It is recommended for one in a state of major ritual impurity to wash his private parts and to perform wudu before eating, sleeping, or resuming sexual intercourse.
His statement, “It is recommended for one in a state of major ritual impurity to wash his private parts and to perform wudu before eating”: It is unanimously agreed that wudu for one in a state of major ritual impurity before eating is not obligatory; rather, it is recommended. The evidence for this is:
- The hadith of Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her: When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, wished to eat or sleep while in a state of major ritual impurity, he would perform wudu as he did for prayer (1).
As for those who interpret this as wudu in its linguistic sense—that is, cleanliness—their view carries no weight, because Muslim’s narration explicitly states that what is meant is the wudu prescribed by the Sacred Law.
Moreover, a principle of legal theory is that expressions are understood according to the convention of the one who utters them. Thus, if the speaker is the Sacred Law, they are understood according to their legal meaning; if he is a linguist, according to their linguistic meaning; and if he is a person of customary usage, according to their customary meaning.
For example, in the statement, “Zayd is standing,” Zayd is linguistically the doer, because, in language, the doer is the one in whom the action occurs. But according to grammarians, he is the subject of a nominal sentence, because in their terminology the grammatical subject is the nominative noun preceded by its governing element.
- The hadith of Ammar ibn Yasir, may Allah be pleased with him: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, granted a concession to one in a state of major ritual impurity, if he wished to eat, drink, or sleep, to perform wudu (2).