Bir Buda'a (the well of Buda'a)

بئر بضاعة

A well of the Prophet ﷺ's time, standing in a walled garden, the subject of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri's report 'water is pure, nothing makes it impure', said when the Prophet was told that menstrual rags, dogs' flesh and filth were thrown into it; Abu Dawud records that Qutayba asked its keeper, who said its water at most reached the groin, and that he himself measured its width with his cloak at six cubits and saw discoloured water in it; al-Khattabi explains that it lay on sloping ground where floods swept refuse into it, not that people threw refuse in on purpose ¹.

Summary

Bir Buda'a is a well of the Prophet's time, to which Abu Dawud gives a chapter of its own in the Sunan, "what has come about the well of Buda'a". ² There he relates from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that the Prophet was asked, "Shall we perform ablution from the well of Buda'a, a well into which menstrual rags, dogs' flesh and filth are thrown?", and replied, "Water is pure; nothing makes it impure." ¹

The two versions

Abu Usama's version, from al-Walid ibn Kathir, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b, from 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Rafi' ibn Khadij, from Abu Sa'id (report 66); Abu Dawud notes that some said "'Abd al-Rahman ibn Rafi'". ¹
Muhammad ibn Ishaq's version, from Salit ibn Ayyub, from 'Ubayd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Rafi' al-Ansari, from Abu Sa'id (report 67), in which the Prophet is told that water is drawn for him from it and that dogs' flesh, menstrual cloths and human excrement are thrown into it. ³
The annotator quotes Imam Ahmad: "The report of the well of Buda'a is sound." ³

What Abu Dawud saw

Abu Dawud says he heard Qutayba ibn Sa'id relate that he asked the keeper of the well about its depth, and was told that at its highest the water reached the groin, and when low it was below the waist. ³ Abu Dawud then says that he measured it himself with his cloak, stretching it across and measuring the cloth, and found the width to be six cubits; he asked the man who opened the garden for him whether its structure had been changed, was told no, and saw discoloured water in it. ³

Al-Khattabi's explanation

Al-Khattabi rejects the idea that people threw refuse into the well on purpose: such conduct, he says, would not be imagined even of a non-Muslim, let alone a Muslim, in a land where water was precious and needed. ² He explains that the well lay on sloping ground where floods swept refuse from the paths and courtyards into it, and that its water was so abundant that what fell in did not change it, so they asked about its ruling. ² In his view the answer "nothing makes it impure" refers to abundant water like that of this well, and so does not contradict the report of the two qullas, since its water reached that measure. ¹

Not covered here

This volume does not fix the well's location on the ground; that remains to be taken from geographical works and the sira.

Sources

Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 1 , p. 45-46

Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 1 , p. 45

Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 1 , p. 46

Istihada (non-menstrual bleeding)

Istihada is continued bleeding outside the time of menstruation, which the reports describe as 'a vein, not menstruation'; Abu Dawud devotes many chapters of the Book of Purification to it, and al-Khattabi sorts the cases by their reports: the woman with a known habit, who returns to her days (Umm Salama's report); the woman who can tell the onset and end of menstruation by the blood (Fatima bint Abi Hubaysh's report); the beginner with neither habit nor distinction, referred to the usual habit of women, six or seven days (Hamna bint Jahsh's report); and the woman who has forgotten her days, who bathes for every prayer.

Bir Buda'a (the well of Buda'a)

At a glance