What are the ways of purification in islam? What are types of purification? What is the purpose of purification?
Despite the existence of certain disagreements among the schools of Islamic law regarding how purification is carried out, there are various agreed ways of purification for the purpose of worship and for the purpose of cleaning the impure things. Such as washing with water, boiling, wiping, rubbing, and scraping. Below we will briefly describe these methods of cleaning and purification:
1) Washing with water:
Water is the main cleansing agent in terms of both cleaning the grime and being used for the performance of the minor (wuḍū) and major (ghusl) ablution. Allah Almighty says, “…Allah caused rain to descend on you from heaven, to clean you therewith…”[1] and “…We send down pure water from the sky.”[2]
It is possible to classify water into five groups according to their characteristics:
a) Water that is both clean (ṭāhir) and cleansing (ṭahūr): Cleansing (ṭahūr) water means both ritually pure and usable for removing impurity as part of various expressions of worship as well as in routine daily activities, while clean (ṭāhir) water but not cleansing (ṭahūr) may not be used in activities related to Islamic worship such as minor ablutions, major ablutions and the like nor may it be used in the removal of impurities.39 However, it is permissible to use such water (ṭāhir) for ordinary activities such as drinking, cleaning one’s body and clothing, kneading dough, and so forth.[3] Rain, snow, river, sea, well, spring, dam waters, and pond waters where floodwaters are collected are of this type. These are called “absolute water (muṭlaq water)”. In its original state, absolute water is both clean (ṭāhir) and cleansing (ṭahūr).
According to the narration transmitted by Abu Umama (ra), the Prophet (saw) said: “Water is clean. Nothing makes it impure (najis) except that which changes its smell, taste, and color.”[4]
As a general rule, water, which is the remnant of people, domestic animals such as sheep, goats, camels, cattle, horses, and mules (born from horses), wild animals whose meat is permissible to eat, and birds, are both clean (ṭāhir) and cleansing (ṭahūr) as long as it is not contaminated with impure materials.
b) Water that is clean and cleansing, but which is makrūḥ to use: According to the Ḥanafis, it is makrūḥ to drink or use leftover water of an animal, which is difficult to avoid, such as a cat, mouse, or bird of prey in a bowl or trough. The following is stated in a hadith regarding the cat: “It is not unclean; it is one of those (males or females) who go round among you.”[5] Considering the waste of birds of prey as clean is based on the observation that they do not leave drool compared to humans, as well as due to the difficulty of avoiding their droppings, their clean beaks, and their ability to drink by drawing water with it.
According to the Malikis, water that has been mingled with impurity, but any one of whose fundamental properties, i.e. its taste, color or smell has not been changed is undesirable to use. However, when any one of the above-mentioned properties changes due to the impurity mixed in it, the water becomes impermissible to use.[6]
In short, when normal water is not available, such water can be used to perform wuḍū, ghusl, and any other material cleansing.
c) Water that is clean but not cleansing: Water that has already been used for ritual purification, such as wuḍū or ghusl, is called “mā’ musta‘mal or used water”.
As pointed out, the water used for wuḍū or minor ablution, as well as that used for washing hands before and after eating, is called “used water (mā’ musta‘mal)”. According to Imam Muhammad, such water is accepted as clean provided that it does not carry any impurities, but such water is not cleansing. In other words, it can only be used to remove material impurities. This is the accepted view of the Ḥanafi school. According to Abu Ḥanīfa and Abu Yusuf, such used water is considered unclean. Moreover, used water that is mixed with material impurities or used for washing material impurities ceases to be clean.[7]
According to the opinion of Imam Malik and Imam Shafiʿi, used water is both clean and cleansing, but it is makrūḥ (undesirable) to reuse it.
d) Water that is neither clean nor cleansing: Small amounts of water known to have something impure in it, and large puddles and streams whose color, taste, or odor has deteriorated due to the dirt falling into them are of this type. According to the Ḥanafis, the small amount of water refers to water that has been placed in a receptacle with an area less than 10 x 10 cubits, or which is in a round basin with a circumference of fewer than 36 cubits. It is not necessary for such receptacles to be extremely deep, either. According to Shafiʿis, the limit which differentiates the small and large amounts of water is two qullas, which is about 220 liters. According to Malikis, with regard to the impurity of water, not the size but rather the above-mentioned fundamental properties of water are important.
