Fiqh of Purification – Lesson 2

بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم

إِذَا قُمۡتُمۡ إِلَى ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ فَٱغۡسِلُواْ وُجُوهَكُمۡ وَأَيۡدِيَكُمۡ إِلَى ٱلۡمَرَافِقِ وَٱمۡسَحُواْ بِرُءُوسِكُمۡ وَأَرۡجُلَڪُمۡ إِلَى ٱلۡكَعۡبَيۡنِ

PURIFICATION WITH WATER

As discussed in the previous lesson, Allah the Exalted commands the believers to wash the face, hands and arms up to the elbows, feet up to the ankles and to wipe the head; before performing their prayers. These four limbs are the essential parts of the body that need to be washed in order for one’s wudu to be valid.

In order to perform wudu, one must wash these limbs with water that has the quality of purification.

Purifying Water - طَاهِر مُطَهِّر

Water must be pure itself and must have the quality of purifying (طَاهِر مُطَهِّر). The classical jurists considered ‘absolute water’ to be pure and purifying, this is called اَلْمَاء الْمُطْلَق. This includes the following types:

Rain water: Allah the Exalted says in the Quran, “وَأَنزَلۡنَا مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً طَهُورًا – And We send down form the heaves, purifying water [25:48].”

Well water: The Prophet ﷺ performed wudu with water from the well of Zamzam [Ahmad].

Sea water: The Prophet ﷺ said regarding sea water, “it’s water is purifying [Tirmidhi].”

It is also permissible to perform wudu with river water, spring water, and water that has melted from snow, ice or hail.

Disliked water - طَاهِر مُطَهِّرمَكْرُوه

This is remnant water in a container from which a cat, chicken or predatory bird has drunk from. This is because one would be unsure as to whether any one of these animals has an impurity remaining on their mouth or beak when drinking water from the container.

Doubtful water - مَشْكُوك

This is remnant water in a container from which a donkey or a mule has drunk from. If one has doubt that any of these two animals have drunk from a container and he/she has no access to any other water, then they are permitted to do wudu followed by tayammum. They may precede one over the other.

Non-purifying water – طَاهِر غَيْر مُطَهِّر

This is remnant water that is considered pure in and of itself, however it cannot be used to purify, thus it cannot be used for wudu. This is when someone is already in the state of wudu but intends to perform another wudu, knowing that it is a form of worship and to seek proximity with Allah the Exalted; and the water from his second wudu is collected in a container, this is known as remnant water. One cannot perform wudu with it, however it can be used to remove impurities.

According to the Hanafi School; the moment water separates from the skin it is considered remnant. Whereas the Shafi’i School holds that once the water touches the skin it is considered to be remnant.

Impure water

This type of water has two categories:

 المَاء القَلِيْل – A small amount of water in which an impurity occurs, whether any sign of impurity remains or not. There are various opinions with regards to what is considered a ‘small amount’. Some Hanafi jurists have stipulated that water less than that which is in a pond where ripples from one side would not reach the other side, other Hanafi jurists have maintained that anything that is less than 10x10 with a depth deeper than a hand scoop. The Shafi’i and Hanbali jurists on the other hand have stipulated, anything that is less than قُلَّتَيْن which is estimated to be around 227kg (1000L). If an impurity falls into this quantity of water, the water itself will be considered impure and wudu will not be permissible with it.

المَاء الكَثِير – A large amount of water in which an impurity occurs and one of its quality changes; either its colour, smell or taste then it will be considered impure. A large amount of water will be anything more than what has been stated above.
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Similarly, one cannot perform wudu with juice from fruits or dew/sap from trees, whether it is extracted or it naturally occurs.

Inshallah in the next lesson we will look at what is considered to be impure and types of impurities.

May Allah the Exalted reward you and I both.