How to Avoid to Spread Filth When Washing My Hands?

Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan

Question: Assalam alaykum,

1. When washing my hands that have najasah on them, does the water that splashes from my hands onto the sides of the sink become dirty or remain clean?

2. One opinion says that madhi (pre-ejeculate) is impure, but is then considered Pure when mixed with mani (semen), because foreplay is a recommended act, and madhi comes from foreplay, and mani comes from orgasm.

In other words, at the beginning of intimacy, madhi exits, and then later mani exits, so can both the fluids be taken as pure in this instance, according to Shafi fiqh?

Answer: Wa alaykum al-Salam

Shukran for your question.

Water and soap that comes in contact with najasah is contaminated with najasah and consequently najis. If you observe this contaminated water splashing on the sides of your basin or on the floor of your shower, then it should be washed away. Please note that all it would require to wash that najasah away, is to pour clean water over it. If however, you have not observed contaminated water splashing anywhere, and merely have doubts that it may or may not have splashed, then there is no need to wash that area. The default ruling is that an area is considered pure until you have certainty that it has been contaminated.

Regarding the question of madhi. Madhi or pre-ejaculate is impure while mani or semen is pure.

What may be causing some confusion here is the fact that semen is made up of two components, 1. sperm which looks like a tadpole and 2. pre-ejaculate. The question thus is, why is pre-ejaculate considered impure individually, but pure when combined with sperm to make semen? And the answer is found in the legal maxim that reads, “the follower receives the ruling of that which it follows”. When pre-ejaculate exists alone it is impure; when it is combined or follows sperm, which is pure, it receives the ruling of that which it follows, and is thus considered pure as well.

And Allah knows best

Wassalam
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan

Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.