How Much Filth Is Excused in the Shafi’i School?

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

An impurity of one dirham is pardoned in the Hanafi madhab. Can I follow this if I am a Shafi’i madhhab follower?

Answer

If you are a Shafi’i, it is better to follow your school. I assume that you are talking about purity during prayer. The Reliance of the Traveller says, “It is a necessary condition (shart) for the validity of prayer that one have purity (N: absence of filth (najasa, def: e14.1) in:

• body;
• clothing, whether or not it moves with the person (N: who is praying); [f4.1]

f4.3 Impure substances (najasa) other than blood (dis: below) that are indiscernible by (A: average) vision are excusable, though if visually discernible, they are inexcusable. (A: That which is seen by a normal look is  not excusable, while that which can only be seen by minute scrutiny is excusable.)

f4.4 As for blood or pus, if it is from another (0: human or otherwise,) then only a little (def: below) is excusable, though if from the person praying, it is excusable whether much or little, regardless if from a squeezed pimple, a boil, a sore, being bled, cupped, or something else.”

Please see the links below for more information. It would be helpful to take a course on the basics of purification and prayer (worship) in the Shafi`i school to know how to deal with these situations.

Does Presence of Blood Invalidate Prayer? (Shafi’i)
What Is the Excusable Amount of Filth in the Four Madhhabs?

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.