Second Question
Scholars have differed over whether a person in a state of major ritual impurity (janābah) is required to perform ablution in certain situations.
The first situation: when he wishes to sleep while junub.
The majority hold that ablution in this case is recommended, not obligatory, whereas the Ẓāhirīs deem it obligatory on the strength of sound reports from the Prophet ﷺ. Among them is the ḥadith of ʿUmar:
“ʿUmar told the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that sometimes janābah overtakes him during the night. The Messenger ﷺ said to him, ‘Perform ablution, wash your private parts, and then sleep.’”
A similar report also comes through ʿĀʾishah.
The majority, however, construe the Prophet’s command as merely commendatory, setting aside its prima-facie obligatoriness because there is no juristic rationale for making purification compulsory merely for the intention to sleep.
They bolster this with other traditions, the soundest of which is the report from Ibn ʿAbbās:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ emerged from the latrine and food was brought to him. They said, ‘Shall we bring you water for purification?’ He replied, ‘Am I going to pray that I should perform ablution?’
In another wording they said, ‘Will you not perform ablution?’ and he answered, ‘I do not intend to pray; when I intend to pray I will perform ablution.’”
The inference drawn from this report is weak, for it rests on an indirect implication (mafḥūm al-khiṭāb) of the weakest kind. They also cite the ḥadith of ʿĀʾishah, “He ﷺ would sleep while junub and would not touch water,” but this narration is itself weak.
A similar dispute exists about requiring ablution of a junub who wishes to eat or drink, or to engage in intercourse again. The majority waive the obligation in all these cases, arguing that purification is legislated for acts of reverence such as prayer and that it is ill-suited to these ordinary activities. Moreover, the reports on the matter are conflicting: one states that the Prophet ﷺ ordered a junub who wished to return to his wife to perform ablution, while another relates that he would have intercourse and then repeat it without performing ablution in between.