How to Deal with Impure Items in the House?
Answered by Ustadh Sufyan Qufi
Question
If I’m unsure whether something I touched became impure, such as a door after handling impure clothes or hands, do I need to clean it, or is it considered pure by default? Would regular dusting suffice to purify it if it was impure?
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,
As long as you are unsure of whether you have rendered impure an item that was previously, you should assume that it is pure. [Majalla]
This is based on the following legal principle: “Certainty is not lifted by a doubt.” [Majalla]
This is, in turn, based on the following verse of the Quran: “Most of them follow nothing but conjectures. Surely, conjectures are of no avail in the matter of truth at all.” [Quran, 10:36] [Du‘ass, al-Qawa‘id al-Fiqhiyya]
If you are sure that an item is impure and you want to purify it, you will generally have to wash it with water. When the item has a smooth surface, wiping it with a piece of cloth will be enough. [Shurunbulali, Nur al-Idah]
And Allah knows best.
[Ustadh] Sufyan Qufi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Ustadh Sufyan Qufi is an advanced seeker of knowledge, originally from Algeria, who grew up in France. He began searching for ways to learn Islam reliably and was disappointed at the answers he found locally.
Then he connected with various traditional teachers and gradually connected with SeekersGuidance. He embarked on his journey of learning through the various teachers at SeekersGuidance, including his mentor Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.
He studied numerous texts in Islamic Law, Theology, Hadith, and other areas with Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and other teachers, including Shaykh Abdurrahman al-Sha‘ar, Shaykh Ali Hani, and others.
He is an active instructor at SeekersGuidance and answers questions through the SeekersGuidance Answers Service.