Physical Impurities: Heavy and Light Categories

1. Two Categories of Physical Impurity

تَنْقَسِمُ النَّجَاسَةُ إِلَى قِسْمَيْنِ: غَلِيظَةٍ وَخَفِيفَةٍ

The main practical difference in this chapter is the amount excused in prayer. Heavy impurity has the smaller concession; light impurity has the broader concession. Their names do not by themselves create different washing methods.

2. Heavy Impurity: Core Examples

فَالْغَلِيظَةُ كَالْخَمْرِ، وَالدَّمِ الْمَسْفُوحِ، وَلَحْمِ الْمَيْتَةِ وَإِهَابِهَا، وَبَوْلِ مَا لَا يُؤْكَلُ لَحْمُهُ

Examples include Khamr, flowing blood, flesh of a land carcass and its untanned hide, and urine of animals whose meat is not lawful to eat.

3. Heavy Impurity: Further Examples

وَنَجْوِ الْكَلْبِ، وَرَجِيعِ السِّبَاعِ وَلُعَابِهَا، وَخُرْءِ الدَّجَاجِ وَالْبَطِّ وَالْإِوَّزِّ، وَمَا يَنْقُضُ الْوُضُوءَ بِخُرُوجِهِ مِنْ بَدَنِ الْإِنْسَانِ

Further examples: dog excrement; excrement and saliva of predatory land animals; droppings of chicken, domestic duck and goose; and human discharges whose exit invalidates Wudu under the relevant rule.

4. Light Impurity

وَأَمَّا الْخَفِيفَةُ فَكَبَوْلِ الْفَرَسِ، وَكَذَا بَوْلُ مَا يُؤْكَلُ لَحْمُهُ، وَخُرْءِ طَيْرٍ لَا يُؤْكَلُ

The matn lists horse urine, urine of animals whose meat is lawful to eat, and droppings of non-edible birds. Note that the matn speaks here about the urine of edible quadrupeds; do not silently place every type of their dung in the same category.

5. Important Qualifications

The commentary limits overgeneralization: blood remaining in properly slaughtered meat and veins is not treated like flowing blood; fish blood is pure in the stated sound view; donkey and mule saliva are pure in the sound position, although their leftover water has a separate doubtful-purifying ruling studied earlier.