Chapter on Removing Impurity

Having concluded his discussion of purification from ritual impurity, the author—may Allah have mercy on him—begins with purification from filth, because physical purification is either from ritual impurity or from filth.

The definition of ritual impurity has preceded. (1)

Filth is a tangible substance deemed repugnant by the Sacred Law.

By our saying, “a tangible substance,” we mean that it is not an attribute or an abstract meaning.

By our saying, “deemed repugnant by the Sacred Law,” we mean that it is the Sacred Law that has deemed it repugnant and ruled it to be impure and filthy.

Impurity is either incidental or inherent.

What is intended in this chapter is incidental impurity: that which affects something pure and thereby renders it impure.

As for inherent impurity, it can never be purified. Even if you brought seawater to purify donkey droppings, they would never become pure, because their very substance is impure—unless they undergo transformation, according to the view of some scholars, and according to the madhhab in certain issues.

Impurity is divided into three categories:

The first: severe impurity.

The second: intermediate impurity.

The third: light impurity.