However, there may exist impurities in the waters that the sense organs cannot perceive. As a matter of fact, the water, which is the residue of predatory land animals such as dogs, wolves, lions, and pigs, are considered impure even if there is nothing impure in them. The saliva of these animals passes into the water, and their saliva is subject to the same ruling as their meat. These can neither be used for cleaning nor can they be drunk unless there is a necessity. In the hadith, the command to wash a bowl licked by a dog three times, once with soil, demonstrates the factuality of this ruling.[8]
e) Water that is suspect in its use for performing wuḍū’ and ghusl: According to the Ḥanafis, the remnant water of a donkey, and a mule born from a donkey is of this type. When clean water is not available, wuḍū and ghusl can be performed with such water, and then tayammum is also performed.
Rosewater, fruit juices, mineral water, other types of soft drinks as well as the muṭlaq water that loses its transparency and fluidity by cooking clean things such as chickpeas, lentils, and beans in it is called “muqayyad water”. With such water, it is only possible and permissible to remove dirt from clothes or the body when normal water is not available. This view belongs to Abu Ḥanīfa and Abu Yusuf and it is the preferred view of the Ḥanafi school. Though one cannot perform wuḍū or ghusl with such liquids and in this, there is a consensus.
Water that has been mixed with clean substances such as soap, soil, and detergent is still cleansing if the mixture is of a small amount.
The importance of this classification of water becomes especially evident in arid and water-scarce areas.
2) Cleaning by wiping:
When things such as a knife, glass, mirror, polished wood, tile, porcelain, marble, or metal trays get filthy by a wet or dry impurity, they can be cleaned by wiping with a wet cloth or sponge, or a wet cloth with soil or detergent, in such a way that there is no trace of impurity left. For example, when the butcher knife is completely wiped with a clean cloth or soil, it is considered clean and the ritual prayer performed with such a knife on the person is recognized as valid. This is based upon the fact that after the Companions fought lethally with the enemy, they would wipe their swords and pray with the swords on their person. However, if the knife, sword, or any such utensil has a rough, unpolished surface, it should be washed.
3) Cleaning by burning:
Impurities such as blood smeared on a piece of fireproof metal can be cleaned by putting such a metal into a fire and burning it. If the grill on which the meat will be cooked is not clean, it can be cleaned by putting it into the fire in order to burn off the impurity.
4) Cleaning by scraping, rubbing, and wiping:
According to the Ḥanafis, if visible filth like feces of an animal touches things that do not absorb dirt, such as leather socks (khuff) and shoes, it can be cleaned with water, as well as by scraping or rubbing it with something like a knife. However, if invisible filth like urine touches the khuff or shoes, this part must be washed. As a matter of fact, in that case, it is not sufficient to scrape or rub the dirt that touches the clothes or the body.
According to the Ḥanafis, semen is impure, and dried semen can be cleansed by rubbing it away. However, wet semen should be washed with water. After cleaning the dry semen by rubbing it away, prayer can be performed in such a cloth, however, if the place of the semen gets wet again, according to the sound view of the Ḥanafis, the impurity will also return again. Therefore, it becomes necessary to dry and rub it again or wash it.
It is narrated from Aisha (r. anha) that she said: “When the semen was dry, I was rubbing it from the clothes of the Messenger of Allah (saw), and washing it if it was wet.”[9]
While Ḥanafis and Malikis regard semen as unclean, Shafiʿis and Ḥanbalis consider human semen to be clean. This difference of opinion is based on the following statement from Ibn Abbas (ra), in addition to the different interpretations of the aforementioned hadith: “Wipe the semen off you with izhir (a type of fragrant grass) or a piece of cloth, because it is like mucus and saliva.”[10] Especially in situations of poverty, cold, and traveling on a journey, this view provides a painless provision to Muslims.
