Philosophy of Ghusl Some people question...

Philosophy of Ghusl Some people question: Why does Islam order a person in the state of ‘janabat’(2) to wash his entire body whereas it is only a particular organ that becomes unclean? Is there a difference between urinal emission and seminal discharge so as to necessitate the washing of only the organ, in the former, but the entire body, in the latter? There are two answers to this question – one brief and the other comprehensive.

The brief answer is that the discharge of semen from the human body is not an act that is restricted to just one part of the body (unlike urine and other body wastes), a claim which is substantiated by the fact that the effect of the discharge becomes manifest on the entire body. Subsequent to a discharge, all the cells of the body slip into a characteristic lethargy; which is an indication of its effect on all the parts of the body.

Explanation Studies conducted by scientists reveal that within the human body there exist two vegetative nervous networks which control and regulate all the activities of the body. These two nervous networks – the sympathetic nerves and the parasympathetic nerves – are spread out throughout the body and around all the internal and external systems and tracts.

The function of the sympathetic nerves is to accelerate and stimulate the activities of the various tracts of the body, whereas the parasympathetic nerves function to decelerate and diminish them. In effect, one plays the role of the accelerator of an automobile while the other plays the role of the brakes; with a balanced functioning of these two sets of nerves, the systems of the bodywork in a balanced and normal manner.

At times, certain occurrences in the body disrupt this balance and equilibrium – one of these being the issue of ‘orgasm’, which is usually contemporaneous with a seminal discharge. In such cases, the parasympathetic nerves (the decelerating nerves) tend to take a lead over the sympathetic nerves and consequently disrupt the equilibrium, negatively.