A person in a state of major ritual impurity may not remain in the mosque. However, if he performs ablution, he may remain there according to Ahmad and others. Ahmad supported this with a report he related through his chain of transmission from Hishām ibn Saʿd:
“The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, would perform ablution while in a state of major ritual impurity, then sit in the mosque and converse.”
This is because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, instructed anyone in a state of major ritual impurity to perform ablution before sleeping. Some hadiths state that this was to avoid his soul being taken while he slept and the angels consequently not attending his funeral. For it is reported in the Sunan collections that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“The angels do not enter a house in which there is someone in a state of major ritual impurity.”
This accords with his prohibition against such a person remaining in the mosque, for mosques are the houses of the angels. Likewise, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade eating garlic and onions when coming to the mosque, and said:
“The angels are offended by whatever offends the children of Adam.”
The Prophet’s instruction that a person in a state of major ritual impurity perform ablution before sleeping thus indicates that ablution removes the more severe degree of major ritual impurity, leaving an intermediate state between minor and major ritual impurity. Such a person is not permitted to recite the Quran, as someone in a state of minor ritual impurity is permitted to do; yet he is not forbidden to remain in the mosque, as someone in a state of major ritual impurity is forbidden to do. For if his performing ablution before sleeping entails the angels’ attendance upon him, this indicates that the angels enter the place where he is once he has performed ablution.
For this reason, al-Shāfiʿī and Ahmad permit a person in a state of major ritual impurity to pass through the mosque. Reciting the Quran is different: the four imams agree that he is prohibited from doing so. It is thus clear that