statement ﷺ, “A believer is never impure.” Ibn al-Mundhir remarked, “That is exactly our position.”

I say: A number of scholars adopted a middle course, permitting entrance once the person in major ritual impurity performs wudu. In Ibn Kathir’s Tafsir al-ʿImad we read:

“Imam Ahmad held that whenever the junub performs ablution he may remain in the mosque, relying on a report that he and Saʿid ibn Mansur cited in his Sunan with an authentic chain, showing that the Companions used to do so. Saʿid ibn Mansur said: ʿAbd al-ʿAziz ibn Muhammad—al-Darawardi—narrated to us from Hisham ibn Saʿd from Zayd ibn Aslam from ʿAtaʾ ibn Yasar, who said: ‘I saw men from the Companions of Allah’s Messenger ﷺ sitting in the mosque while they were in a state of major impurity, provided they had performed the ablution required for prayer.’ This chain is sound according to Muslim’s criteria. Allah knows best.”

I add: Al-Darimi also transmitted it from Jabir with the wording, “We used to walk about in the mosque while in a state of major impurity and saw no harm in it.” He related it through the route of Ibn Abi Layla from Abu al-Zubayr from him. Its transmitters are trustworthy, yet Ibn Abi Layla had a poor memory and Abu al-Zubayr was a mudallis who reported it with an ambiguous ‘ʿan’. Hushaym likewise narrated it from him in similar form, a version recorded by al-Bayhaqi.

It appears, therefore, that performing wudu is recommended on account of the Companions’ practice. Allah knows best.