What Does Islamic 'Filth' Actually Mean?

I don't have my phone with me. Huh? Okay. You sure? 100%? Okay. Tomorrow inshallah Salat al-Fajr will be at 5:00. Tomorrow morning will be at 5:00 inshallah. 5:00. Hm?

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So yesterday I promised a story with respect to these first opening points here that we began yesterday morning. And that is an-najasat listing the various types of najasa, the various types of filth. Now again, as a reminder, when we say filth, this is not just a general linguistic term, this is a very specific legislative term. Rules, halal haram is built on what we define with this term. So filth is not just something that we consider to be impure or un- unclean. Filth is also not just something that we consider to be immoral. It is whoa hook moon shar'i. It is actually a a legislative that has very specific parameters. And for our intents and purposes, when I say the word filth, we're talking about an-najasat. Right? When I say something is unclean, that is something which could be filth, could be other things which are unsightly, un- you know, un- un- unsightly, gross, etc. So the first two things on this list, of course, at the top of the list is The first two things on the top of this list with respect to filth, those things which are najis, are the human being's urine or feces. Those two things are considered to be filthy inherently. Inherently filthy. Right? When we say inherently meaning they could never be cleaned. And it's not an issue of how potent or lack thereof they are or it doesn't matter if they have a smell, if they don't have a smell, doesn't matter what the person's diet is, doesn't matter as long as it has come out of those two paths and is categorized as being either urine, which comes from the bladder, or feces, which comes from the colon, from the intestines, then it is considered to be filthy. Everybody knows this. Right? This is one of the first things we learn as Muslimin. When we say being clean, we learn these two things. So you may say, "Well, why are we taking so much time to discuss these two things?" There's a big difference between knowing something and having heard something but not knowing its evidence. the whole point of this process here is learning the evidence, meaning from the Quran and Sunnah, ad-dalil. And this is the difference between a scholar and a muqallid. Right? And this is a very interesting point. So a few of my mashayikh in Yemen, they lived in an area that was very very dense with the Houthis. We've all heard of the Houthis now because of the news and the wars and so forth. But these are a type of Shiism that roughly they they would follow the the 12 Imam or the Ja'fari madhhab of Shiism. It's a very extreme strain of Shiism, right? And they have their own scholars and they have their own workings and so forth. And they used to hold these debates, right? Between their shuyukh and the shuyukh of the Ahlus Sunnah, and they would gather and you could probably see some of these debates in in in other countries being filmed now, but this was you know, in the late '90s before these, you know, cameras were so ubiquitous. And so they were constantly warning people not to go to study with these with these nawasib. They call Ahlus Sunnah nawasib. Nawasib meaning people that curse the Prophet's family, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. This is kind of like propaganda, right? And so they came and they said, "Look, we have one question." This was the debate. "We have one question. If you answer this question, we will not teach anymore here in this area. But if you can't answer this question, you have to come to these to our humble masjid in our humble school, and you have to be there with the general lectures that are held." So they said, "Okay, you're on." Said, "One question. What is the evidence from the Quran and Sunnah or Sunnah that feces, human feces, is filthy?" Right? And they started to wring their hands. "Everybody knows this. We already know this. Everyone knows this." And I take their hat off and rub in their head. And there were many of them, right? And they could not produce an evidence from the Quran or Sunnah that feces is filthy. Now we all know this, right? But this seems something that the evidence would be readily available, and it is to those who have studied, but this is the difference between knowing the inner workings of something and knowing that something works. And so one of the evidences that they used is the narration of Mu'adh ibn Jabal that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was praying. And when he was praying, the companions were praying behind him, and suddenly, while he was in salah, he took his shoes off and put them on his left. He just took them off in salah and put them to his left. And so the companions, they just saw that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, took his shoes off and put them to his left. So they all took their shoes off in salah, put their shoes you know, to the side, many of them between their feet. And so when he finished salah, he turned to them and said, "Why did you take your shoes off?" They said, "We saw you take your shoes off, so we took ours off." He said, "Jibril came to me and informed me that there was a athara in my in the sole of one of my shoes. Athara meaning piece of feces that was stuck to the bottom of the sole of one of his shoes. And so he took his.

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To shed that najasa during his salah. And so you know, to their credit, they did follow through, and many of those brothers that were in that gathering actually later left Shiism and started to come and study there with Ali Sunnah and they became very beneficial to their respective tribes.

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This narration is in Sunan Abi Dawud. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam tells us in the narration of Abi Hurairah, if any of you happens to step into either. Either here in this context means feces or urine, either one. Because either when it is in the context, either usually means something that is harmful or something that is an annoyance. And they refer to an annoyance as that which is feces or urine that would be in the in the street or, you know, a passerby would be harmed by it, would be annoyed by it, it's a nuisance. So, they refer to it as an either, right? Instead of using the word feces, instead of using the word urine, you can noon for either, either, right? So, he says if any of you happens to step on an either, then a turab, the dirt, the sand is considered to be an adequate scrubber for the bottoms of the soles of his shoes. He says, and the what we are to understand of this is that this wouldn't be appropriate for the clothing, for instance. You wouldn't just take sand and rub it on the clothing to remove it from your your clothing. That would need water. But each each it is the it is the same thing on your shoes, on your clothing, on your body, on your place of salah, it may be the same type of najasa, but each has its own way of being cleaned because is it it is an issue of it is an issue of you know, it is it is very what's the word I'm looking for? It is something that is to the to the what is appropriate for that actual a thing. So, it is appropriate for the soles of the shoes, being that water cannot penetrate them, being that the binding to the soles of these shoes is very weak, and being that this is something that just normally walking and and wearing the shoes will eventually make this go away, it becomes appropriate. The word I'm looking for is relative. So, it is relative to the shoes that this is how they are cleaned, to the clothing that water is used, to the place of salah, right? That just a bucket of water, for instance, without scrubbing. We will get to how to clean a najasat in the following chapter, inshallah. But this is an evidence that feces is a type of najasa.

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And as for the evidence for urine, that urine is a type of najasa, the narration of Anas, and Arabi and Bella film masjid.

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And as for urine being a type of najasa, the evidence is in the narration of Anas, the well-known narration of Anas, that a nomad, a Arabi, someone who lives in the desert, had urinated in a part of the masjid. And so, the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, when some of the companions got up to, you know, deal with him, the the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, leave him be, let him finish, right? And so, when he had concluded, he told the companions to bring a bucket of water and to pour that water onto the puddle of urine, hence diluting it, hence and so that's a different way that it is cleaned when it's on the ground. We see the difference, but it is still a najasa, right? But it is relative. A najasa that is on the soles of your shoes is different and has different parameters than one that is on your clothing, than one that is on your body, that one that is on your on the place of salah, even on different parts of your body, it is different, right? It being in the place of najasa, where it commonly is, is very different than being on your hand, than being very different than being on a person's face. So, it is relative to where it is. It is either more strict or less strict based on the place that it is, and we will get into that in the next chapter,.

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