It is written in Durr-ul-mukhtār,
and also in Radd-ul-mukhtār, which is an
explanation of the former:
A minor ablution [an ablution for namāz] and a major ablution [ghusl]
require using mutlaq water. In other
words, mutlaq water is both clean and a cleaner. Mutlaq water is water that
takes no other word besides its name and which is solely called water. Water
from rain, brooks, streams, springs, wells, seas, and snow is mutlaq water.
Mustamal water (explained before), najs water, flower essence, grape juice and
the like, which are mentioned together with their kinds and properties, are not
mutlaq water. These cannot be used for making an ablution or ghusl. They are
called Muqayyad water. Zamzam water can be used for an ablution
or a ghusl. It is not even mekrūh. It is permissible also to use water that has
stayed for some time under the sun. But is tanzīhī mekrūh.
Water issuing and dropping from trees, grass, fruit or from any
climbing plant is clean. But an ablution or ghusl is not permissible with it or
with any juice extracted from these plants.
When something clean is mixed with mutlaq water, if the amount of the
substance mixed with the water is more than the water, the water becomes
muqayyad. The substance mixed with
water may become the greater part in four ways.
Firstly, something solid, such as a sponge or grass, absorbs the water
completely. Secondly, something which is not used in cleaning like soap is
heated in the water. Meat broth and bean juice are of this sort. In this case
the water becomes muqayyad water even if its three properties did not change
and even if it did not lose its fluidity. Water heated with some cleaner such
as soap becomes muqayyad if it loses its fluidity. Thirdly, a solid substance
gets mixed with cold water. If the substance changes the name of the water
after it is mixed with it, the water becomes muqayyad even if it is not
viscous. An example of this is water containing saffron or sulphate of iron or
water containing oak apple, if the amount of the substance dissolved in it is
such that it can be used in dying or tannery. The same applies for the nebīz made from dates. Dates or dried grapes are
put in cold water. When their sugar is transferred into the water, the water is
then heated until it boils. After getting cold, it is filtered. This liquid is
called nebīz. If it is filtered without
being heated it becomes naqī. When the
name of the water does not change, if the water becomes viscous, or loses its
fluidity, it becomes muqayyad. If it is still fluid, it remains pure, even if
its three properties changed. Examples of these types are water dyed by saffron
that has fallen into it and cold water whose colour, odor or taste has been
changed by beans, chick-peas, leaves, fruits or grass that has remained in it
for some time. It is not permissible to make an ablution or ghusl with
saturated solutions of salt.
The fourth possibility is when a liquid substance gets mixed with
water. When a clean substance in liquid form flows into a small pool, if all
three properties of the substance are unlike those of water and if two
properties of the mixture have changed, it becomes muqayyad. If only one has
changed, it does not become muqayyad. Water mixed with vinegar is an example of
this type. When one or two of its properties are like those of the water, or if
a property of the water which is unlike that of the substance has been changed
in the mixture, it becomes muqayyad. Milky water is an example of this type
because being odorless is common in both of them. And so is water mixed with
melon juice because, being colourless and odorless is common in both of them.
If all three of its properties are like those of water, or if the amount of the
liquid mixed with water is more than the water or equal to the water, the
mixture
becomes muqayyad and it is not permissible to
perform an ablution or ghusl with it. The case is the same when mustamal water
[that which has been used in an ablution or ghusl] gets mixed with the water.
This is so, if mustamal water is thought to be clean. The case is the same
when mustamal water flows into a small pool or into a bath-tub or when a
person without an ablution dips his hand or foot into it or he himself dives in
it. So long as it is not known that the amount of water touching the skins of
those who perform an ablution at a small pool is half of the total amount of
the water in the pool, into which no water flows, or that any najāsat, though
little, has fallen into the pool, then it is permissible to perform an ablution
at the pool. If a lot of people perform an ablution at a small pool whose water
is changed daily and if their mustamal water falls back into the pool, it is
permissible. But if very little najāsat falls into the pool, it is not
permissible to perform an ablution there. According to some scholars, if any
limb is dipped and washed in a small pool, the whole pool becomes mustamal
water. For this reason, at places rich with water, taking some water with the
palms and washing the limbs outside the pool must be preferred to dipping the
limbs into the pool. At places with scarce water, acting upon those scholars
who say that it is permissible, an ablution and/or a ghusl can be be made in
the pool.
It is sahīh, but it is harām, to make an ablution with usurped water.
It is permissible to make an ablution or ghusl with mutlaq water in
which an animal without fluid blood has died. For example, it is permissible
with water in which there is a dead bee, scorpion, bed-bug or mosquito. It is
not permissible if there is a dead leech that has sucked blood. A silkworm and
its eggs, those worms living in excrement, tapeworms and fruit worms are clean.
But the najāsat smeared around them is najs.
