Which Dead Animals Are Actually Pure?
Al-Wajeez Lecture: Exceptions to Dead Animal Najasa and Purity of Animal Parts
Summary
This lecture continues the discussion of najasa (filth/impurity) in Islamic jurisprudence using Al-Wajeez as the primary text. The instructor focuses on the eighth type of najasa (dead animals) and examines three exceptions: dead aquatic animals and locusts, insects without flowing blood, and parts of animals lacking blood vessels such as bones, horns, nails, hair, and feathers. The common thread among these exceptions is the absence of blood flow, making them pure according to Islamic law. The instructor references evidence from Sahih al-Bukhari, including statements from az-Zuhri and Hammad (both from the Tabi'in generation), demonstrating that companions and early scholars commonly used these animal parts in combs, brushes, and other utensils without considering them impure.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
[Arabic recitation]
Regarding the various types of najasa. And we had entered yesterday into a sub-chapter a few exceptions from the eighth and final type of najasa that the author mentioned, which was a maytah, the dead animal, the dead carcass. And the author had mentioned three exceptions to the dead animal. We mentioned two of them yesterday. The first one is any dead aquatic animal. And likewise, the dead locust, they are exempt from this. from najasa. Number two, another exception from a najasa is any animal or insect that does not have flowing blood as usual animals that have flowing blood. And so, he gives examples such as flies and ants and bees. So, various insects. The third exception that he makes is.
[Silence]
So, the third and final exception that he makes is that part of the animal, irrespective of any animal that it comes from, which is technically on the animal, but it doesn't have blood flowing through it. Okay? Now, the author doesn't mention that exactly, but this is the illah that the scholars, the jurists of Islam, have identified. So, he mentions the bones of an animal, the horns, the nails, the claws, the hair, the feathers of an animal, all of these things, the tusks, right? All of these things are considered to be pure. Now, if we were to look, what is the commonality between these things? What is the common thread? What is the thing that exempts these things.
[Arabic recitation]
And there's not known to be any companions who differed on this topic? None of them. There's not known to be any companions who differed on the purity of these aspects of an animal, any animal, whether it be a an animal permissible to eat or impermissible to eat, whether it was slaughtered properly or improperly, these elements are all considered to be pure. The bones, the claws, the teeth, the horns, tusks, hair, right? Feathers. We were to say, "What's the common thread?" Well, the common thread, as Shaykh al-Islam mentions, is that there is no blood that flows through these things. These things are considered to be things that are pushed out such as hair or nails and these things are more or less dead. They don't have any feeling in them. They don't have nerve endings in them a lot of times. Right? And so these things do not have blood vessels and they're not necessarily directly nourished. they are more of a a byproduct and they do not move on their own. They need muscles to move them. Right? So he then mentions what al-Bukhari used as an evidence in his Sahih. In Sahih al-Bukhari he mentions the statement of az-Zuhri. Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri, one of the Tabi'in. Ibn Shihab az-Zuhri, he says I met and lived during the time of the scholars from amongst the Salaf,.
[Arabic recitation]
Anhum. Oh the major Tabi'in. And I encountered all of them to use these elements of any animal in their combs, in their brushes as utensils, you know. And they I don't recall any of them viewing this as being impermissible. Az-Zuhri is telling us. Az-Zuhri is a Tabi'i and so this means that he's speaking about the companions and the major Tabi'in of his time. He's saying this is something that was pretty much common knowledge at his time. Also he mentions the narration of Hammad. Hammad is also one of the Tabi'in. And his official fatwa was that there is no problem with using the feathers of a dead animal. Using the feathers of a dead animal. And so, these things can be very relevant. if you notice certain types of heavy brushes use boar boar hair in brushes, right? Or let's say ivory or something that's made out of the tusks of elephants and things that. All of these things are permissible. they are not considered to be filthy and they are permissible to use as the.
[Arabic recitation]