Why Make Wudoo After Intimate Relations?
The Book of Purification: Wudoo During Janaba and Its Proper Interpretation
Summary
This lecture from the Muslim Community Center of Tucson covers the book of purification (tahara) from Islamic jurisprudence, specifically discussing wudoo (ritual ablution) and the preferred times and occasions for performing it. The instructor explains three instances when wudoo is recommended: upon remembrance of Allah, before sleep, and in the state of janaba (major ritual impurity). The lecture focuses on the prophetic practice of making wudoo when in a state of janaba before eating, drinking, sleeping, or having relations again. The instructor provides detailed linguistic and legislative analysis of the term 'wudoo,' explaining how it means 'to wash' in Arabic but takes on a specific religious meaning in Islamic legislation, and discusses how to properly interpret hadith narrations in Sahih Muslim regarding this practice.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
So,.
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Alhamdulillah.
[Silence]
Picking up where we left off yesterday morning in the book of purification chapters of wudoo. The subchapter regarding the preferred times, occasions, instances in which a person is encouraged to make wudoo. We mentioned previously two things. Number one, any remembrance of Allah. Number two, for the occasion of sleep. The third thing that the author mentions here is al junup a person in a state of jeneva jeneba meaning meaning major hadith major sexual impurity. And so if a person is in a state of janaba, it is the sunnah that the person make woo for one of four things that they wish to do. Number one to eat. Number two to drink. Number three to sleep. Number four to have relations a second time. These four things the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam in janaba would make wudoo for so let's imagine the scenario here a person has say relations with his or her spouse and then afterward the person wishes to eat something or drink something or sleep or have relations a second time then it is the sunnah to make for these occasions.
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Tells us in Muslim that the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam's habitual practice is that if he was in a state of janaba and he wished to eat something or drink something or sleep, he would make wudoo as he would for salah. The same woo as he would for salah. And a person may say, why the same woo as he would for salah? Why not just say wudoo? Is there any other kind of woodoo? Are there multiple types of woodoo? Does the woodoo for salah differ in any way from wudoo for sleeping or eating or? It doesn't. But the reason she says this is because wudoo in the Arabic language means to wash generally linguistically. And this is why sometimes the in in some narrations or in some instances it will be mentioned that someone made wudoo meaning wash their hands. So in the Arabic language linguistically means to wash and it comes from and it's the same etmology as a boat. A boat.
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And that is because they share etmology. So we just switch the two letters in their places. This is something that is very common in the Arabic language. And so it's originally taken from light a boat light. And that is because the idea is that when somebody washes something, it becomes what? Shiny. Right? It shines. Something that is clean shines. Something that is dirty is conceptualized as being dull. And so this is why it's referred to as woo. But then aloo in the legislation of Islam then takes on an additional meaning and that is a very specific ritual of washing for prayer. And so Aisha here is saying, well, that could be meant linguistically, meaning he would wash his hands, which makes sense, right? Or legislatively, which means he made so she says, "So that you know, the listener knows what kind of she's speaking about." Is that clear? Yeah.
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Narrates that the prophet sallall.aii Wasam said, "If any of you has relations with his family, with his wife, with his spouse, and then wishes to have relations a second time, meaning without having madeul, they're still in a state of janaba, then he should make wuboo." And this could mean wash his hands or wash up or it could mean make woo for salah. So which one do we take? Well, when it's in the Quran or in the sunnah, what's meant is the legislative sense, right? So if a poet a poet says the word heart you know the heart and a doctor says the heart those mean two different things right for a poet we expect the heart to not be meant in the medical sense to be meant in the in the metaphorical sense the emotion center emotionally. Whereas for a doctor who says the heart, we don't he's not we don't take his words to mean metaphorically heart. We take his words to mean the actual organ in the body that pumps blood. Right? So dependent on the speaker is how we interpret words that share commonalities amongst fields. When it's the prophet speaking then we always take it to mean legislative sense unless there's some evidence to the counter. And when an Arab is speaking then we always take it to mean in the Arabic sense unless something in the context points to the counter subala.
[Arabic recitation]