Hanbali Essentials: Purification
Shaykh Surkheel Sharif
Outline
Purification is the “key to prayer” and a precondition for its performance. Though it is not itself one of the pillars (arkan) of the religion, purification as a juristic matter occupies a significant position, attested to by the fact that its treatment in the fiqh literature occupies space roughly equal to that of each of the four pillars: namely prayer, zakat, fasting and pilgrimage. The topic of purification not only discusses the body and bodily secretions, it also extends to clothing, the place intended for prayer, the water used for washing, utensils and containers, as well as the types of impurities.
Purification (taharah)
See also: The Joe Bradford Podcast - The Definition of Purification in Hanbali Fiqh
Lexically, it means: cleanliness from filth. Legally it means: lifting the state of ritual impurity (hadath) or whatever is similar to it, and the removal of physical impurities (najasat).
Lexically, it means: cleanliness from filth. Legally it means: lifting the state of ritual impurity (hadath) or whatever is similar to it, and the removal of physical impurities (najasat).
Types of Water (aqsam al-miya)
(i) tahur – both pure and purifying; which is water that remains upon its natural state;
(ii) tahir – pure, but not purifying; water whose colour, taste or smell has been altered by being mixed with a pure substance,
(iii) najas – impure; water that has had any one of its three properties (colour, taste or odour) altered by an impure substance.
Impurities (najasat)
Impurities refer to impure substances which one must avoid or wash-off if they should happen to contaminate one’s clothes, body, etc. They are:
(i) Carrion (flesh of the dead) – except for humans; locusts; the dead from the sea; and creatures with no running blood like bees, ants, etc.
(ii) Blood that flows forth, such as from a slaughtered animal or menstral bleeding; though a tiny amount is overlooked.
(iii) Pigs.
(iv) Dogs.
(v) Human urine; excrement; vomit; puss; and blood – except that a tiny amount of vomit, puss or blood is overlooked in prayer.
(vi) Prostatic fluid (madhi) discharged when one is sexually aroused; and wadi – a thick white liquid secreted by some after urination; but not mani: sperm.
(vii) Intoxicants (khamr) – liquid and solid like alcohol or cocane.
(viii) Animals or birds that cannot be legally eaten and that are larger in size than a cat; as are their leftovers.
(ix) Animals that are lawful to consume but the majority of whose feed is impure – their urine, dung and milk are considered impure.
(x) Flesh, or bones, cut-off from a living creature, such as a foreleg of a living, unslaughtered sheep.
(xi) Hides of unlawfully slaughtered animals, as well as those of dead animals that have not been slaughtered, even if they have been tanned.
(xi) Hides of unlawfully slaughtered animals, as well as those of dead animals that have not been slaughtered, even if they have been tanned.
Removing Impurities (izalat al-najasat)
Impurities can be removed by washing, wiping, sprinkling or scrubbing with water. Any vessel or utensil a dog licks must be washed seven times, the first time with earth.
