘i school. Scholars recommend that men who ejaculate should urinate before performing ghusl to ensure that all ejaculate has completely cleared from the passageway, thus avoiding this situation.

For women, there is another case where they need to repeat their ghusl: if both a woman and her husband ejaculate during intercourse, then she must repeat her bath even if her husband’s semen exits from her after she has performed the bath. This is because the fact that both of them ejaculated makes it likely that her ejaculated sexual fluids have mixed with her husband’s semen and so when her husband’s semen exited, it probably contained some of her own sexual fluids as well (Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, 1.263). Reliance says:

“e10.3 When a woman who has been made love to performs the purificatory bath, and the male’s sperm afterwards leaves her vagina, then she must repeat the ghusl if two conditions exist:

(a) that she is not a child, but rather old enough to have sexual gratification (A: as it might otherwise be solely her husband’s sperm);
(b) and that she was fulfilling her sexual urge with the lovemaking …”

How do I know it was ejaculate (maniyy)?

Ejaculate—whether male or female—can be identified by any one of three characteristics. In the words of the Reliance:

“e10.4 Male sperm and female sexual fluid are recognized by the fact that they:

(a) come in spurts;
(b) with sexual gratification;
(c) and when moist, smell like bread dough and when dry, like egg-white.

When a substance from the genital orifice has any one of the above characteristics, then it is sperm or sexual fluid and makes the purificatory bath obligatory. When not even one of the above characteristics is present, it is not sperm or sexual fluid. Being white or thick is not necessary for it to be considered male sperm, and being yellow or thin is not necessary for it to be considered female sexual fluid.”

How far does it have to exit before the bath becomes obligatory?

For men, ghusl becomes obligatory when their semen appears onto the outside of the head of the penis (dhahir al-hashafa).

For non-virgin women, ghusl becomes obligatory when their sexual ejaculate appears onto what appears of their vagina when they squat on their two feet.

For virgin women, ghusl becomes obligatory when their sexual ejaculate appears onto their outer vagina (dhahir al-farj), meaning that it crosses their hymen.

(Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, 1.263; Hashiyat al-Sharqawi, 1.76)

And Allah knows best.

Hamza.

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