The Criterion for Sleep That Invalidates the Ablution and Drowsiness
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh:
There is no god but Allah. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is the criterion for the sleep that invalidates the ablution? And does mere drowsiness invalidate it?
The Shaykh:
Deep sleep is what invalidates the ablution, the kind where you lose control of yourself. This invalidates the ablution because it is a place where a state of ritual impurity may occur, and you are not aware of it. As for the sleep where you maintain control of yourself, this does not invalidate the ablution, such as when one dozes off while sitting. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to wait for the 'Isha' prayer with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) until their heads would nod from drowsiness, then they would stand up and pray without performing the ablution. So if a person is lying down or leaning on something and falls asleep, his ablution is invalidated because he does not control himself and does not know what happens. Yes.
There is no god but Allah. Yes.
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: What is the criterion for the sleep that invalidates the ablution? And does mere drowsiness invalidate it?
The Shaykh:
Deep sleep is what invalidates the ablution, the kind where you lose control of yourself. This invalidates the ablution because it is a place where a state of ritual impurity may occur, and you are not aware of it. As for the sleep where you maintain control of yourself, this does not invalidate the ablution, such as when one dozes off while sitting. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) used to wait for the 'Isha' prayer with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) until their heads would nod from drowsiness, then they would stand up and pray without performing the ablution. So if a person is lying down or leaning on something and falls asleep, his ablution is invalidated because he does not control himself and does not know what happens. Yes.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل وأول كيده ومكره : أنه كاد الأبوين بالأيمان الكاذبة — islamhouse.com (1:07:43)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.