What Is Considered a Wet Dream in Islamic Law?


Hanafi Fiqh

Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi

Question

Assalamualaykum,

What is a wet dream specifically? Does a wet dream need to include orgasm or only acts before intercourse? If one doesn’t orgasm in the dream, it’s not a wet dream?

Answer

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
Assalam’aleykum,

I pray this finds you in the best of states.

 

“Dreams that would render a ritual bath (ghusl) to be obligatory upon waking up while seeing ejaculate (mani) or pre-ejaculate (madhi) are dreams in which intercourse was seen. [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Nonetheless, Hanafi contemporary scholars mention that it is enough upon waking up to assume purity as long as one is not sure that he is in a state of Janaba.

This is based on the following legal principle:

“Certainty is not lifted by a doubt.” [Ibn Nujaym, al-Ashbah wa’l Nadha’ir; Majallat al-Ahkam al-‘Adiliyya]

This means that if one is certain about something, such as the validity of our worship, with this being the basic assumption for all human actions, then we will keep assuming it is valid until certain that it was not. Mere possibilities and even likelihoods do not change this.”

 

And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani