Should I Use Soap to Purify Drops of Urine?


Shafi'i Fiqh

Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad

Question

I have urine incontinence, and the drops of urine sometimes dry up on my body. Is water sufficient to remove it, or should I use soap or something else in addition to water? How is the filth of a dog purified? Is water sufficient to purify dry filth?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

Urine

Drops of dried urine may be purified by flowing water over them because color, smell, and taste are removed in this manner. Soap might only be necessary if one’s clothing has a strong urine smell, perhaps from being dried for a long time, and if one finds that water is insufficient to remove the color, taste, and smell.

Dog filth

Please see this link on how to purify from the filth of a dog:
Purity and Dogs
Dog’s Saliva [Shafi’i]
How Should We Handle the Saliva of Dogs?

Dry filth

In your third question, I don’t know whether you mean dry filth or dried filth. Dry filth, such as dry dog hair, need only be brushed off. Dried filth, meaning liquid filth that has subsequently dried, must be washed off, whether light, medium, or heavy. Please take a course with us to review your personally obligatory knowledge and learn how to deal with these issues.

Please see these links as well:
What Is the Excusable Amount of Filth in the Shafi’i School?

May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.

[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani 

Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria for two years where she studied aqida, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her Masters in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.