[Q 401] Obligatory Ghusl When Wetness Found After Sleep

QUESTION:

Salam if someone has semen leakages when he wakes up there be a few dots on the trousers. But he doesn’t remember if he had wet dreams however he has a lot of them and a chance it can be if they are a few dots on trousers. Does he have to do ghusl?

ANSWER:

In the described case, performing ghusl (ritual bath) is necessary because if after waking up from sleep one finds wetness on the clothes, and it is not clear whether it is semen, pre-seminal fluid, or penile discharge, or there is at least a possibility that it could be semen, and there was no lust before sleeping, then in such a situation ghusl becomes Wajib.
Note: that this issue is very common, and many people are negligent about it.
In Radd al-Muḥtār it is stated:

“ويجب عندهما فيما إذا شك في الأولين (المني والمذي) أو في الطرفين (المني والودي) أو في الثلاثة احتياطا”

(Radd al-Muḥtār, Vol. 1, p. 331, Quetta edition)

It is also mentioned in Radd al-Muḥtār:

“يجب فيها الغسل وإن لم يتذكر الاحتلام لكن بقيت هذه صادقة بما إذا كان ذكره منتشرا قبل النوم أو لا، مع أنه إذا كان منتشرا لا يجب الغسل”
(Radd al-Muḥtār, Vol. 1, p. 332, Quetta edition)

Imam Ahl al-Sunnah, Imam Ahmad Rida Khan رضي الله تعالى عنه writes in Fatawa Ridawiyyah: “If there is a possibility of it being semen — whether the doubt is between semen and pre-seminal fluid, or semen and penile discharge, or among all three — in all these cases, both jurists (Imam Abu Yusuf and Imam Muhammad رحمهما الله تعالى) unanimously declare ghusl to be Wajib.”

In another place, he says: “If there was no lust before sleep, or there was lust but it passed long before he fell asleep and the pre-seminal fluid that was to exit had already come out and been cleaned, and then one slept and found wetness whose nature is doubtful between semen and pre-seminal fluid, then there is no requirement of dominant assumption that that it is semen, rather merely on the basis of this possibility, ghusl is declared wajib.”

(Fatawa Ridawiyyah, Volume 1, Part b, Page 631, Raza Foundation)

It is stated in Bahar-e-Shariat: “If there was no lust before sleep, or it had subsided before sleeping, and whatever was discharged had been cleaned, then there is no need for a dominant assumption that the fluid is semen. Merely the possibility of it being semen is enough to make ghusl Wajib. This issue is very common, and people are often negligent. One should be careful about it.”

(Bahar-e-Shariat, Vol. 1, p. 322, Maktaba tul Madinah)

Answered by: Usman Madani (Ask Mufti scholar)

Translated answer

Date: 20th April 2025