What’s the Evidence for Avoiding Water After Passing Stool as Mentioned in Fiqh Books?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
What is the evidence from the Quran and Sunna for avoiding water after passing stool, as mentioned in books of fiqh?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
The issue of istinja and the permissibility and fulfillment of sunna by only using clumps of mud (or modern alternatives like tissue) is mentioned in the books of fiqh when the filth does not spread the exit point. The proof is as follows:
Cleanse Yourself With Three Stones
The primary evidence for the Hanafi position is a hadith: “When one of you goes to relieve himself, he should clean himself with three stones, for that is sufficient for him.” [Abu Dawud, Nasa’i, Daraqutni]
This hadith establishes that it is not necessary to wash the private part after defecating and that wiping it with a clean, dry substance, such as stones, is sufficient.
This is why books of fiqh state after urinating or passing stool, one can clean the place of impurity with clumps of stone. If the urine spreads equal to one dirham (3-5 cm in diameter) while the stool is equal to the weight of one mithqal (4.86 grams), then one’s prayer is invalid until it is washed with water.
Size of Dirham
The private part is approximately the size of a dirham. Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i, one of the Tabi‘in, said, “The scholars considered it distasteful to mention the anus in their lessons, so they substituted it with ‘dirham.’
[Dhafar Usmani, ’I‘la al-Sunan, Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; ‘Ala’uddin Ibn ‘Abidin, al-Hadiyya al-‘Ala’iyya]
There is no set procedure for istinja. Its fundamental condition is that one cleans oneself from filth, optimally with stone (the modern-day alternative is tissue) and water.
I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. In sha Allah, you will receive guidance and direction.
Related
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org), like from the Islamic Studies Curriculum (seekersguidance.org), building your way up doing each course?
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
