When Does Water Become Impure?

Continuing in Kitab al-wajiz fi Kitab al-tahara the book of purification. So, yesterday we discussed the topic of water and the various types of water and we mentioned that water is one of two things. It is either pure and purifying or it has been corrupted by some filth that has diluted into it, that has dissolved into it to the point that it has corrupted it and it has changed one or more of its percep- perceptive perceptible features. So, it's smell, it's color, it's taste. Two types of water. Right? Remember the principle that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam gave us. Remember the the the well the well of that was on the outskirts of Medina that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam was asked about. A well called It was positioned in a poorly set set place. It was kind of in a valley. It was in an off stream, and people when they would come to Medina, travelers, they're coming in, they're leaving, right? This was a popular place for people to set up their camp. And as people do throughout history, they leave various types of garbage around their camp, especially in the times of Jahiliyyah, in the times when people didn't have the decorum of Islam that Islam teaches us. And so, you know, females would leave their menstrual rags there. Men would you know, wipe themselves after relieving themselves or relieve themselves in that area. And what would happen is when it would rain, etc., would all go into this well. And so, , he was asked about the water from that well. And he gave us the principle, that is He said, "Water is pure and it is purifying essentially. Nothing makes water impure." Meaning that unless it has been diluted by something that is impure to the point that it has changed its color, taste, or smell, then it is pure. So, there's two types of water. There's water which is pure and purifying, water which has been corrupted. Right? And when we say corrupted, we're speaking about corrupted by filth, corrupted by najasa. Wherever it comes from, doesn't matter where it originates from. As long as it retains its color, taste, and smell, which is neutrality, or, you know, its color, taste, and smell is is that typical of water, it's pure. And if it has been corrupted to the point that something is diluted itself into it, , some najasa, right? Then it is not permissible to use. It is not pure and it is not purifying. Now, why do we put such an emphasis on this? A lot of times you'll read in, , especially the in the books of fiqh, you'll find that another popular opinion is categorizing water into three categories, not two, three. We mentioned two here, right? Pure and impure. Okay. But, some scholars have written that it is actually three categories. So, pure water, impure water, but they add a third, which is water that has been diluted by something that is not filthy, but it has changed its nature. What does that mean? let me say for instance, chicken broth. What is chicken broth? Chicken broth is when you take chicken and you boil it up and melt it in the thing, and the water starts to change until now it's chicken broth, right? What is tea? Tea is also you put tea in water, you boil it, and it dilutes it until it turns into tea. What is coffee? Coffee is 99% water, right? So, they would say, is it permissible for a person to make wudu using tea, coffee, chicken broth? The answer is no. Of course not. They say this water here, it's not it's not impure, but it's not purifying. It has been diluted by something pure to the point where it is no longer just considered water. However, the reason that that is not the stronger opinion is because do we call tea this is water with tea, or do we call it tea? We call it tea, right? Do we say this is water with coffee in it? Is that what we say? Do we say this is water with chicken broth in it. No, we call it chicken broth. Its name has changed. It's no longer water anymore. Right? Therefore, it's inconsequential. Once its name changes, it is no longer in the realm of the the the topic of water. Now, it's a different topic. Clear? So, traditionally, there are scholars that categorize water into two categories, pure and impure, and others that say, "Well, it's pure, impure, and water that is you know, of compounded nature. It's water and it's something else what is pure, it's diluted itself into it." So, once its name has changed, it no longer has that same ruling. Right? Because something's name changing changes its ruling with it in in Islamic law. So, being that we understand that now, we have water that is pure and then water that is impure. We want to know now what are those things that make water impure. What are the types of najasa? What are a najasat? And so, the author now goes into this topic, the topic of the najasat, listing the various types of najasa. Now, remember when we were doing the book of fasting, we'd say, for instance, there are six things that break a person's fast, right? And we had a list, we memorized it. Same thing here. There are eight types of najasa, eight. These eight types of najasa that is our list. Anything outside of this list is not najasa. Okay? Now, it being it being considered it not being considered a type of najasa doesn't necessarily mean that it's clean. Something may be unclean. Right? Or unsightly or gross. But, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is a najasa. Najasa in English, for our intents and purposes, we are going to use the word filth. Filthy. Okay? There are things which are unclean. Those are a lot of things. And then there are eight types of filth. Something is only considered filth if it has been listed by a law or as messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam. We need an evidence from the Quran and Sunnah or Sunnah in order to list something as a type of najasa. We have to have evidence for it. Even if it is so blatant, right? human feces. This is najis, right? This is filthy. We all know this. We all know this. This is something which is considered to be self-evident. However, we still have to have evidence for it for it to make this list. Why do we need evidence for it? Because we are building is we are building laws that rest upon this list. Right? Things hinge on this list. A person's prayer being valid, being invalid, a person be obligated to do something, not obligated, haram and halal, all hinge on this list. So, therefore, being that laws of Allah hinge on this list and are founded on this list, we have to make sure that we have an evidence from the Quran and Sunnah for every single type of filth that we list here in this section. So, this now is going to be the part where we get into the various types of najasa. And najasat, those types of filth that exist. Remember, there are eight and inshallah ta'ala, we will begin that list tomorrow. Nas'alullah subhanahu wa ta'ala bimannihi wa karamihi wa judih an.

[Arabic recitation]