QUESTION POSED
Some brothers in the centre are Alhamdulillah trying to follow the sunnah and making wudu from a bucket to save water instead out of tap. Sheikh, can you please tell us if we dip our hands into the bucket to collect water instead of pouring the water out of the bucket.
Does it spoil the water?
Because we learnt before from a fiqh class ,that when water gets to a certain amount it can never be spoiled. But the bucket is a bit small, does dipping our hands into the water to collect water for Wudu spoil it?
ANSWER
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Alhamdulillah,
This type of question shows us the sincerity of the brothers that ask it, but it also points us in to a direction that becomes problematic amongst eager young Muslims.
The problem here being the “Istihram” of a product.
Meaning declaring something to be forbidden on an assumption, and this thing could be food or anything else you can imagine, of course in this case the question is about a container with water that is shared, so as the brothers save on the water bill, and to also revive the sunnah of using a little water to do their ablutions.
But the actual matter gets deeper once the subject is explained.
I will try, in sha Allah, to lay out the Usul Al-Fiqh pprinciples that are easy to follow and that will benefit all that read it. And it is Allah’s Pleasure that we seek.
In this case regarding the Water, the answer is simple, in sha Allah.
All water that falls from the sky or comes from the earth is pure, as Allah SWT has said:
وأنزلنا من السماء ماء طهورا
“We send down purifying water from the sky” (Qur’an 25: 48)
Also, the Prophet ﷺsaid about the water in the ocean, “Its water is and its (animals that have died) are permissible (to eat).” Furthermore, the Prophet ﷺ also said about well water, “Verily, water is pure and nothing makes it impure.”
This hadith proves that all sea animals are halal for us to eat, even though the Hanafi Madhhab forbids shell fish etc.
Thus, it remains in a state of purity, even if someone not pure mixes with it, as long as it still considered water
The principle ruling concerning any kind of matter is that of permissibility and purity (That is, they are to be considered permissible and pure unless proven otherwise).
If someone, therefore, claims that an object is impure, or haram, then the burden of proof is upon him to bring forth some evidence for the impurity of that object.
If he does, his conclusion will be followed.
If he is not able to bring forth such proof or if he does not present an acceptable proof, then our judgment will be according to the original principle, and the original principle is, that it is free of any impurity.
This applies to all matters and all foods. Unless they are explicitly forbidden to us, either via the Speech of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger ﷺ, the product/food/liquid/material is permissible for us to eat/drink/taste/use.
Since declaring something to be impure is an obligation that concerns all people, it is not permissible to make such a declaration unless a proof has been established for it.
When you declare a matter to be forbidden, it is very similar if not the same as you saying a matter is permitted, even though we have explicit proof for the opposite. This becomes a dangerous sea saw to be on.
Now back to the question of Water.
The Water remains pure, and remains water so long as people call it water.
Unless:
- It changes its look/colour completely, so that you can not tell if it was water.
- It changes its smell, so that you can not tell it was ever water.
- It changes its taste, so that you can not tell it was water.
Ibn Qudaamah said: We do not know of any difference of opinion among the scholars concerning the permissibility of doing wudoo’ with water that is mixed with a pure substance that has not changed it.
If a small amount of herbs, hummus, flowers, saffron and the like falls into water, and leaves no taste, colour or smell, it is permissible to purify oneself with that water.
This is indicated by the hadith of Umm Haani’, that: “The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and Maymoonah did ghusl from a single vessel, a large bowl in which there were traces of dough.
Narrated by an-Nasaa’i (240); classed as saheeh by an-Nawawi in Khulaasat al-Ahkaam (1/67) and by al-Albaani in al-Irwaa’ (27).
In sha Allah, the reader has followed the Usul principles I set in place, if they did, then that will prevent us from making bold statements about matters we are not sure of.
For whoever makes something Haram, that Allah or His messenger did not make Haram, they have committed an act of Istihram (The Opposite of Istihlal). And if done with knowledge, this simple act could lead one to kufr akbar.
May Allah grant us understanding of the Qur’an and Sunnah, may Allah give us beneficial knowledge and make us not Hasty.
والله تعالى أعلم
وصلى اللهم وسلم وبارك على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه والتابعين
أخوك أبو ناصر
Zinaid Abu Naser 