diff --git a/lib/querystring.js b/lib/querystring.js
index d258fc297d..ef50cafa45 100644
--- a/lib/querystring.js
+++ b/lib/querystring.js
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ QueryString.stringify = function (obj, sep, eq, name) {
 };
 
 QueryString.parseQuery = QueryString.parse = function (qs, sep, eq) {
-  return qs
+  return (qs || '')
     .split(sep||"&")
     .map(pieceParser(eq||"="))
     .reduce(mergeParams);
diff --git a/test/simple/test-querystring.js b/test/simple/test-querystring.js
index 58a70fe0c4..9295ff7e12 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-querystring.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-querystring.js
@@ -114,6 +114,10 @@ var f = qs.stringify({
 });
 assert.equal(f, "a=b&q=x%3Dy%26y%3Dz");
 
+assert.doesNotThrow(function () {
+  qs.parse(undefined);
+});
+
 // nested in colon
 var f = qs.stringify({
   a : "b",