Those who interpret the Verse of Ablution in the Almighty’s words
“O you who believe, when you rise to perform the prayer …” (al-Māʾidah 5:6)
as meaning “when you rise from sleep”–an explanation reported from Zayd ibn Aslam and other early authorities–build their ruling on that understanding.
When the outward purport of these reports came into apparent conflict, the scholars followed two methodological paths: (1) preference (tarjīḥ) and (2) reconciliation (jamʿ).
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Those who preferred one set of texts over another either
• abolished the obligation of ablution after sleep altogether, taking at face value the ḥadīths that waive it, or
• required it after both slight and deep sleep, likewise relying on the ḥadīths that oblige it—each side according to the reports it judged stronger. -
Those who reconciled the texts held that the ḥadīths obligating ablution refer to deep sleep, while the ḥadīths waiving it refer to light sleep. This is the position of the majority, and, according to most juristic theorists, harmonising the evidence is preferable to preferring one text over another whenever reconciliation is possible.
Al-Shāfiʿī limited the exception to the posture of sitting alone, because sound reports establish that the Companions used to doze while seated, then pray without renewing their ablution.
Abū Ḥanīfah obliged ablution only for one who sleeps lying down, citing a marfūʿ ḥadīth in which the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Ablution is required only of one who sleeps reclining,” a wording also authentically transmitted from ʿUmar.
As for Mālik, he regarded sleep as invalidating ablution merely because it is generally a cause of minor impurity. He therefore considered three factors: heaviness of sleep, its length, and the sleeper’s posture. For postures from which discharge commonly occurs, he did not stipulate heaviness or length; for postures from which discharge is uncommon, he did require one or both conditions.
The third issue Concerns whether touching women necessitates ablution. The scholars differed as follows:
• One group holds that anyone who touches a woman directly with his hand, without any barrier, must perform ablution; the same ruling applies to one who kisses her, for a kiss in their view counts as touch, whether or not desire is felt. This is the opinion of al-Shāfiʿī and his school, though he at times distinguished between the one who touches and the one touched—obligating ablution for the former only—at other times treated them equally, and yet at other times differentiated between close relatives (maḥārim) and others before again equating them.
• Another group obligates ablution for touching only when the act is accompanied by pleasure or the intention of pleasure, with further details concerning whether a barrier is present and which body part is involved—everything except kissing, for which they did not stipulate pleasure.