Answered by Shaykh Sohail Hanif, SunniPath Academy Teacher
Aslam o alaikum wr wb,
i have a question relating to wet dream. I m actually confused i read on ur website two point first saying that if u dont remember having seen a wet dream and unsure whther wetness is mani, madhiy etc then u dont do ghusl. Now te other opinion states that u do ghusl. I m confused now??
The thing is that i usually sprinkle a lot of water b4 my prayers on my lower garment to remove any traces of impurity frm any kind of discharges. Now when i sleep in those clothes and wake up i still find them wet although i now deep its wetnes frm sprinkling as i dont recall seeing wet dream. So should i do ghusl anywayz in cases like these although in my heart i am more sure that it is frm sprinkling.
JAzakAllahu kahirn
Walaikum aslam wr wb
Assalamu alaykum
The answer being referred to by ustadha Shaista Maqbool is attached. The bottom line is that if one is sure that what one sees is not sperm then one does not have to do anything provided that no wet dream was seen. If one is really not sure what it is at all then one must perform the bath as the Hanafi school emphasises extreme caution in this issue, and rightly so for he that has no purification has no prayer and he that has no prayer has nothing.
What does it mean to be sure? One certainly is not expected to take one”s pyjamas to a lab for chemical testing. Rather, as in many places in the shariah, one has to return to one”s common sense and one”s observation based on what one is reasonably sure of (ghalaba al-Dhann). If one awakes and there is no sizeable stain on one”s clothing, nor on one”s body, neither did one see a dream and one found nothing but a slight speck of dampness in one”s clothing, one can safely assume that what one has found is not sperm but rather preejaculate (madhi) or dampness left over from one”s sprinkling one”s lower garment. This is the closest that one can get to being sure.
As for the practise of sprinkling water in one”s garments to purify them, it should be avoided. This does not purify as it does not count as washing. Light sprinkling in one”s underwear has only been recommended for those with neurotic misgivings who are constantly afraid of urine exiting their body as it allows them to assume that any moisture felt in their underwear is from the sprinkling and not urine. Heavy sprinkling is certainly not recommended as it has no real effect other than extreme discomfort.
Sohail Hanif