Part II: Water
Q.
What sorts of water are good for wuduu’
?
A.
Wuduu’ and ghusul are allowed with rain water, well water, spring, sea
or river water or the water of melting snow or hail and the water of a big tank
or pond.
Q.
What sorts of water are not good for wuduu’?
A. The
water extracted from fruits and trees; water that has changed its color and
taste and has become thick and dense because something, even taahir, was soaked in it; a small quantity of water in which
some dirty things have fallen or some animal had died after falling into it;
used water of wuduu’ or ghusul;
polluted and dirty water; water left by haraam
animals after drinking; and distilled water of rose or aniseed or of any other
drug.
Q.
What is the water called by which wuduu’
or ghusul has been done?
A. Such
water is called musta’mal (used)
water. This, in itself, is taahir
but wuduu’ or ghusul by it is not allowed.
Q.
The water left after drinking by what animals becomes nijs
(polluted)?
A. Water
from which dogs, pigs or any other hunting quadruped have drunk is not taahir.
In the same way, the water which a cat drinks immediately after eating a mouse
or any other such thing is also nijs.
Water left by a person who has just taken wine is nijs
too.
Q.
Water left by which animals is makrooh
?
A. Water
left by a cat (if it had not just eaten a mouse), lizard, wild hen, filth-eating
cow or buffalo, crow, kite, hawk and eagle and all other haraam animals.
Q.
Water drunk by which animals is taahir
?
A. Water
left by human beings and that of halaal
animals, cow, goat, pigeon, dove and horse is taahir.
Q.
Which water becomes nijs when najaasat
falls into it?
A. All
waters, except two, become nijs if najaasat
falls into them. The other two that remain taahir
are:
¨
River water and
¨
Stored water of large quantity, like water in a big tank or big
reservoir.
Q.
What will be called a “large quantity of stored water?”
A. Stored
or standing water, which covers an area of 17 x 17 feet and is deep enough that
a man can take out water with his hands without scraping the bottom is
considered a “large quantity of water.” Any tank or reservoir, as big as
this, will be called a big tank or big reservoir.
Q.
Does the water of a big tank or reservoir also become nijs
?
A. Yes,
when the taste, color or smell of the najaasat
becomes apparent.
Q.
What else makes water nijs ?
A. If
a living thing, other than those born in water such as fish, frogs, etc. and
lizards and insects, falls and dies in the water, it makes the water nijs. For example, a bird, pigeon, cat or a mouse is drowned in a
tank or pond – it will make the water nijs.
Q.
Which animals do not make the water nijs
if they die in the water?
A. Animals
which live and are born in water like fish and frogs and animals which do not
have flowing blood in their veins, e.g.
flies, mosquitoes, wasps, lizards, ants – if they die in the water, do not
make it nijs.
Q.
What things make a well nijs ?
A. A
well becomes nijs if najaasat, ghaleeza
or khafeefa falls down into it
or an animal having flowing blood falls into it and dies there.
Q.
If an animal comes out alive after falling into the well, does the water
remain taahir or does it become
nijs ?
A. The
well becomes nijs if an animal whose
drunk water is also nijs or an animal
with dirt upon its body falls down in it. The water would not become nijs if such an animal, haraam
or halaal falls down in the
well whose drunk water is regarded as taahir,
and at the time of falling down, it had no dirt upon its body and comes out
alive. The water of the well will be taken to be taahir in case it becomes certain that it did not discharge
urine or excreta while in the well.
Q.
What is the way of making a well taahir
when it becomes nijs?
A. There
are five ways of making a well taahir:
Note:
It is mustahab (better) to pull
out 30 instead of 20 and 60 instead of 40 buckets.
Q.
If a dead animal falls into the well, what is the rule for that?
A. The
same rule is applicable in the case of a dead animal falling as when dying after
falling down. If a dead goat falls into the well, all water should be taken out;
if a dead cat, 40 or 60 buckets should be taken out; if a dead mouse, then 20 or
30 buckets.
Q.
What if a bloated or burst animal falls down the well?
A. All
the water should be taken out as in the case of an animal which died after
falling down and became bloated and burst.
Q.
What if a dead animal is found in the well and it is not known when
exactly it fell in?
A. The
well should be treated as ghair taahir
(unclean) from the time such an animal was found.
Q.
How big a bucket should be used?
A. The
bucket should be the same as is generally used on that well.
Q.
Should the water be taken out all at once or can it be done
intermittently?
A. Doing
it at intervals is also allowed, e.g.
if 60 buckets full of water are to be taken out, 20 buckets in the morning, 20
at noon and 20 in the afternoon can be taken out.
Q.
Should the rope by which the bucket has been pulled out be treated as nijs ?
A. When
the required quantity of water has been pulled out, the well, the bucket and the
rope all become taahir.
THE END OF PART II