When an aquatic animal dies in some water, such as fish, crabs, frogs,
it is permissible to make an ablution or ghusl with this water. Also, of toads
and snakes living on land, when those without fluid blood die in the water, it
is permissible. If all such animals die after being taken out of the water and
their dead boodies fall into the water, it is still permissible. Also, if a
frog gets broken to pieces in the water, it is still permissible. But the water
cannot be drunk. For its flesh is harām (to eat). When an animal that is born
on land and lives in water, such as a duck or a
goose, dies in a small pool, the pool becomes
najs.
When little najāsat falls in a small pool, according to Hanafī Madhhab,
or in any pool of water that is smaller than one qullatayn, according to
Shāfiī Madhhab, the water becomes najs even if its three properties did not
change. Men cannot drink it, nor can it be used in cleaning. If its three
properties change, it is like urine and cannot be used in anything. A qullatayn
is five hundred ritls. One ritl is 30 dirhams, and one dirham
Water whose three properties have changed as a result of staying too
long does not become najs. If the reason for any smelling water is not known,
it will be considered to be clean. There is no need to inquire, to ask others.
In order to oppose the (group) of Mutazīla, it is sometimes advisable to make
an ablution at a pool which is besides a river.
If some najāsat, whether it can be seen or not, falls in a river or a
large pool, in Hanafī Madhhab, or in an amount of water equal to one qullatayn,
in Shafiī Madhhab, or in any amount of water, in Malikī Madhhab, it is
permissible to make an ablution at its any side where any of the three signs of
the najāsat, such as its colour, odour or taste is not evident. For example,
when there is a carrion, when a man or an animal urinates or when a beast of
prey drinks water (from a stream), if there is no sign of them at its lower
parts, it is permissible, (to make an ablution). According to some scholars,
being permissible necessitates that the amount of water that has touched the
najāsat be less than the amount of water that has not touched it. The water
does not have to flow continuosly. When any water poured on some najs place
flows for one metre and if its three properties are gone, it becomes clean.
When clean water in one container and najs water in another container are
poured from a level one metre above the ground and get mixed with each other in
the air, the water that falls on the ground will be clean.
Water that can sweep along a chaff of straw is called flowing water. A
square pool with each side measured as ten zrā [about 4.8 meters] is called
(large pool), which covers an area of a hundred square zrā, that is
twenty-three square metres. A circle whose circumference is
flowing water and the mustamal water accumulates
at some other place and from there another ditch is dug and so forth, the
ablutions of all these people will be accepted. The flowing water is clean
until any sign of najāsat is noticed. In this example mustamal water is
considered to be najs. A small pool or a bath basin into which water flows
continuously and which overflows continuously, [or from which water is consumed
continuously and the duration between two consumptions is not so long as to let
motion of the water stop], is the same as flowing water. An ablution can be
made at any side of such things. Mustamal water must flow over the top. If it
flows through a hole at the bottom, it is not like flowing water. It is not a
condition that the pool be so small that all the mustamal water can flow away.
If the surface of the pool is frozen, if (it is seen that) the water does not
touch the ice when the ice is pierced, it is the surface of the water in the
pool. If the water touches the ice, the hole will be the surface of the water.
If clean water flows into najs water from one side and makes it overflow from
the opposite side, its sides where there are no signs of najāsat left are
clean. When so much water as it contained has overflowed, it becomes clean all
over. The overflowing water is clean so long as the signs of najāsat are not
noticed. So are such containers as bowls and buckets. For instance, if a najs
bucket is filled and overflows, when none of the three signs of najāsat is
evident both the water and the bucket become clean.
Mustamal water, that is, water used in an ablution or in a ghusl, and
water used as qurbat[1], i.e. water used in washing the hands before and
after meals as it is sunnat to do so, becomes najs when they leave the limbs
washed. According to some scholars, they become najs after they fall on other
limbs, on your clothes, or on the ground. They do not dirty the place on which
they fall first.
Hadrat Abū Nasr Aqta, (rahmatullāhi alaih) says in his explanation of
Qudūrī[2], When clean things get mixed with some water, it
can be used for an ablution as long as the name of
---------------------------------
[1] Qurbat
is an act, a behaviour that you do in order to attain the grace of Allāhu ta'ālā.
[2] Mukhtasar
Qudūrī, by Ahmad bin Muhammad Baghdādī (362 [973 A.D.]-428
[1037 A.D.], Baghdād, a Hanafī Fiqh scholar and a mufti of Bukhārā. The valuable
book has various explanations, and a Turkish
version as well. Two other commentaries to Qudūrī were
the water does not change even if its colour
changes.
