go to low-lying places, known as al-ghā’it. This is like saying, “He has come from the lavatory,” or “He has come from the privy,” and similar expressions. All these expressions refer to someone returning after relieving himself by urinating or defecating. Wind accompanies both.

The jurists have disagreed: does passing wind invalidate ablution because it carries some faecal matter with it, in which case it would not constitute a separate category? Or does it carry no faecal matter, but itself invalidate ablution? Muslims agree that passing wind invalidates ablution. The Quran indicates this in His words:

“When you rise,”

whether this means rising from sleep or rising in general. Rising from sleep is intended in either case, and sleep invalidates ablution only because of the passing of wind. This is the position of the four imams and the majority of earlier and later scholars: sleep itself does not invalidate ablution, but is a circumstance in which passing wind is likely.

One group, however, held that sleep itself invalidates ablution, whether one sleeps a little or a great deal. This is a weak view. It is authentically reported in the two Sahīh collections:

“The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) would sleep until he snored, then rise and pray without performing ablution, and would say, ‘My eyes sleep, but my heart does not.’”

This indicates that, through his heart—which did not sleep—he knew that he had not invalidated his ritual purity. If sleep itself were like urination, defecation, or passing wind, it would invalidate ablution just as the other nullifiers do. It is also authentically reported in the two Sahīh collections:

“The Companions would wait for the prayer until