If something impure falls into the solid oil/fat, molasses, and similar things, this substance can be cleaned by carving the impure material out and removing it together with its surroundings. The Prophet’s wife Maymuna (r. anha) said: “A mouse fell into cooking butter and died in it. The Prophet (saw) was asked about it: He (saw) said: ‘Take out the mouse and throw away the butter around it (and use the rest.)’”[11]
Solid materials are cleaned with water as long as their impurity does not seep into them. However, there are varying views about solid materials that do leak their impurity into them. According to Ḥanafis, if the head of an animal or its tripe is boiled without being washed and cleaned first, it is no longer possible to clean it because the impurities will get into it. In like manner, if poultry that has been slaughtered according to the proper methods is thrown into boiling water to soften their feathers, this process is makrūḥ tanzihan because the impurities on their wings can pass into their meat. The Malikis and the Ḥanbalis hold similar views in this regard. As for the Shafiʿis, solids that have absorbed an impurity may be purified; hence, for example, if meat has been cooked in or with an impurity, if wheat has absorbed an impurity, or if a knife has been dipped into an impure substance, they may be purified in every respect by pouring water over them.
5) Cleansing via chemical transformation:
If the nature of something impure transforms into something pure, it becomes clean. For example, if a pig or a donkey falls into a salt pan and over time transforms into salt, it is considered clean. Again, the deer blood transforming into musk, the wine turning into vinegar whether the change takes place unassisted or by virtue of someone’s action, the burning of the dung to ashes, making soap from impure oil, the drying of the mud mixed with the sewer and the disappearance of the traces of sewer, the burying of the dirt in the ground and the disappearance of its traces over time, all such chemical transformations makes the object clean. [12]
As for the Shafiʿis and the Ḥanbalis, they agree only that wine is rendered pure if it turns to vinegar without any outside intervention, whereas if someone deliberately turns it into vinegar, it is not considered rendered pure. They also do not count transformation by burning as a purifying agent; rather, they hold that the ashes and smoke resulting from burning an impurity are themselves impure. As for the Malikis, they hold that fire does not remove the impurity of something; however, most of them make an exception for the ashes of an impurity that has been burned.[13]
However, turning impure milk into cheese, grinding impure wheat or making bread from its flour, extracting oil from unclean sesame, and so forth do not make these clean because there is no transformation in their nature.
6) Purification through certain dispositions:
If it is forgotten which part of the body or clothing the invisible filth has touched, or if there is any doubt about the spot it touched, when a part of the body or clothing thought to be the najas is washed, all parts of the body or clothing are considered to have been cleansed. However, it is more appropriate to wash it all as a precaution. The former view provides convenience in cases where there are no spare clothes due to being on a journey, cold, and poverty, and it also helps to perform the prayer on time.
If a person who has impure materials or semen on him cannot determine when it was contaminated, he should repeat the prayers he has performed since the last time he went to the toilet in the case of impure materials and the last time he slept in the case of semen.[14] For example, in the event that one notices dried blood stains spread around a large area on the underwear, the ruling is given according to the above-mentioned principle.
7) Cleaning by slaughtering or tanning:
The skin of any animal other than a pig becomes clean by slaughtering the animal according to the proper way in terms of Islamic law. Yet, there is a disagreement about the skin of a dog. The Ḥanafis accept the tanning of dog skin. It is permissible to pray on the tanned skin of such an animal. If an animal is edible, its meat is also considered clean. However, if it is an inedible animal, its meat is not considered clean, according to the accepted view of the Ḥanafi school. However, even if certain meat of an animal is considered clean due to proper slaughtering it is not permissible to eat it, since not every clean thing ought to be eaten.
According to the Ḥanafis, the skin of any dead animal other than a pig becomes clean by tanning. The Prophet said: “When the skin is tanned it becomes purified.”[15] According to narrations, the Messenger of Allah (saw) was passing in front of a group of houses during the Battle of Tabuk. He asked for some water. A woman said, “O Messenger of Allah, there is only water in a waterskin made from the skin of a dead animal.” The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “Didn’t you tan it?” She said “Yes, I did.”, The Messenger of Allah (saw) said, “Its tanning is its purification”.[16]
Tanning removes the dampness and flowing blood which is the reason for the impurity of the carrion. In a way, tanning makes the skin cleansed from impurities. There are two types of tanning: “real tanning” which is made with substances such as alum, gall, salt, and similar things. On the other hand, tanning carried out by sprinkling soil on the skin and leaving it under the sun, air and the wind is called “judicial tanning”. According to the Ḥanafis, it is permissible to pray on animal skin tanned with one of these two processes and such skin can also be used for clothing. The exception for the pigskin in tanning is based upon the ruling that the pig is considered impure in itself, and the exception of human skin is because a human being even after death warrants reverence and honor that is distinct from dead animals.
