Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

, najis () means ritually unclean. According to Islam, there are two kinds of najis: the essential najis which cannot be cleaned and the unessential najis which become najis while in contact with another najis. Contact with ''najis'' things brings a Muslim into a state of ritual impurity ( ''najāsa'', in opposition to ṭahārah, ritual purity). Ritual purification is then required before religious duties such as regular prayers are performed.

Islamic law

According to Al-Sayyid Ali Al-Husseini Al-Sistani, the following things are najis intrinsically:

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and many other animals. In placental mammals, urine flows from the Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder and exits the urethra through the penile meatus (mal ...

faeces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...

semen Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is a bodily fluid that contains spermatozoon, spermatozoa which is secreted by the male gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphrodite, hermaphroditic animals. In humans and placen ...

, corpse,

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is com ...

, dog, pig, disbeliever (kāfir),

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and the sweat of an excrement-eating animal. According to the

Shafi'i The Shafi'i school or Shafi'i Madhhab () or Shafi'i is one of the four major schools of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), belonging to the Ahl al-Hadith tradition within Sunni Islam. It was founded by the Muslim scholar, jurist, and traditionis ...

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Islamic jurisprudence ''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.Fiqh
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...

, as systematised by Al-Nawawi in his book ''Minhadj'', the following things are ''najis'':

and other spirituous drinks, dogs,

swine Suina (also known as Suiformes) is a suborder of omnivorous, non-ruminant artiodactyl mammals that includes the domestic pig and peccaries. A member of this clade is known as a suine. Suina includes the family Suidae, termed suids, known in ...

, excrements, and the

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

of animals whose meat is forbidden by Islam. Spirituous drinks are not impure according to the

Hanafi The Hanafi school or Hanafism is the oldest and largest Madhhab, school of Islamic jurisprudence out of the four schools within Sunni Islam. It developed from the teachings of the Faqīh, jurist and theologian Abu Hanifa (), who systemised the ...

school, while living swine and dogs are not impure according to the

Maliki The Maliki school or Malikism is one of the four major madhhab, schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas () in the 8th century. In contrast to the Ahl al-Hadith and Ahl al-Ra'y schools of thought, the ...

s. There is a difference of opinion as to whether alcoholic drinks are ''najis''. To the list of impure things enumerated by al-Nawawi, Shi’a jurists traditionally add dead bodies and non-believers.Lewis (1984), p.34 Additionally, meat of any animal which is killed in a manner other than that prescribed by Islam is najis. ''Najis'' things cannot be purified, in contrast to things which are defiled only (''mutanajis''), with the exception of wine, which becomes pure when made into vinegar, and of hides, which are purified by tanning.

''Muṭahhirāt'' ('purifying agents')

It is possible to purify a thing which has become ''najis''. These ''muṭahhirāt'' agents that can purify ''najis'' can be divided into three groups:

The mutahirat

*the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

*the Sun *

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

- The Qur'an says: “He llahis the one who sends the winds as good news before His mercy; and We send down pure water from the cloud." ( 25:48) According to the shari'ah, water can be of two types: ''muṭlaq'' and ''muḍāf''. ''Muṭlaq'' is pure water without putting it to a scientific test. The five forms of ''muṭlaq'' are the following:

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

, well water, running or flowing water (

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

), ''kur'' water (

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

), and less than ''kur''. ''Muḍāf'' is diluted water

Physical change

*''istiḥālah'' (chemical change) *''inqilāb'' (change in properties) *''intiqāl'' (change in place) *''zawāl li-ʿayni n-najāsah'' (disappearance of the source of najāsah) *''istibrāʾ'' (quarantining)

Spiritual change

* Islam *''tabaʿīyyah'' (following) *''ghaybat al-muslim'' (absence of a Muslim) Not all of these agents can purify every ''najis''. However, among the agents water is the most universal purifying agent while the other agents are limited.

Sources of law

The notions of ritual impurity come mainly from the Qur'an and

ahadith Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...

. Swine and blood are declared forbidden food in the Qur'an.

References

External links

Laws of Islam concerning ritual purity

{{Authority control Ritual purity in Islam Arabic words and phrases in Sharia Arabic words and phrases Islam and other religions