Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Recently some brothers in this community have decided to review our fiqh notes and go systematically through the salvation of the soul (I know, bad translation). Today was our first meeting and we have a few Questions.
In the first chapter the first section talks about the 7 types of water with which cleanliness can be achieved. It lists rain, sea, river, well, spring, melted ice and melted hail water. Does this include melted snow? And where does tap water fall in these categories?
The next section are on the five categories the above can fall under. In the third category ‘clean but not cleansing’ it defines it as water that has been already used for removing minor ritual impurity, tree/fruit water, and water left after cooking something. From this point we have some Questions. Can this water be used for istinja? We went camping the other day and the water has a taste and smell of sulfur does this mean the water has lost its qualities and thus cannot be used to remove minor impurity? Can this type of water be drunk? What about soapy water?
Tap water has various chemicals in it, does this bring in question its cleaning ability, furthermore it doesn’t go back to the earth rather back to the water treatment plant to be cleaned and sent to us? What exactly is meant by ‘cannot cleanse others’? Does this mean specifically wudu? Can you use it to wash clothes in? When is tap water not pure? Also if you go to a small pond (less than 10 square cubits) and it has some algae growing and u stir up the water so the water takes on the color of the algae is it permissible to do wudu from it?
Walaikum assalam,
1. I would recommend using Taleemul Haq (available online), and Heavenly Ornaments (available online, though the Zam Zam Publications edition, available through http://www.alrashad.com, is better) as references to check up whenever something is not quite clear.
They are both very reliable in their rulings, as several of my teachers and other scholars have attested to. Don’t let the relatively poor language be a barrier. They are also both designed for the lay person, and the English editions are clear. Salvation, on the other hand, is an error-ridden translation of a much more technical text…
2. The types of water simply explain the 7 most common sources of water. Tap water comes from them!
3. Used water can be used for istinja. “Not cleansing” should say: not purifying, and explained as: It cannot be used to lift a state of ritual impurity, whether minor (through wudu) or major (through ghusl).
4. As long as water can still be called “water” without a necessary qualification, then it remains water: it is pure and purifying, if it is neither filthy (najis) or used. So, a trace of soap or sulphur or rose extract would not affect the usability of water. However, if you put so much rose extract in water that is could no longer be called water without the necessary qualifier “rose,” then the you could not use it for wudu or ghusl.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani.