Impurity (najasa) and its rulings

النَّجَاسَة

Najasa in the lexicon is what makes a thing soiled with filth. The Shafi'is define it as a repugnant thing that prevents the prayer from being valid where no exception applies; the Malikis as a quality in judgement that makes the prayer unlawful. Purity is its opposite, and istinja is the means of removing it from the two passages. Najasa is either real (ayniyya, visible and removable) or legal (hukmiyya, removed by purification). The living human is pure in the view of the jurists. On the dead human the Hanafi majority hold that death makes the body impure through flowing blood, while the Malikis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold it pure. The pig is impure for the Hanafis, Shafi'is and Hanbalis; the dog likewise for the Shafi'is; the Malikis hold the living pig pure. Carrion is impure except the fish and locust by agreement of many, and the Malikis hold sea carrion pure. Many fluids and parts (urine, dung, blood, pus, vomit, semen, saliva, phlegm, milk, rennet, eggs, wool, hair, bone, horn, skin) are treated with detailed differences. Najasa is graded as heavy, light or middling, and many items are forgiven in practice. Purification is obligatory for the body, clothes and place of prayer; the child who has not eaten is sprinkled over his urine, the girl's urine washed. Shafi'is do not allow the sale of najis things; Hanafis permit some uses, Malikis allow many uses short of food for humans, Hanbalis forbid much of it. Najasa must be kept from mosques, copies of the Qur'an, roads and sources of water. ^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14}