Removing the dried pre-ejaculatory fluid from clothes

26-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is it obligatory to wash a garment if it is smeared with the pre-ejaculatory fluid, particularly if the garment became dry? Is every dry element considered clean, including the dried traces of urine? May Allaah Reward you best.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

An-Nawawi defined the pre-ejaculatory fluid as a purely white and sticky fluid which is discharged when one thinks of sex with neither gushing nor orgasm and perhaps even one does not feel it coming out. It is not followed by tepidness.

It is impure, and therefore the body has to be washed if smudged with it, whether dried or not. As for the smudged clothes, one can splash water over the garment which is stained with it. As evidence, Sahl ibn Hunayf said: “The pre-ejaculatory fluid bothered me a lot so I was frequently making Ghusl. I complained to the Prophet who said, 'Making Wudhoo’ (ablution) is enough for you.' 'What about the drops falling in my garment, O Messenger of Allaah?' I said. 'Take a handful of water and splash it over the areas smeared with it,' replied the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.” [Abu Daawood]

To splash is to cover the areas with water, even if without dripping.

Dryness of impurity is not enough to consider the stained garment pure. This is according to the majority of scholars including the Hanafi scholars who said that earth as well as walls and trees become clean by means of dryness and absence of the traces of the impure element.  But the majority from among the Maaliki, Shaafi‘i and Hanbali scholars are of the opinion that earth does not become clean by means of dryness. Therefore, clothes have to be washed with water if smeared with the pre-ejaculatory fluid or urine, even if it became dry.

Allaah Knows best.