As for his practice, this is shown in the hadith of Ibn Mas‘ud, who reported that the Prophet ﷺ went to relieve himself and instructed him to bring him three stones. He brought him two stones and a piece of dung. The Prophet ﷺ took the two stones, threw away the dung, and said, “This is impure.” (1) In another narration, he said, “Bring me something else.” (2)

And in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, he gathered some stones for the Prophet ﷺ and brought them in his garment. He placed them beside him and then left. (3) This indicates that cleansing oneself with stones is permissible.

This also supports the view of Shaykh al-Islam that, whenever impurity is removed by any removing agent, the place becomes pure. (4) This is closer to both the transmitted evidence and sound reasoning than the view of those who say that no impurity can be removed except by purifying water.

The third case is to cleanse oneself first with stones and then with water.

I do not know of this being authentically established from the Prophet ﷺ, but in terms of its meaning, there is no doubt that it is a more thorough purification.

Provided that the discharge has not spread beyond its usual area.

His statement, “Provided that the discharge has not spread beyond its usual area”: the author stipulated conditions for cleansing oneself with stones. He indicated the first condition in his statement, “Provided that the discharge has not spread beyond its usual area”—that is, the area to which urine normally spreads from the tip of the penis, and to which feces normally spreads from between the inner thighs,