Is It Permitted to Use a Brush Made From Boar Bristles?

Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas

Question: Assalam aleykum

I have purchased and used a shoe brush to clean my shoe and found out that it’s made of boar bristles. I have touched it with my hand. Is my prayer? Is wearing my washed shoe permissible?

Answer: assalamu alaykum

The pig is considered essentially filthy (najas al-ayn), which means that every part of it is considered impure – it’s bones, hair, skin, and so forth. Consequently, a brush made from boar bristles would not be permitted to use.

As for the issue of filth then using a dry hair brush made from boar bristles would not entail a transfer of impurity to one’s body or clothing. As such, your prayers would not be deemed invalid because your hand touched this dry brush.

However, using a wet brush or putting it in contact with a wet surface would entail a transfer of impurity. In this case, the effected area should be washed to remove the ruling of impurity. Similarly, if some of the bristles fell off and remained on your clothing or body, this would also be considered a scenario where you would be considered to have been carrying something impure. It should be noted that this does not necessarily entail that one’s prayer is invalid since there are amounts of filth that are excusable in prayer. You do not need to worry about this too much for your past practice unless you are absolutely certain that you prayed with an inexcusable amount of filth in for a specific prayer which case you should repeat such a prayer.

For more see:

Can I Use Paintbrushes Made of Pig Hair?

Is It Permissible to Use Boar for Any Purpose?

[Ustadh] Salman Younas

Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir.