Seven Types of Najasa: What Invalidates Prayer?
Al-Wajiz Fiqh Lecture: Types of Najasa (Ritual Impurities) and Purification Requirements
Summary
This lecture covers Chapter 2 of Al-Wajiz (a fiqh book based on Quran and Sunnah), which details the types of najasa (filth/impurities) that invalidate prayer. The instructor enumerates seven categories of najasa: human urine and feces, al-wady and al-madhy (urological fluids), feces of animals forbidden to eat, menstrual and postpartum blood, and dog saliva. The lecture emphasizes that najasa is specifically defined as substances that compromise prayer validity according to Islamic sources, distinguishing it from general uncleanliness. A detailed discussion of dog saliva is provided, citing a hadith from Sahih Muslim about the requirement to wash vessels touched by dogs seven times, with the first washing using dirt, establishing it as a heightened level of najasa requiring specific purification methods.
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]
Kitab al-Aziz and we are in the midst of listing, as the author here mentions and lists to us with evidence, each of the verifiable types of filth, types of najasa. So, this chapter here, when we have one of the principles or one of the conditions of salah is that a person purify himself, his body, his clothing, his place of salah, we have to know what it is that we must purify ourselves from. And so this chapter, or this sub chapter more correctly, is enlisting these various types of filth. When we say filth, najasa, we're speaking about that which will compromise a person's prayer. And najasa ta'rif al-najasa huna.
[Arabic recitation]
Yuf silu salat al-musalli. Fa itha kana yajib ala al-mar' an yutahhir jasadahu wa yutahhir.
[Arabic recitation]
Wa an yata'ahhab al-salat kana hadha min.
[Arabic recitation]
Yajib alayna an na'lama ma hiya al-ashya' allati yanbaghi lil-insan an yutahhir nafsahu minha. Fa hadhihi hiya al-najasaat. Laysat hadhihi al-awsakh kullaha. Thamma ashya' wasikha. yastaqdiruha al-nas lakin qad takun qad yakun shay' min al-ashya' wasikh yastaqdiruhu al-insan lakin laysa bi.
[Arabic recitation]
Lakin kullu najasa min al-wasakh shay' wasikh. Na'am. So when we say the word filth, najasa, this is a very specific term. It's not just anything that makes a person uncomfortable, anything that is gross to the person, anything that is is unclean. Right? Rather, filth is that which we have learned through the Quran and Sunnah which will compromise a person's prayer. That is specifically what a najasa is here. There are many things that are unclean. And it may be inappropriate for a person to pray with these unclean things on them, but it will not invalidate a person's prayer. So when we say you have to purify yourself from these things, meaning what are these things that we must purify ourselves from? These are a najasat. Right? And we are only going to mention that which we find a clear evidence for. Right? That which we find a clear evidence for. Sahihun sarihun. That which is clear and that which is authentic. Right? So so far we have read with the author six types of things which will which are of the najasat. We've learned six of them so far. Let's see if we can list them quickly before we mention number seven for this morning. The first and second. Y- urine and human urine and feces. Okay, that's one and two. Three and four. Al-wady al-wady wal-madhy. Right? So al-madhy is what comes out when al-madhy at arousal. Right? Comes with sexual arousal. it is pre-sperm or pre-ejaculate. And al-wady with a dal, when does this come out? After urinating. This This originates from the bladder. Right? And it is marked as being white and cloudy and usually comes out within 5 minutes after urinating. These things are also a type of najasa. We will discuss in detail how to clean all of these things in the coming chapters cuz they're not all clean the same way and they're not all on the same level of filth. Because there are that which is extremely filth, a heightened level of najasa, that which is moderately or just regular najasa and then that which is mildly najis. And each of them has their way of cleaning. The fifth one that we mentioned yesterday Any animal that is prohibited to eat. The author here speci- specifies the feces of any animal that is prohibited to eat, but that's because the narration is only mentioning that. But it's anything from that animal which is impermissible to eat. And then the sixth thing that we mentioned yesterday was menstrual blood and with it comes postpartum. Okay. The seventh thing that the author lists here, he says lu'aabul kalb. The saliva of a dog. The saliva of a dog.
[Silence]
Wal hadithu indal Imam Muslim.
[Arabic recitation]
Narration which is in sahih al-Imam Muslim on the authority of Abu Hurayrah who narrates that the messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam says in order to purify a vessel, a cup, a glass, a goblet, something that a person drinks from, the dish that a dog has drank from is that a person wash it seven times, the first of those seven times being with dirt. Okay. So, we see here that this is a heightened level of najasa. Right? It's a heightened level of najasa. Why? Because even after you cannot smell, see anything with your naked eye anymore you still have to wash. Right? So, the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us that with the menstrual blood she is to scrub it rinse it and then rinse it. to scrub it, wring it out, and then rinse it. That's it. And we said even if a person sees a stain after that they they have they have done their due diligence. But a person's due diligence for this is by number, not by sight, not by smell, right? Not by taste. And that is that a person must wash this dish seven times the first of which being with dirt. So, here we have the number of times. This is a bare minimum. And number two, we have something else that is added to water in order to purify more using dirt. Why dirt? Well, soap wasn't really a thing in the desert back then. When a person wanted to clean something and to scrub something properly, they would use dirt, right? Is it acceptable to use a detergent or a soap in place of dirt today to purify this? That is an issue that we will discuss in the next chapter when we discuss the things that how to purify these various types of filth. Inshallah, we will go into more detail. But now, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam here mentions the saliva of the dog. Well, what about the urine of the dog? What about the feces of the dog?
[Arabic recitation]
The dog sweat? Huh? No, they don't sweat. That's why they stick their tongues out. So, the saliva of a dog or pus if the dog is sick or the vomit of a dog or the feces of a dog or the blood of a dog or the urine of a dog. Is it only the saliva? Right? The answer is all of the dog has the same ruling because the saliva of anything is usually often more pure or less filthy than things the waste, right? However, why didn't the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam mention that? Because he is mentioning things that people come in contact with, right? A dog isn't going to come and urinate on a person's dishes. This is not common. When a person sets his dish out and he goes in his tent and a wild dog comes by and he starts drinking from his dish. He shooed the dog away. This is the instance that the prophet is speaking about here. Sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Not very bizarre outlier incidents where urine and feces and blood and so forth, these things all have the same ruling. Right? And this is what we refer to as qiyas al-awla.
[Arabic recitation]
Mentioned today is purifying the dog's saliva. So, we know for a fact here that all animals which are impermissible to eat are considered to be a type of filth and especially a dog because we have a heightened level of purification process to purify. Right? And there are other animals that fall into this as well, which we will discuss when we get to that inshallah ta'ala.
[Arabic recitation]
Got in the doors. Yeah, yeah.