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What Assumptions Can Be Made About Soaps Used Outside of Home?

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

I was informed that Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Shaghouri (may Allah be pleased with him), once upon learning that the soap he used contained ingredients derived from unslaughtered animals, immediately made ghusl.

I also understand from the SunniPath question: 3937, that all Soaps can be assumed to be permissible to use in the Hanafi madhhab.

For someone attempting to follow the Shafi’i school on this matter – what kinds of assumptions can be made about soaps used outside of one’s home – where one is unsure of the ingredients (e.g. liquid soaps one finds in dispensers at publi restrooms, etc.)?

Should one not make any assumptions about their permissibility – and keep a small bar of soap handy with oneself (that one brings from home) – to have absolute certainty that what one is using is pure? Or is there another preferable course of action one should take in such situations?

Jazakum Allahu Khairan

Was-salam

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

One may assume that the soaps one uses outside of the home are pure.

As a general rule, things are assumed pure unless proven otherwise.

However, if it makes one feel better, you may carry your own soap to be perfectly certain, but it is unnecessary.

And Allah alone gives success.

Shazia Ahmad

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

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