runs when its container is opened; if it does not run, it is solid. It has also been said that it is that which does not prevent impurity from spreading through it. (1)
If it is solid and becomes impure, the impurity and what surrounds it are removed.
For example, if a mouse falls into solid animal fat and dies, the way to purify it is to remove the mouse, then scoop out the place where it fell. What remains is pure and lawful.
But if it is liquid, the well-known position of the school is that it cannot be purified, whether the impurity is slight or substantial, whether the oil is little or much, and whether it has changed or not. Thus, for example, if a mouse hair falls into a large vessel filled with liquid oil, the oil becomes impure and spoiled.....
The correct view is that liquid oil is like solid oil: the impurity and what surrounds it are discarded, while what remains is pure.
The evidence for this is as follows:
- The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was asked about a mouse that had fallen into clarified butter, and he said: “Throw it out, discard what is around it, and eat your clarified butter.” (3) He did not make any distinction.
As for the narration, “If it is solid, throw it out along with what surrounds it; but if it is