When Does Sleep Break Your Wudu?

Yesterday we arrived at a very critical junction in listing the various invalidators of wudu. Of course, the first, most holistic invalidator of wudu, most general, and most commonly known is al-kharij min al-sabilayn. Anything that comes out of the private parts. Right? It's referred to in Arabic as a sabeelain, meaning the two paths. The two paths out of the body, direct paths out of the body. So, the front and back private parts. The second is deep sleep. And we had two questions. Two issues to deal with. The first was how do you distinguish between deep sleep and light sleep? That's what we're going to talk about today, inshallah. But the issue we spoke about yesterday was why is it that deep sleep invalidates your wudu? However, light sleep does not. Because when the author says and no will mustaqil min nawafil wudu. Mafhum hadal hasr and then no will ghair al mustaqil.

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Al mu'allif. When the author says deep sleep invalidates your wudu, what's understood from this, what's implied, is that light sleep does not. And that is exactly what he intended. So, why is it that deep sleep breaks a person's wudu, whereas light sleep does not? We spoke about this yesterday in in summary, deep sleep or light sleep, the act of sleeping itself does not break a person's wudu. Sleep does not directly affect a person's wudu. Sleep is an indirect invalidator of wudu. What does that mean? Meaning sleep itself doesn't invalidate the wudu, but it is the lack of awareness that a person is in that when they fall asleep, they would not know if one of the other things that invalidates a person's wudu happened because they're in deep sleep. So, we said.

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And so, we said anything coming out of the two private parts invalidates a person's wudu. If a person is in deep sleep, they are no longer aware of that which is coming out of their private parts. They are If something were to come out, they would not know. They would be none the wiser. And so, for this reason, we say sleep does not invalidate a person's wudu, rather deep sleep because sleep does not directly invalidate a person's wudu, rather it is it is a gray area where when a person falls into deep sleep, they can no longer with any amount of certainty say that they did not break their wudu. This is why. Second of all, most people do break their wudu when they're sleeping. Cuz when a person sleeps, the body relaxes, the muscles relax, and any gases that are in the stomach or the belly, they start to come out. And this is why Ali ibn Abi Talib radi.

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Is the leash of the anus. So, whoever falls asleep, then he is to make wudu." And in this understanding, now you see why the scholars of fiqh have the different opinions that they have with regards to sleep. So, for instance, one opinion is the position that a person sleeps in. Says, "If a person falls asleep sitting up, not leaning on anything, and and falls asleep, their wudu is intact. But if they lean on anything, then they have to make wudu. Where are they getting this from? Where would a would a scholar, a jurist, get this from? The answer is back to what we said, "An nawmu laysa naqidhan lil wudu bi dhatihi bi.

[Arabic recitation]

Naqdhil wudu." So, he's saying, "Look, if a person is sitting up, and they're not leaning on anything, it's impossible, physically, this is the train of thought. It's impossible, physically, for any gases to escape the body. Therefore, if a person falls asleep sitting up, then their wudu would not be invalid. And then they have evidences of this from the Sunnah, from the companions that we will speak about. However, it's really not about the position that a person is in, rather, it is about the depth of sleep, how deep one's sleep is. And this takes us to our second question. How can we distinguish between deep and light sleep, and how do we quantify deep sleep? Because we have to be able to say, "This is the dividing line between light and deep sleep." How do we know the difference? The difference is back to the essence of this issue, and that is one's awareness. Have you ever fallen asleep, and then someone walks in the room. They don't make any noise at all, no noise. A ninja walks into the room, and then you wake up. Right? I think most of us have had this with our dads. You try to creep in the room for something, and you are super super super quiet, but he wakes up by your mere presence. This is light sleep. A person, have you ever fallen asleep, but then people are talking around you, and you're still hearing what they're saying? This is light sleep. The scholars of fiqh quantify light sleep as awareness of change to your body or surroundings while you're in this state of sleep. This is called light sleep shara'an. So, what is light sleep? Light sleep is when a person falls asleep, but he is aware of changes to his body or to his surroundings while he is sleeping. This is light sleep. But, if a person loses his awareness, then a person is in deep sleep. And everyone goes through the stage of light sleep to get to deep sleep. It's not possible to go to deep sleep without light sleep first, even if it's very brief, even if you're really, really tired, your body goes through stages of sleep. It doesn't just drop asleep, right? You go through stages. First, you have the tired, the you know, release of melatonin in the brain. I'm not a doctor, but melatonin in the brain, the receptors start picking it up, a person starts getting drowsy, they start getting tired, and then they go through different stages to reach deep sleep. One of the quantifiers of deep sleep is that you dream. If you are dreaming, then you are in deep sleep. And this is why the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam would fall asleep and sleep at night after Isha, as Ibn Abbas narrated, he would come home, he would lay down where you had this set up from where you now And he would sleep so deeply that you could hear him snore. Because when he would sleep, he would have a light snore, alaihis salatu was salam, which is a rather endearing quality. So he would have a light snore when he is sleeping. And then he would wake up and make salah, not make wudu. Why did he not make wudu? Because his heart is awake. the dis- cription of the prophets is that their eyes sleep, but their hearts are always awake. So he would sleep, but he never loses awareness of his spiritual state, and wudu is a spiritual state. And this is why it is the sunnah to make wudu before going to bed. And if the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was in a state of janabah, and he was not going to bathe before he goes to sleep, he would bathe when he wakes up, he would at least make wudu. And if he didn't make wudu, he would at least make tayammum before going to sleep, sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And he would always sleep with wudu. Why? Yaqulu ibnul Qayyim fi tariqil hijratain rahimahullah annar ruh tuqbad halan nawm qabdan asghar al qabdatul akbar huwa indal mawt.

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[Arabic recitation]

The prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would make as he is going to sleep before he goes to sleep they are the words of a person who is leaving this world. Right? And this is why many of the of God are whoever says this and then goes to sleep and then dies in his sleep Why because sleep is a minor death. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes the soul when a person is sleeping but it is not a complete detachment from the body. There is still a connection between the body and the soul but it is a very it's a minor disconnect. And so the souls are in a spiritual.

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And so it is befitting it is only befitting of the believer that when he goes to sleep when his soul is taken for sleep it is in a state of wudu. It is in a state of wudu to be taken by Allah to be taken by Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. And this is why he would always make wudu before he goes to sleep. And if he could not make wudu, then he or if he chose not to make wudu, he would at least make what? Tayamum. Nas'al Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala an yu'allimana ma yanfa'una wa an.

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