Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick
Question Summary
It’s known that there are many benefits of going to sleep with wudu. The Shafi’i position on touching one’s wife nullifying wudu is also well-known. For us married folks, how are we to obtain the rewards of sleeping with wudu if we lose it once we get into bed with our spouses?
Question Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
May Allah guide us to that which pleases Him and forgive us for our shortcomings, Amin.
The point of the sunna, Allah knows best, is to fall asleep while in the state of ablution (wudu). Once asleep, the wudu is automatically broken. To achieve the blessings of sleeping with wudu, one could either:
1. Avoid skin contact with one’s spouse until one has fallen asleep.
2. Adopt the view of the Maliki, Hanbali, or Hanafi Schools, according to which skin contact does not automatically break one’s wudu, and Allah knows best.
Sleeping with Wudu
The Prophet (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “When you go to bed, perform ablution (wudu) as you do for prayer.” [Agreed Upon]
Ibn Hajar said: The apparent meaning is that it is recommended (mustahabb) for everyone who wants to sleep to renew his wudu, even if he already has wudu.
Imam Al-Nawawi said: “If a person has wudu, that is sufficient for him, because the point is to go to sleep having wudu, lest he dies in his sleep, and so that his dreams will be more trustworthy, and so that the devil will be less likely to play with his dreams and frighten him.” [Sharh Sahih Muslim]
I pray this is of benefit.
[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan.
Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.
He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.
Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.