Chapter: Nullifiers of Wudhoo - Sleep and Unconsciousness (Part 3)

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3 - Losing one’s senses nullifies the Wudhoo. Uthaymeen explains that this is of two types:

a)      Completely losing one’s senses, such a person suffering from insanity or mental illnesses. In this case the person loses his Wudhoo.

b)      Temporary unconsciousness, such as sleep or fainting. In this instance the scholars differed:

- Some said all forms of sleep, heavy or light, nullifies the Wudhoo. This is based on the Hadeeth of Safwaan [may Allaah be Pleased with him] in which urine, faeces and sleep were all mentioned together as being nullifies of Wudhoo.

- Some said sleep never nullifies the Wudhoo because of the Hadeeth of Anas [may Allaah be Pleased with him] in which the Companions were described as waiting for the Prophet to lead the Ishaa prayer and some of them were described as being in slumber and in some narrations describing them as laying down (reported by al-Bazzar no.175). Despite this, they didn’t repeat their Wudhoo before praying.

- The Hanbalees were of the opinion that deep sleep does nullifies the Wudhoo. However they made a distinction between the state of the person, standing, sitting or laying down. They stated that if a person falls into a deep sleep, then his Wudhoo is nuliified, irrespective of his position. However, if he falls into slight sleep, then this also nullifies the Wudhoo unless if he was standing or sitting.

- Ibn Taymiyyah was of the opinion that sleep is in relation to ones senses. Therefore, if he sleeps and he loses his senses, even just slightly, then his Wudhoo is nullified. This is the correct opinion as it combines all the evidences.