Impure Water and Doubtful Water

Read the bilingual lesson for Impure Water and Doubtful Water and test your understanding with a focused quiz.

Lesson

1. Small Stagnant Water and Impurity

Source text
وَالرَّابِعُ: مَاءٌ نَجِسٌ وَهُوَ الَّذِي حَلَّتْ فِيهِ نَجَاسَةٌ وَكَانَ رَاكِدًا قَلِيلًا

• Small stagnant water: The commentary defines this as stagnant water whose surface area is less than 10 by 10 cubits.
• If actual impurity falls into such water, it becomes impure even if its taste, color, and smell do not visibly change.
• “10 by 10 cubits” is the traditional legal measure used in the text and commentary; it should not be read as a modern metric measurement.

2. Large Stagnant Water and Flowing Water

Source text
أَوْ جَارِيًا وَظَهَرَ فِيهِ أَثَرُهَا، وَالْأَثَرُ: طَعْمٌ أَوْ لَوْنٌ أَوْ رِيحٌ

• Flowing water: It is ruled impure when the effect of impurity becomes apparent in its taste, color, or smell.
• Large stagnant water: The commentary applies the same effect-based rule to a sufficiently large body of stagnant water. For a square pool, 10 by 10 cubits is the cited surface measure, together with sufficient depth so that its bottom is not exposed by normal scooping.
• Thus, merely knowing that impurity entered a large or flowing body of water is not enough by itself; one of the three effects must appear.

3. Doubtful Water: Donkey and Mule Leftovers

Source text
وَالْخَامِسُ: مَاءٌ مَشْكُوكٌ فِي طَهُورِيَّتِهِ وَهُوَ مَا شَرِبَ مِنْهُ حِمَارٌ أَوْ بَغْلٌ

• The fifth category is water whose purifying capacity is doubtful, not water known to be impure.
• The text identifies the leftover water of a donkey or mule for this category.
• The commentary also emphasizes a general principle: water is not declared impure merely because of suspicion; actual impurity must be known with certainty or strong probability.

4. What to Do If Only Doubtful Water Is Available

• If no suitable water is available except the doubtful leftover water described above, the Hanafi ruling is to do both:
1. perform Wudu with that water, and
2. perform Tayammum.
• Then the person performs the prayer.
• The supplied commentary states that performing Wudu first and Tayammum afterward is preferable.

5. Do Not Confuse Disliked Water with Doubtful Water

• Cat leftover in a small amount of water: pure and purifying, but mildly disliked when other suitable water exists.
• Donkey leftover: pure in itself, but its capacity to purify is doubtful; if it is the only water available, Wudu and Tayammum are both performed.
• Mule leftover: The supplied commentary specifies the doubtful ruling for a mule whose mother is a female donkey, not a mare.

This distinction is important: “disliked” and “doubtful in purifying capacity” are not the same legal category.

Practice questions

Question 1

According to the commentary, which stagnant water is classified as “small” for this rule?

Stagnant water with a surface area of less than 10 by 10 cubits.
Less than 100 meters
Water that is flowing in a stream
Less than 2 ratls

Question 2

If a drop of blood falls into small stagnant water, the water remains valid for Wudu until its color, taste, or smell changes.

Question 3

Match each water case with its correct legal ruling.

Question 4

Which three changes indicate the effect of impurity in flowing or sufficiently large water?

Temperature, volume, and weight
Taste, color, and smell (Ta'm, Lawn, Rih)
Depth, width, and flow rate
Saffron, milk, and vinegar

Question 5

If only doubtful donkey/mule leftover water is available, the Hanafi ruling is to perform both Wudu with it and Tayammum before praying.

Question 6

According to the supplied commentary, when is a mule's leftover water treated as doubtful?

Only if the mule is larger than a sheep.
Only if the mother of the mule was a female donkey (atan), not a mare.
Only if the mule drank from a running river.
It is never classified as doubtful.

Question 7

Match each example with its correct water category.

Question 8

When using doubtful water, performing Wudu first and Tayammum afterward is the preferred sequence stated in the supplied commentary.

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