What Is the Status of Water That Has Been Used to Purify an Area?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
Do you consider the water that is used to clean up an area that has been contaminated with Najasa—whether it be dog or cat feces, cat urine, or both—to be Najis?
How far must I go to determine whether any of the three characteristics of water have altered, and at what point does that alteration become Najis?
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
I pray this finds you in the best of states.
To purify an area, such as the floor of your kitchen, affected by feces, for example, you should:
- Remove the bulk of the filth without using water and wipe its traces with a dry or wetted cloth;
- Pour water over the area and make it run for at least half a meter (this distance is only given to make sure that the water is actually running over the area because running water only becomes filthy when traces of filth are manifested in it).
If no traces of filth are left after this pouring, then you can consider both the area and the water you have poured over the area pure. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
Traces of filth are taste, smell, and color. You don’t have to actually bend yourself to smell the floor in order to deem it pure! You only need to be fairly confident that these traces are gone to deem the floor and the water you have used to be pure.
Allah, Most High, says: “Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship” [Quran, 2:185]
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.
