Do I Need to Check for Discharge Every Time I Wake Up?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Do i need to check for my discharge every time I wake up? Today when I woke up for fajr, there was significantly less time remaining, so I went to the toilet and wiped myself first, it was almost normal discharge, not too much, but I didn’t look at its color correctly. There was nothing on my underwear and no dream of such nature. Is that okay? Or do I need a ghusl? Please do reply. I suffer from waswasa a great deal, but I have been able to control it through guidance, but in between, such little incidences make me fall back into the trap of waswaas.

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

You do not need to check for discharge every time you wake up. You were right to act on your judgment and assume purity.

Remember that you should only act upon certainty or near certainty. If you doubt any matter, the right thing to do is to abandon that doubt and act contrary to it [Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah]

How to Deal With Doubts

These types of misgivings are all too common concerning matters of purification. Shaytan plays on people’s sincerity in their religion and incites them toward false caution.

What is True Caution?

Proper caution is to follow the Sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace).

Misgivings (Waswasa)

For the one constantly in doubt, abandoning caution is often the best cure.

“As for the one who is often inflicted with waswasa, it is necessary for them to sever the cause of the waswasa and not to give it any consideration. This is because it is the doing of Shaytan, and we have been commanded to oppose him.” [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

Knowledge

The long-term cure for these constant doubts is to seek a deeper understanding of Islamic Knowledge. With knowledge, Shaytan can not deceive you with his whispers and plots. I would advise you to find authentic scholars in your area and study a basic text in Islamic Jurisprudence with them.

Please note that SeekersGuidance.org has classes available in Islamic Jurisprudence and many other subjects.

May Allah Most High ease all of your affairs and protect you and us from the plots of Shaytan.

Hope this Helps
Allah A’lam (Allah knows best)

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.