The book covered: Ascent to Felicity translated by Faraz A. Khan, written originally by Abu ‘I-Iklas al-Shurunbulali titled Maraaqi ‘l-Sa’aadat
This blog post will not cover wudhu, ghusl, tayammum, or fiqh vocabulary, for those please refer to the other blog posts. Instead this post will cover what purification is, the types of water classifications, what classifies as pure and impure.
Purification (Tahara)
Purification is valid with the following types of water:
- rain water
- well water
- spring water
- river water
- sea water [even if it is salty]
- water melted from snow or hail
In order for water to be used for purification, it itself needs to be purifying, meaning that nothing has mixed with it to remove its purifying quality.
According to Abu Hanifa, a large body of water is considered that by the onlooker, therefore if you decide it is large the it is.
A large body of water according to the book is defined as: at least 10 by 10 cubits [180 inch or 15 ft] or around 1,650 gallons with a depth such that its floor is not exposed when scooping water out with both hands.
Mensuration (Hayd) Postnatal Bleeding (Nifas) and Dysfunctional Uterine Bleeding (Istihada)
Menstruation is defined as: “Blood that exits from the vagina of a woman free from a disease (that would cause bleeding) or pregnancy, after the age of adolescence.”
Side note: The legally youngest age is nine lunar years old, and menopause tends to occur around fifty-five years lunar years old
For menstruation the minimum duration is three days, while the maximum is ten days. (Bleeding outside of this period is categorized as istihada. Likewise if bleeding stops for a period of time then continues, it is considered part of the menstruation.)
Women are encouraged to track there menstrual habit that way they know when to establish new habits, a new habit is defined as whatever occurred last.
Side note: Mandatory fasts must be made up, however prayers do not have to be made up.
Unlawful (haram) during menstruation:
- Sexual intercourse
- Tawaf (on a technical standpoint the Tawaf would be valid, however she would have acquired sin, refer to the chapter on Hajj for more information)
- Entering a mosque, even if only passing through (compared to the Shafi’i please refer to that post)
- Being touched from right below to navel to right below the knees (using a barrier such as cloth is permissible, however one should not sleep in separate beds or create emotional or physical distance, just sexual.)
- Reciting the Qur’an
- Touching a copy of the Qur’an unless with a barrier that is not part of the book
If her period ends within the ten days but is after her regular habit it is unlawful for her to have intercourse unless she does one of the three below:
- Ghusl
- Tayammum (assuming there is a valid excuse)
- Missing an obligatory salah
Side note: referring to the last point, missing a salah that has become obligatory upon her means that her period ends with enough time to perform ghusl and say the tahrima before the prayer time expires; if however the time of the prayer left is not enough time for ghusl, she is not considered to have missed the salah, and it is not permissible to have intercourse.
Obviously due to the above logic if 10 days passes, or 240 hours, intercourse becomes permissible and what was not obligatory becomes obligatory such as fasting and prayer.
The minimum number of days during cycles (tuhr) is 15 complete days or 360 hours.
Post Natal Bleeding (nifas):
Defined as: “blood that exits after delivery, or after most of the baby has exited (once past the chest if head first and navel if feet first), this includes miscarraiges”
Maximum duration is 40 days
The following cases are considered to be dysfunctional uterine bleeding:
- Any bleeding of a pregnant woman, even during delivery before most of the baby has exited
- Bleeding after delivery for more than 40 days
- Bleeding past normal habits (menstruation and post-natal bleeding)
- Bleeding of a girl who has not reached adolescence
Legally, istihada, or dysfunctional bleeding takes ruling of continuous bleeding, it does not prevent the necessity of fasting, prayer, sexual intercourse, tawaf. If such bleeding continues throughout the entire prayer time then one must perform wudhu once the prayer time has entered, then can pray and read Qu’ran as much as desired. Once another prayer time enters, wudhu must be remade.
Three conditions for people with chronic excuses that must be met in order to classify as dysfunctional:
- The chronic excuse lasts for the duration of the entire prayer time continuously, as in if someone made wudhu and prayed the mandatory prayer, the excuse would have occurred.
- The condition for continuity of the chronic excuse is that it occurs during every prayer time afterwards.
- One leaves this state of dysfunctional once an entire prayer time lapses and not a single occurrence of the excuse happens.
Types of Filth and its Purification
Filth (nasaja) is of two types: heavy (mughallaza) and light (mukhaffafa)
Heavy filth includes the following:
- Spilled blood
- Feces
- Wine
- Sperm or secual fluid (mani)
Light filth includes the following:
- Urine of animals whose meat is permissible to eat
- Urine of horses
- Droppings of birds whose meat is not permissible to eat
An object or area that has discernible filth (such as blood, feces) on it is purified by removing the filth through washing at least once, except for that which is difficult to remove (as in having to use soap to remove the color).
An object or area that has indiscernible filth (such as urine) on it is purified by washing and squeezing the area three times. If it is for example carpet, one must place water over it, let it dry, then run water over it again, let it dry, repeating this process a third time. Dried is defined as running one’s hand over it and not having it get wet from touching it. Light spray of urine is excused if each dot is no larger than the head of a needle.
Important Note:
- Heavy filth excused is the size of a dirham
- Light filth excused is less than one fourth of one’s entire body or garment
Examples of Filth NOT transferring from one area to another:
- the moisture that appears on a dry, pure garment, after being wrapped in a damp impure garment
- A wet clean foot that steps on impure ground without any trace of filth appearing on that foot
- A damp pure garment that is placed on impure ground, without any trace of filth appearing on the garment
- The body of one who sleeps in a dry impure garment, which becomes wet from his sweat, without any trace of filth appearing on his/her body
To clean an area with filth one can use pure, purifying water, or pure, impurifying water. Remember that pure, impurifying water can be used to remove filth, but not for wudhu. It is also permissible to use any liquid that by its nature removes filth, like vinegar. A complete chemical transformation (istihala) is a means of purification, such as wine turning into vinegar. This also entails tanning leather (except for of course humans and pigs skin).
Side note: A sword or the like can be wiped with a dry cloth and be purified.
Assuming some filth (najs) gets onto the earth, its purification is through the natural drying, and as long as no trace of filth remains, it can be used to pray on top of, however the soil cannot be used for tayammum, as the dirt itself is no longer purifying.
A garment with dried sperm may be purified by scraping of the sperm.
Any body part that does not flowing blood in it is not rendered impure upon death such as:
- Hair
- cut feathers (plucked ones are impure, as the ends classify it as such)
- Horns
- Claws
- Bones (must be scrapped with no fat)
- Deer’s pouch of musk