Can I Perform Tayammum Instead of Ghusl Due to Cold?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

If I experience a wet dream when Fajr enters and there is no hot water available, can I perform tayammum instead of ghusl due to the cold? Do all my clothes need to be washed, including those worn after Tayammum?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.

If using the cold water causes you physical harm, you can perform tayammum if you can’t heat the water in time. However, you need to repeat the prayer with a regular ablution when possible.

If it is cold that one fears an illness or one of the things previously mentioned (12.9) from the use of water and one lacks means of heating the water or warming one’s limbs up afterwards, then one performs the dry ablution prays, and repeats the prayer later. [Keller, Reliance of the Traveller]

As for your clothes, it is recommended to remove the semen, but it is considered pure in the Shafi’i School.

Allah says:

“But if you are ill or on a journey or one of you comes from the place of relieving himself, or you have had contact with women and do not find any water, then perform tayammum with clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands. Allah does not intend to make difficulty for you, but He intends to purify you and complete His favor upon you that you may be grateful.” [Quran, 5:6]

May Allah make it easy for you.

And Allah knows best.
[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 (Allah have mercy on him), where he taught.

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Shaykh Muhammad Awama, Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Hitu, 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 been the Director of the Discover Islam Centre, and for six years, he has been the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has fifteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town. He is currently building an Islamic podcast, education, and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy Prophetic living and fitness.