Doubt Regarding Minor and Major Ritual Impurity

The questioner : The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, a man bathed on Saturday after the dawn prayer and did not find any trace of semen on his trousers. Then, when he bathed on Monday after the sunset prayer, he found a trace of semen on his trousers, and he does not know when it happened. The question is: Does he repeat the prayers from Sunday to Saturday?

The Shaykh : From Saturday to Monday.

The questioner : From Saturday? Or from the first sleep after the first bath? Or does he owe nothing?

The Shaykh : These are three possibilities the questioner has assumed: he repeats the prayers, or he owes nothing, or it is from his last sleep. I say that there is a useful rule in this matter: if a person finds a trace of major ritual impurity on his clothing and doubts whether it is from his last sleep or from a previous sleep a day or two or less ago, let him attribute it to his last sleep. Let him attribute it to his last sleep, meaning that he became impure then. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This hadith, my brothers, is the source from which the scholars derived a useful rule, which is that certainty is not removed by doubt. This is beneficial for a person in the chapter of ritual purity, in the chapter of prayer, in the chapter of divorce, in the chapter of sale, in the chapter of endowment, and in all chapters of knowledge. Many people are in a state of ablution, then they become confused about whether they have broken it or not. What do we tell them? You are in your state of ablution, you owe nothing. Many people are afflicted with obsessive doubts regarding their wives; they say he divorced her. Perhaps Satan dictates to them, saying: Do not exhaust yourself with doubt; you have destroyed yourself. Divorce her now and rest. So they pronounce a clear divorce in order to rest, as they claim. We say to this person with obsessive doubts: We ask Allah for your well-being. Do not pay attention to this obsessive doubt. You owe nothing. In fact, some scholars have held that the divorce of a person with obsessive doubts does not take effect, and this is a sound opinion, because the divorce of a person with obsessive doubts occurs under psychological pressure. And the Prophet said: So cast aside the doubt, and the default is the continuation of the wife’s status. Likewise, if a person in ablution doubts about a state of ritual impurity, we say: cast aside the doubt, and the default is continuation. What is it? The continuation of the ablution.

The presenter : Yes.