.If one meets water on ones way and knows well or
has strong conviction that it is clean, one can perform an ablution with it. In
fact, even if the water is little, one makes an ablution or ghusl with it
unless one knows well that it has been mixed with najāsat. One can not make a
tayammum. It is because water is supposed to be clean essentially. Supposition
does not make it najs; on the contrary, it remains in its essential state by
supposition, that is, it is accepted as clean. Worships are (considered to be)
pure and correct by strong conviction. But īmān, faith, cannot be correct by
strong conviction; it can be correct by knowing well.If a person entering a
bath sees that the basin or the pool is full, he can make an ablution or ghusl
with the water unless he knows that it has been mixed with najāsat. It is not
necessary to make the basin overflow by letting water flow into it.
REMAININGS (of food):
If a living being drinks from a container or a small pool, the water left is
called (remaining). Cleanness of liquid and food remainings is like cleanness
of the saliva of the one who left the remainings. Every persons saliva and
remaining are clean. A disbelievers and a junubs remainings are clean, too.
When a junub person dives into the sea and drinks water afterwards he becomes
clean. In other words, his drinking water stands for his washing his mouth. If
it is propounded that water remaining from him becomes mustamal and there are
scholars who say that mustamal water is majs, the mustamal water is not the
water left but it is the water he drank. It is permissible for a junub person
to take water by dipping his hand into the basin instead of using a bowl; the
water in the basin will not become mustamal; likewise, water remaining from a
junub person has not been considered to be mustamal. It is mekrūh for a man to
drink the water remaining from a woman nāmahram[1] to him lest he will
enjoy its taste, so for a woman to drink the water remaining from a man
nāmahram to her. Also, it is mekrūh for boys to be barbers or to massage other
mens bodies with hair-gloves at public baths since there is the fear that it
may cause lust. So is someone elses saliva. Remainings from
---------------------------------
.written by Yūsuf bin 'Umar 'rahmatullāhi 'alaih', (d. 832 [1429 ],) and Mukhtār bin Mahmūd Zāhidī 'rahmatullāhi 'alaih', (d. 658 [1259 A.D.].)
[1] Not
one of the eighteen women whom Islam has prescribed as a mans
close relatives. The following chapter gives detailed information
on this subject.
animals with edible
flesh are clean, provided their mouth will have not been smeared with najāsat.
So is a horse. And so too are animals without fluid blood, whether they live on
land or in sea. Remainings from all these can be used for an ablution or ghusl
or for cleaning najāsat. Milk of a horse is clean and can be drunk.
Foods remaining from pigs, dogs, beasts of prey, a cat that has newly
eaten a mouse, their flesh and milk are all ghalīz najāsat. It is harām to eat
or drink them. It is not permissible to use remainings from them in an
ablution, in a ghusl or in cleaning. They cannot be used as medicine, either.
In the Mālikī Madhhab pigs and dogs are clean. But, it is harām to eat them in
the Malikī Madhhab, too. [It is stated in the daily Turkish newspaper named
Türkiye dated June 27, 1986 that: the specialists of Ottowa University have
determined after a research carried out in sixteen countries that flesh of pigs
cause the killing disease of cirrhosis]. Elephants and monkeys are beasts of
prey, too. They tear their preys with their teeth. So is the remaining food or
drink of a person who has newly taken wine [or any other hard drink]. If a
drunk person, after taking alcohol, licks his lips with his tongue three times
and spits or swallows his spittle each time, the remaining of the water he
drinks after this is not najs. In other words, there must be no smell or taste
of alcohol left in his saliva. Flesh and remaining of a hen, a sheep or a camel
whose flesh smells because of going about freely in the streets and eating
najāsat all the time, are mekrūh. If such a hen is not allowed to go out for
three days, a sheep for four days, a camel or a cow for ten days, its flesh or
remaining is not mekrūh. If it is not known that they eat najāsat, remainings
from them are not mekrūh. While there is clean water, it is tanzīhī mekrūh to
make an ablution with remainings that are mekrūh, with water remaining from
birds of prey, with water remaining from a cat which it is not known has newly
eaten a mouse or with water remaining from a mouse or a snake with fluid blood.
If the beak of a bird of prey is clean, water remaining from it is not mekrūh.
Flesh of mice and cats is najs, but remainings from them have exceptionally
been said to be not qaba najāsat. Drinking and eating the remainings from these
two have been judged as mekrūh for the rich. But they are not mekrūh for the
poor. Water or food remaining from an ass or a mule is clean. But it is
doubtful whether it is a cleaner or not. It is permissible to eat a zebra, and
water or food remaining from it is clean. It is not mekrūh to make an ablution
with
remaining water that is mekrūh at a place where
there is no other water. One does not make a tayammum while there is such
remaining water. If there is no clean water, one makes an ablution with water
remaining from an ass or a mule, and then makes a tayammum. A small childs
dipping its hand into water is like the remaining of a cats drink. That is, if
it is not known whether the childs hand is clean, it is tanzīhī mekrūh to make
an ablution with the water or to drink it. It is mekrūh to begin performing a
namāz while mounted on an animal whose remaining is mekrūh. An animals sweat
is like the remaining of water from its drink. For instance, a donkeys sweat
is clean.