The Shafiʿis stipulate that in order for the tanning process to have a purifying effect, it must involve the use of a substance. They also differ from the Ḥanafis in regards to purifying dog skin by tanning. The skin of a dog, a pig, the offspring of a dog and a pig, which have mated together, or the offspring of either a dog or a pig that has mated with a pure animal, may not be purified by tanning.
Even though the view that tanning has no purifying effect is the view most common among the Malikis, the more discerning Maliki jurists hold that it does have a purifying effect. The Ḥanbalis also deny that tanning the hides of dead animals renders them pure.[17]
8) Cleaning of wells, pools, and tanks:
The Muslim jurists paid much attention to the protection of water resources, which are to be used for drinking and cleaning purposes in accordance with the rules of hygiene, and to the methods of cleaning this water if something impure falls into it.
In stagnant waters, such as wells, tanks, and pools, where the impure substance may fall and spread, the ruling generally is that if possible it should be cleaned by the emptying of all its water. However, there are various practices mentioned in the narrations such as when the Prophet stated that the remaining water or water flowing after cleansing the water mixed with dirt can be utilized.[18] Moreover, after Abdullah Ibn Zubayr had the Zamzam well emptied after an Abyssinian fell into it and died there, he saw that the water flowed like a spring from the direction of Hajar al-Aswad, and he said “This amount is enough”. Furthermore, Ali is known to have said for a well in which a rat has fallen, “Its water should be drained” and in another narration, he stated, “empty it until you think that the clean water prevails”. At other times, taking into account the water resources, various Companions and their followers recommended the extraction of between 40 and 70 buckets of water depending on the size of the impurity that had fallen into the stagnant water.[19] These practices were all done for the purpose of purifying the water from impurity and making it clean. Such practices in hindsight should be recognized for their importance in terms of preventive medicine at a time when the microbe had not been discovered yet. Today, in case it is not possible to remove all of the water after a reasonable amount of water has been removed depending on the condition of the impure thing that fell into the water, the leftover water should be examined as to whether it is clean or not by carrying out laboratory analysis. In our contemporary times, necessary precautions are taken to keep the dams, ponds, and water reservoirs well-constructed and coordinated in order to provide clean drinking and utility water, and chlorination is frequently used against any possible contamination of the water.
9) Cleansing after going to the bathroom (istibra and istinja):
Cleansing oneself from material impurities after relieving oneself in the restroom is important both for the purification of the body and clothes and for the ritual purification of the worship that follows. It is also an indicator of good hygiene, health, and civilized behavior. Therefore, it is natural that Islam, which is a universal religion, would have some rules and regulations in this matter.
Cleaning oneself after urinating is called “istibrā”. It may be necessary for men to wait for some time to be sure that no urine remains in the urinary canal, and for this purpose to engage in some movements like moving a little, walking, or coughing. This is because if the urine does not completely cease it will not only nullify the ablution – except in the case of an exempted person -, but it will also cause the clothes to become impure. As a matter of fact, the Messenger of Allah (saw) stated that most of the torment in the grave would be due to people not protecting themselves from urine drops on their clothes.[20]
Showing meticulous attention to cleanliness while urinating is called “istinqā”. In this regard, besides cleaning oneself with water, it is best to dry one’s private parts with toilet paper.
