Hadithcore
Sahih Muslim, 290
sahih

Abdullah b. Shihab al-Khaulani reported:

I stayed in the house of 'A'isha and had a wet dream (and perceived its effect on my garment), so (in the morning) I dipped both (the clothes) in water. This (act of mine) was watched by a maid-servant of A'isha and she informed her. She (Hadrat A'isha) sent me a message: Whatprompted you to act like this with your clothes? He (the narrator) said: I told that I saw in a dream what a sleeper sees. She said: Did you find (any mark of the fluid) on your clothes? I said: No. She said: Had you found anything you should have washed it. Incase I found that (semen) on the garment of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) dried up, I scraped it off with my nails.

وَحَدَّثَنَا أَحْمَدُ بْنُ جَوَّاسٍ الْحَنَفِيُّ أَبُو عَاصِمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الأَحْوَصِ، عَنْ شَبِيبِ بْنِ غَرْقَدَةَ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ شِهَابٍ الْخَوْلاَنِيِّ، قَالَ كُنْتُ نَازِلاً عَلَى عَائِشَةَ فَاحْتَلَمْتُ فِي ثَوْبَىَّ فَغَمَسْتُهُمَا فِي الْمَاءِ فَرَأَتْنِي جَارِيَةٌ لِعَائِشَةَ فَأَخْبَرَتْهَا فَبَعَثَتْ إِلَىَّ عَائِشَةُ فَقَالَتْ مَا حَمَلَكَ عَلَى مَا صَنَعْتَ بِثَوْبَيْكَ قَالَ قُلْتُ رَأَيْتُ مَا يَرَى النَّائِمُ فِي مَنَامِهِ ‏.‏ قَالَتْ هَلْ رَأَيْتَ فِيهِمَا شَيْئًا ‏.‏ قُلْتُ لاَ ‏.‏ قَالَتْ فَلَوْ رَأَيْتَ شَيْئًا غَسَلْتَهُ لَقَدْ رَأَيْتُنِي وَإِنِّي لأَحُكُّهُ مِنْ ثَوْبِ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَابِسًا بِظُفُرِي ‏.‏

References2 variants
In-Book Reference
Book 2, Hadith 140
USC-MSA web (English) reference
Book 2, Hadith 572 (deprecated numbering scheme)
Sharh · explanationclick to expand
Islam is keen on purifying and cleaning Muslim’s body and clothes and removing any hardships that may unintentionally happen. In this hadith, Abdullah ibn Shehab Al-Khawlany mentioned that he visited Aisha, the Mother of the Believers, and stayed at place that she prepared for her students of knowledge and guests out of honor, with a veil and curtain between her and them. Abdullah said that he once slept, had a wet dream, and thought it stuck to his clothes. The wet dream is to dream of having intercourse with the other gender, which is often accompanied by ejaculation. When Abdullah woke up, he dipped his clothes in water to purify them. A maid-servant of Aisha saw him and then informed her about what he did. The narration of At-Tirmidhy mentions, “She ordered (someone) to give him a yellow blanket to sleep in. He had a wet dream and was too shy to send it back to her while having traces of semen. He dipped it in water and sent it to her." This is evidence that he was in a place other than the one in which she stayed. She asked him about the reason for his dipping his clothes in the water. He answered her about the reason. Aisha asked him if he saw anything (traces of semen) on his clothes. He answered that he did not, which indicated that he may not have ejaculated on them. She clarified that they should be washed if they had traces of semen. Then, she told him that she used to scrape it (semen) off the garment of the Prophet (ﷺ) with her nails when it (semen) was dry, which was an approval from the Prophet (ﷺ). Finally, this hadith contains the following benefits: (1) Aisha was keen on teaching her students, especially when she saw something urgent such as this incident, (2) It is a part of etiquette to refrain from using explicit words to preserve the modesty of whom we are addressing, (3) It clarifies the Prophet’s simple style in clothing, and (4) It illustrates how a woman serves her husband like washing his clothes and the like..
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