—while one is awake or while asleep.

If it is discharged while the person is awake, ghusl is required only when the emission is accompanied by pleasure. Should the semen emerge without pleasure—such as in the case of illness or an involuntary flow—no ritual bath is obligatory.

If it is released during sleep, which is called a wet dream, ghusl is required without qualification, for the sleeper is unaware and may feel no pleasure. Thus, if someone wakes up and finds traces of semen, he must perform ghusl; but if he merely dreams of intimacy without any seminal emission and finds no trace of it, no ghusl is due.

2. The second cause that obligates ghusl is the insertion of the penis into the vagina, even if no ejaculation occurs. Muslim and others relate that the Prophet ﷺ said, “When he is seated between her four limbs and the circumcised parts touch, ghusl becomes obligatory.” On the basis of this ḥadīth—and by the unanimous agreement of the scholars—both the one who penetrates and the one penetrated must perform ghusl after penetration, even if no semen is emitted.

3. The third circumstance, according to a number of scholars, is the acceptance of Islam by a non-Muslim. When an unbeliever embraces Islam, they say, ghusl becomes obligatory because the Prophet ﷺ instructed certain new Muslims to take a ritual bath. Many other scholars, however, regard that bath as recommended rather than compulsory,