Is the Blood of a Fly Filthy?
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
Is the blood of a fly pure? Some flies were disturbing very much, so I hit a fly. It died and its blood spread on the door frame. Is that place impure now? I found there is differences of opinion about the blood of a mosqitue; but I don’t find a ruling for blood of a housefly. I know that a fly in itself is pure, but what is the ruling for its blood?
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
I pray this finds you in the best of states.
Yes, the blood of a fly is pure because it is not flowing. [Tahtawi, Hashya ‘ala Maraqi al-Falah]
Thus, what is taken into consideration is not the mere presence of blood but whether it is flowing or not.
When we say that a fly has no flowing blood, we do not mean that it is not circulating in its body; we simply say that if we cut a fly in half, its blood will not flow but will remain at the surface of its body. [Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
The Reason behind This Ruling
The Messenger of Allah (Blessings and Peace be upon Him): “Wudu is due after any flowing blood.” [Daraqutni]
Scholars mention this principle: anything that does not break your wudu is not filthy. [Tumurtashi, Tanwir al-Absar]
Thus, non-flowing blood is pure.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalam
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching far and wide for answers to the fundamental questions of life and was disappointed at the answers he found. Then, he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor, Shaykh Faraz Rabbani. He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha’ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others. He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.