Cleaning the places where things like blood, semen, urine, and feces come out is called “istinjā”. This cleaning can be done with water, or, if one is in the countryside, it can also be done with small stones. It is better to do it first with stones, and then with water. However, it is undesirable (makrūḥ) to perform istinjā with bone, coal, animal dung, cloth, cotton, or paper. However, drying with toilet paper after cleaning with water is similar to the cleanliness praised in the Qur’an by the people of Qubā near Medina.[21] The Prophet (saw) asked them how they cleaned themselves, and they replied with the following words, “by using water and stone”.[22]
[1] Al-Anfāl, 8: 11.[2] Al-Furqān, 25: 48.[3] Jaziri, Abd al-Rahman, Islamic Jurisprudence According to the Four Sunni Schools, Fons Vitae, 2009, pp. 37-38.[4] Ibn Maja, Ṭaḥārah, 76. In Zawāid, it is said that its isnad is weak because of the weakness of Rishdin. See al-Zaylaī, Naṣb al-Rāya, I, 94.[5] Abū Dawūd, Ṭaḥāra, 38.[6] Al-Jaziri, ibid, p. 42.[7] For details see al- Kāsānī, Badāyiʿ al-Ṣanā’iʿ, Beirut 1328/1910, I, 83-87; Ibn al-Humām, Fatḥ al-Qadīr, Bulak, 1315. H., I, 133-138; Ibn Abidīn, Radd al-Mukhtār, Egypt, n.d.. I, 284-302; al-Zaylaī, Tabyīn al-Ḥaqāiq, Amiriyya ed., I, 60 ff.; al-Maydanī, Lubāb, I, 24 ff.[8] See al-Bukhari, Wuḍū, 33; Muslim, Ṭaḥāra, 89-93; al-Tirmidhī, Ṭaḥāra, 68; al-Nasā’ī, Ṭaḥāra, 52, Miyah, 7. Abu Hurayra first narrated a hadith about washing such utensils seven times, and since later he was content with washing such utensils three times, the first narration was considered abrogated. Zakiyyuddīn Şaban, ibid, pp. 75-76.[9] Al-Zaylaī, ibid, I, 209, 210.[10] Sa‘īd Ibn Manṣūr and al-Daraquṭnī narrated this hadith as marfū‘. Al-Zuhaylī, al-Fiqh al-Islamī, Damascus 1405/1985, I, 98.[11] Al-Bukhari, Wuḍū’, 67; Dhabāiḥ, 34; According to Ibn Ḥanbal and al-Nasā’ī’s narration, there is an addition of “into the solid fat.” Al-San‘ānī, Subul al-Salām, 2nd ed., III, 8; Al-Nasā’ī, Far‘, 10; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, VI, 329, 330, 335.[12] Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Bidāyat al-Mujtahid, I, 461; al-Bājī, Muntaqā ‘ala al-Muwaṭṭā’, III, 153 ff.; Ibn Qudāmah, Mughnī, VIII- 319; al-Shīrāzī, Muhadhdhab, I, 48.[13] Al-Jaziri, ibid, p. 35.[14] Al-Zuhaylī, ibid, I, 99, 107; Ö. Nasuhi Bilmen, Büyük İslam İlmihali, Istanbul 1985, p. 61 ff.[15] Muslim, Ḥayḍ, 105; Abū Dawūd, Libās, 38; al-Nasā’ī, Far’, 20, 30, 31; al-Darimī, Aḍāḥī, 20; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, I, 219, 227, 237, 270, VI, 73.[16] Al-Nasā’ī, Far’, 4; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, IV, 254, V, 67, VI, 329, 336.[17] Al-Jaziri, ibid, pp. 35-36.[18] Al-Tirmidhī, Ṭaḥāra, 49; Abū Dawūd, Ṭaḥāra, 34; Ibn Maja, Ṭaḥāra, 76; al-Nasā’ī, Miyah, 1, 2.[19] Al-Taḥāwī, Ma’āni al-Āthār, Chapter Ṭaḥāra.[20] Al-Bukhari, Wuḍū, 55, 56, Janā’iz. 89, Adab, 46, 49; Muslim, Ṭaḥāra, 111; Abū Dawūd, Ṭaḥāra, 11; al-Tirmidhī, Ṭaḥāra, 53; al-Nasā’ī, Ṭaḥāra, 26, 116; Ibn Maja, Ṭaḥāra, 26.[21] See al-Tawba, 9: 108.[22] Al-Zaylaī, Naṣb al-Rāya, I, 318 ff.; al-Zuhaylī, ibid, I, 196.
Source: Basic Islamic Principles (ʿilmi ḥāl) According to the Four Sunni Schools With Evidence From The Sources of Islamic Law, Prof. Hamdi Döndüren, Erkam Publications